- Top Features:
- War Room
- Glenn Greenwald
- Broadsheet
- Joan Walsh
- Camille Paglia
- Since You Asked
- Follow Salon:
Read other letters about this article
I was very curious to see Lamb designate BBM as "technically" an independent movie. There are no "technical" parameters for what makes an independent film. Generally it means a film that is produced or primarily financed outside of the studio system (or a film that is produced on spec, so to speak, without a distributor or firm distribution platform already in place). It has nothing to do with a film's actual production budget, which is usually a non-disclosed (or distorted/disguised) figure.
BBM was co-produced by Focus Features (a "specialty" studio, but still a studio) and Paramount Pictures; it has a multi-million dollar marketing campaign behind it and had a distribution platform in place before they shot a single frame. Yes, it's a smaller studio film, but a studio film nonetheless. Don't mean to split hairs here, just want to point out that while Lamb suggests comparing BBM and Narnia is like comparing apples and oranges, it's more like comparing two different types of oranges. Believe me, Paramount will put BBM on 3,000 screens if the box office returns justify it.
