Indie Business News - Twilight boosts hopes for indie studio Summit

Have you read these giant vampire tomes all the kids are talking about? I haven’t yet but word is they are addictive for their twist on teen agnst in an angonizing I-can’t-touch-you-for-300-pages type of way. In indie film, the word is the books might just spiral into an extended film franchise for their indie producers at Summit Entertainment, and you know, franchise = spending money = new projects, better promotion…

“Anytime you have a possibility of a franchise, that’s the holy grail,” said Friedman, noting that even an opening-weekend figure of $20 million, on the very low end of the expected range, would put the company at the break-even given Summit’s revenue streams in areas like home video and foreign sales.

Many in the industry believe that given marketing costs, an opening in the $35 million-$40 million range — and a domestic theatrical total of at least $75 million — would be the demarcation for a success; it would have to exceed that to help pick up the company’s weaker performers this year.

“Twilight” also could influence things on the financial side. Summit relies on a revolving credit facility of $500 million led by Comerica and other banks. Like other entities, it can borrow at discounted bank rates in proportion to the take of new films; if it wants to borrow more money than the projected earnings for a movie, it must do so at higher equity rates. “How a movie like ‘Twilight’ does affects the kind of access a studio will have to money,” one film finance expert said.

Hollywood reporter

Here’s a little sneak peek with some interviews if you want to bone up on your Twilight pre-movie: