Regent Releasing, which is distributing Shocked and will release Poster Boy next weekend, also has the gay comedy The Mostly Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan Green still in theaters. Unfabulous is now in its eighth week of release and had grossed US$113,153 million as of Sunday.
But many gay films have trouble being booked anywhere except at art house theaters because they lack backing such as that Brokeback got from Universal Pictures' specialty film division Focus Features.
“The average multiplexes at the neighborhood malls are making their decisions pretty much on supply from major studios,” said Regent Releasing founder and chairman Paul Colichman, producer of Gods and Monsters, Tom & Viv and other indie films. “If major studios are marketing a film with major stars, they'll probably take it. They take what is given to them, more or less. For a gay indie film theatrically, the art houses are critically important.”
Maria Maggenti, whose first lesbian film, The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love, had a successful theatrical run 10 years ago, is hoping her second big-screen directorial effort, Puccini for Beginners, will have similar good fortune.
But she is anything but overconfident.
“I think society at large has become more accepting in a lot of ways in terms of mainstream media. But the film business, in terms of distribution outlets, has shrunk, so it's a lot harder,” she said.
Still, Colichman said any kind of buzz from a theatrical run or film festival can set a movie up well for ancillary markets as DVD and video on demand.
Regent Releasing will debut Shocked simultaneously on its Here! pay television channel and in its limited theatrical run.
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