[phileysmiley]

<font color="maroon">by Larry Richman </font>
<font color="gray" size="1">January 8, 2008 11:45 PM</font>

On Sunday we looked at the <a href="http://www.pronetworks.org/forum/story100769.html" target="_blank">state of independent film</a> going into 2008. There are too many movies and too few screens. For those number crunchers among you, we have that too, and the news is not good. <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i16fe8d093beb449b5812f339e327deec" target="_blank">The Hollywood Reporter</a> has all the stats:

* Boxoffice revenue for films from indie distributors and specialty divisions dropped 11.9% from $1.32 billion in 2006 to $1.16 billion in 2007, while the number of indies in theaters increased from 501 to 530.

* Only 16 of the films grossed more than $20 million (nearly half of them by a slim margin), down from 20 in 2006.

* 350 indie films -- two-thirds of the list -- failed to reach even $250,000 in ticket sales, an increase from 313 in 2006. All this at a time when overall 2007 domestic boxoffice hit a record high of $9.62 billion, a 5% increase from 2006, according to Nielsen EDI.

These are some sobering statistics for anyone looking outside the mainstream Hollywood studios. Check out the year-end wrapup for <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i16fe8d093beb449b5812f339e327deec" target="_blank">box office totals</a> from the following indie distributors:

IDP/Goldwyn
Focus Features
Fox Searchlight
Lionsgate
Miramax
Paramount Vantage
Picturehouse
Sony Pictures Classics
ThinkFilm
Warner Independent Pictures
The Weinstein Co.
Yari Film Group
Other distributors