Patrick Goldstein posted a belief/suspicion two days ago that “the days of Focus Features are numbered.” For what it’s worth, I’ve been told by a reliable fellow that this simply isn’t true. Now and for the foreseeable future, he meant.
Goldstein suspects that “Universal will probably say, for now, that it’s committed to Focus’ survival. That’s because the company is about to launch Milk, its big end-of-the-year Oscar movie, whose campaign would be undermined if Focus looked like a lame duck. Expect Universal to wait until next spring, after Oscar season is over, before quietly announcing layoffs, signaling that Focus, like Paramount Vantage before it, will remain a label, but without its own marketing and distribution.”
