Why Saving the Theatrical Window is the Best News for Indie Filmmakers

If you’ve been tracking the box office over the last few weeks, you know that Obsession is rewriting the Hollywood rulebook.

We've covered this movie and its director, Curry Barker, a lot, and that's because I think it's kind of a seismic shift in the post-pandemic world.

It's completely shifted the conversation around theatrical and indies, and is laying new tracks for filmmakers.

For example, Paul Tassi recently reported for Forbes that NBCUniversal quietly yanked Obsession from its scheduled June 2 Premium Video on Demand (PVOD) debut to keep making money in movie theaters.

That's massive, because it shows a studio's faith in committing to at least a 45-day exclusive theatrical window for a movie that is crushing it with word of mouth and raking in money at the box office.

Let's dive in.

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The Death of the 17-Day Collapse

For the past few years, many indie filmmakers and mid-budget directors have been forced to accept a 17-day theatrical window because studios were trying to make as much money as they could upfront for a film.

They didn't believe in a box office with legs, and they thought the future was all on streaming, even though many people said it was a phase.

The whole idea was that if a movie doesn’t cross a certain box office threshold ($50 million for some places) right out of the gate, it gets fast-tracked to digital rental just over two weeks after hitting theaters.

But while this got them a lot of cash upfront sometimes, it felt like it was neutering the word of mouth around a film.

How could you find your audience and legs at the box office if, after the first couple weeks, it was gone?

Let Your Movie Breathe

As directors and writers, we know that indie films rely on word-of-mouth to get audiences to show up. A horror movie like Obsession lives and dies by audience reactions, social media hype, and people telling their friends, "You have to go see this in a crowded theater."

That's why I went to see it at 9 AM on a Sunday, and I was greeted with a packed theater of people there doing the same thing. __

Sometimes you just need a movie to have a ton of success to shake exes out of a stupor and get them to realize what everyone has been saying for a long time.

The Financial Reality

When you look at the trajectory of Obsession alongside the other major horror hit of the summer, A24's Backrooms , it's clear that greenlighting original ideas and theatrical distribution is the best way for movie studios to make money.

Just look at how these films have balanced a digital rollout with theatrical.

Data Source: Box Office Report / Forbes Editorial.

The Takeaway for Creators

The lesson here is simple: Don't let studios tell you that theatrical is dead for small films. Make movies that demand theb ig screen, and if you're a producer, have faith in your project to leg out. and get the world out about what movies people should be watching.

Obsession is a movie that's proving there's a big market for great movies out there. If you build it, the audiences will come.

Let me know what you think in the comments.