This year's Toronto film festival lowers its final curtain this weekend after 10 days of red carpet premieres and industry networking that produced few movie deals but showcased some good bets for Oscars.
Executives, hoping for signs that the independent film industry might be ready to emerge from a nearly two-year funk, had little to celebrate. Barely a handful of distribution deals were announced during a festival that began with more than 100 titles available for acquisition.
"I anticipated a slow market, but I guess I was surprised. I thought there would be a few more deals closed by now," said Steven Beer, an entertainment lawyer with Greenberg Traurig.
Films like rock'n roll vampire flick "Suck" and the Woody Harrelson superhero movie "Defendor" were among the exceptions that found distributors to release them in theaters.
Overall, weak demand from recession-stung distributors has ended the traditional flurry of deal making at the Toronto International Film Festival.
"You'll see carnage from this film festival," David Garber, CEO of Lantern Lane Entertainment, told an industry round-table this week. "There are some very expensive movies there that are going to be wanting for distribution. And they'll make a deal that makes no real financial sense."
While summer season box office receipts crept up from last year, the independent film industry has been hit by plunging DVD sales and fewer sources of production funds.
There is also uncertainty over how digital downloads and movies-on-demand on television will impact future revenues.
These factors have forced film distributors to cut back on bigger budget movies and to be more picky in what they release.
"(This) is a permanent change," said Beer. "The cost of releasing films continues to escalate, so the risk factor is so considerable that the industry has become very conservative."
