As box office returns for many independent films continue to slump, with the conventional wisdom that low-budget indies or low-nine-figure franchise candidates are the safest bets, two upstart domestic distributors, Black Bear and Low-K Entertainment, have recently taken a counterintuitive strategy. The idea is to release mid-budget movies. Given the tough market conditions, the big question is why.
“There aren’t many options for releasing these kinds of movies,” says entertainment lawyer and producer Elsa Ramo, founder of Los Angeles-based film company Ramo Law. “So I think some of these entrepreneurial companies like[producer-turned-US distributor]Black Bear are serving a market with fewer buyers than in the past.”
Row K and Black Bear have a tough road ahead. Many of the same mid-budget distribution companies like CBS Films, Millennium, and Overture Films shut down in the 2010s as streamers began to lure a large portion of adult audiences away from movie theaters, while STX and Summit partnered with other companies for distribution. Upstarts like A24 and Neon have also emerged, but they have far fewer electrifying hits like “Twilight” and “Everything Everywhere All at Once” to support them.
Over the past decade, the only top-10 box office non-major studio films were Lionsgate’s John Wick: Chapter 4 in 2023 and faith-based Angel Studios’ The Sound of Freedom (about $185 million each), and Lionsgate’s 2015’s The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 ($270 million).
Colman Domingo stars in Row K’s luxury pickup “Dead Man’s Wire.”
But distressed markets can present opportunities. “We launched Row K in August of this year because we recognized a clear gap in the market for a distributor focused on mid-budget commercial films. Between the tentpole budget levels of major studios and the limited reach of boutique players, Row K was created to fill this gap,” says co-chairman Christopher Woodrow. It is funded by entertainment investment firm Media Capital Technologies and backed by MassMutual and other institutional and high-net-worth investors.
“We’ve seen an upward trend in theater attendance, with younger audiences returning to theaters for original storytelling and broader content diversity, so we recognized an opportunity to grow in tandem with big studio releases. While there are always market challenges, our key focus is efficient spend.”
Under the leadership of co-chairman Raj Singh, IMAX and Paramount veteran Megan Corrigan as president, and CAA as one of its advisors, LOWK has four films featured at its fall festival.–Gus Van Sann These include Tom’s crime drama “Dead Man’s Wire” (released on January 9th after an award-winning selection), Maud Apatow’s comedy “Poetic License” (May 15th), and Jaume Collet-Serra’s action reboot. “Cliffhanger” (August 28) and the Tom Dean and Mark Eldridge romance “Charlie Harper” (September 25) are part of a plan to release 10 films a year in the United States or North America before increasing the number.
“To date, we have focused on acquisitions and pre-purchases, but we will also finance and produce our own slates, with a bespoke distribution strategy for each title,” says Singh. “Ancillary will play a big role and we are in the process of negotiating several ancillary contracts.”
Sidney Sweeney stars in the Black Bear release “Christy.”
Asian black bear
In July, Black Bear founder Teddy Schwarzman hired Benjamin Kramer, co-head of CAA Media Finance, as president of the company’s new U.S. distribution division, with the goal of releasing up to 12 first- and third-party titles a year. David Spitz, a former Lionsgate executive, will help oversee a wide range of auteur-driven films and genre offerings, having gained distribution experience with the company as head of U.S. theatrical distribution, in the UK and Ireland as Black Bear UK, and in Canada under subsidiary Elevation Pictures.
Some industry insiders suspect that Black Bear’s new shingle is primarily aimed at guaranteeing theatrical release for its films, as the shrinking market has left producers with fewer options. “We’ll see if they pick up other producers’ films as well as their own,” said one veteran distributor. But people said the ability to leverage other companies’ completed and in-progress films in addition to its own international sales titles alleviates pressure to buy in specific markets.
First up is Christy, a new boxing biopic starring Sidney Sweeney. The action film Shelter, starring Jason Statham, will be released on January 30th, and two other films are scheduled for release in 2026: the crime drama The Rivals of the King, starring Matthew McConaughey, and The Tuner, starring Leo Woodall and Dustin Hoffman.
And with the expected sale or split of Warner Bros. Discovery, the theatrical distribution landscape is likely to shrink further, leaving AFM sellers to root for both new distributors.
