independent exhibitors take note

Pointed to this one by the folks from indieWire:  a good story on the use of clearances to keep art house/single screen theaters from getting top notch film fare.

There isn't a whole lot of recourse that independent theaters have when the freedom of contact allows large multiplex chains to request that the studios not license films to the small shops until they have gotten all that they can out of a first run.  And because they know where their bread is buttered, the studios comply.

This makes me think of how the changing distribution models for film might be impacted by an emerging openness to regional or even local releases of independent films....