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AJ Schnack has written a great post on the so-called “doc depression”. And no, we’re not talking about the emotional trauma that follows a screening of Lake Of Fire--though “depressing” documentaries likely have something to do with it, this depression is purely financial.

Only three nonfiction films are on track to gross a million dollars or more this year, making it the slowest year for documentary box office since 2001. There are are lot of potential factors–the always handy Iraq/political fatigue; the fact that studios and their indie arms are mainly distributing docs with name-brand directors (which, if you take Man From Plains‘ opening weekend as evidence, are less than safe bets); the unfortunate reality that docs that are winning awards at festivals are not getting picked up by powerful distributors, and thus, if they’re entering the marketplace at all, they’re relying on grassroots promotions to slowly build a successful run–but I think AJ’s really on to something when he cites the logjam that has become the fall release schedule:

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Under discussion:

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead  (2007)

• indieWIRE broke big acquisition news over the weekend: Having seen just a script and a two-minute show reel, up-and-coming distribution force Summit Entertainment has purchased Rian Johnson’s unfinished The Brothers Bloom. The film was expected to open and be offered for sale at Sundance, but fears over an unpredictable buying season convinced the filmmakers to allow Summit to take Bloom off the market. Exact numbers weren’t disclosed, but the resulting deal is surely much bigger than anything that’s been seen in the recent festival market; Eugene Hernandez says it “may ultimately be valued at more than $20 million.”
• A gimme headline, no slanguage required: Saw IV butchers competition. At Variety, the sequel’s $32 million bow is a shot in the face to the “conventional wisdom that hardcore horror no longer works.” The Hollywood Reporter notes that, above and beyond a victory for torture porn, this is a victory for indie studio Lionsgate, who have now had three number one hits in the past two months.
• Meanwhile, for all the grumbling over the sluggish specialty division market, Sidney Lumet’s Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead opened huge in limited release this weekend, netting $36,750 on each of its two New York screens. We’ll see how word of mouth carries through its expansion; the people I sat next to at brunch on Saturday said they preferred Before Sunset, whatever that means.
• Warner Brothers has hired WB TV network survivor Greg Berlanti to direct Green Lantern. Berlanti was a writer and executive producer on Everwood and Dawson’s Creek, which I guess makes him uniquely qualified to tell the story of “an ordinary man who has been charged with defending a sector of the universe” … ? Anyway, do not confuse Green Lantern with Green Hornet, which, as far as we know, Seth Rogen is still on board to write and star in.
• The president of Libya, Moammar Gadhafi, is financing a film about the Italian occupation of his country. Just the press conference to announce the project is said to cost $400,000.