Specialty isn't its specialty

Horn's belief that his studio machine could open "Juno" just as well as Fox Searchlight wildly underestimates the amount of arduous work that goes into building a specialty division hit. Look at the numbers. It took "Sideways," Searchlight's 2004 Oscar best picture nominee, 15 weeks to have its most successful weekend at the box office. At Miramax, "The Queen" didn't have its biggest weekend until 18 weeks into its theatrical run.

While it's true that Warner has had some success putting smaller films through its marketing machine, notably Clint Eastwood's "Million Dollar Baby," the studio has had more misses than hits. Last fall, the studio opened the George Clooney-starring "Michael Clayton" -- made for a modest $22 million -- like a mainstream picture, with a big TV ad buy and a roll-out on 2,450 screens. It was a disappointment. It needed the special care of a specialty division release.

Horn says he still wants to release films like "Pan's Labyrinth" and "La Vie en Rose," two recent Picturehouse releases shepherded to success by Bob Berney, a top-flight executive who was too much of a maverick to fit the Warner fold. "We still want to be a player -- we haven't thrown in the towel at all," says Horn. But he acknowledges that the specialty market is "a brutal business. It's just really overcrowded right now."

Without a strong advocate, movies like "La Vie en Rose" will die on the vine. And without a knowledgeable leader like Berney (the man behind such indie hits as "Memento" and "Y Tu Mama Tambien"), Warner will never be a player at the film festivals where studios acquire new independently financed movies. If you had a potential indie hit, with offers from a marketing powerhouse like Fox Searchlight and a cookie-cutter like Warner, whose offer would you take?

While Horn took full responsibility for the decision to shutter WIP and Picturehouse, it's no secret that Warner Bros. is under corporate pressure from Time Warner chief Jeff Bewkes to make more money. It's hardly a coincidence that the decision to fire hundreds of staffers at New Line and the specialty divisions comes at a time when Time Warner is trying to jettison AOL, spin off its cable business and may even be considering selling off its magazine division. Its remaining core businesses, movies and TV, are expected to turn bigger profits, even though they are in mature, slow-growth areas of the industry.

"Growth is challenging for us all," Horn admits. "So we're at least going to have to be as cost-efficient as possible so we can grow our profitability."

Warner is like a baseball team that's only signing superstar free agents instead of developing its own players, since for all its economic challenges, the specialty business has always been the best incubator for the next Martin Scorsese, Steven Soderbergh or Spike Lee.

Warners has clearly opted for brand over cinematic bravado -- its summer slate ("Speed Racer," "Sex and the City: The Movie," "Get Smart" and "The Dark Knight") is full of pre-sold franchises. It's a good way to make a lot of money, but it's not a way to make a lot of good movies.

--

The Big Picture runs every Tuesday in Calendar.

E-mail questions or ideas to patrick.goldstein@latimes .com.