An article at FirstShowing brought this to my attention. It seems that studios are no longer interested in Ed Burns’ little indie movies (he wrote and directed movies such as The Groomsmen, The Brothers McMullen, and She’s the One) as no distributor has picked up his eighth movie, Purple Violets, made for only $4 million. According to IMDB, the movie is about a woman’s pressures to become the next great American writer.

The exact reason why his movie hasn’t been bought isn’t explained anywhere, although an article on MTV.com suggests people nowadays just don’t dig his style of movies anymore. But that’s not stopping Burns from releasing his movie. Although he’s been picked up for foreign distribution in 3 countries, the lack of U.S. distributors (not even straight to video) has prompted Burns to “premiere” Purple Violets on… iTunes. Which in fact is a major plus for hardcore Burns fans, as they can now own the movie for a tiny $12.99 (some sources say $14.99), instead of having to sit in a theatre for $12+snacks or buying the DVD in stores for $25.

In the same MTV article, Burns himself offers up a reason for his lack of distribution: “This is the year that art house cinema died.” He claims the culture of the movie audience has changed since the mid-90s. Citing specifically two movies out in theatres right now, Rendition and Lions for Lambs, Burns said, “If they’re not going to see Reese Witherspoon or Tom Cruise, they’re not going to come out and see me and (Purple Violets co-star) Patrick Wilson.”

Burns is definitely disheartened by his new movie’s demise, so much so that he’s “not going to make another small dialogue movie for a while.” (he’s averaged about one every 18 months).

Now, I’m not exactly an Edward Burns fan (in fact, for the some of same reasons cited above), but I think this is an interesting point in movie history. Not because no one bought Burns’ movie, or because he claims “art films are dead”, but because now Apple (via iTunes) is being featured as a legit distributor of indie movies (as a matter of fact, the trailer for Purple Violets prominently features the iTunes logo in the beginning, where distributor logos are usually featured). Granted, many indies have been sold thru iTunes (some exclusively), but a moderately-big name like Burns bringing it to light gives Apple some cache in the movie field. Where this could lead, however, is anyone’s guess.

Posted on November 21st, 2007 by Enrique
Filed under: Indies, Technology, Opinion