Focus Features’ international distribution arm will close at the end of the year, the studio said Wednesday. Focus parent company Universal will handle international distribution for certain films while others will be handled by outside international sales agents.
Focus Features International has 16 employees who will continue to handle sales at this year’s American Film Market. Their fate beyond the closure of FFI remains unclear, but many Focus employees have already lost their jobs as part of Universal’s overhaul of the specialty label.
Also read: The New Focus Features: FilmDistrict With a Different Name
Focus merged with FilmDistrict earlier this fall as Universal replaced Focus CEO James Schamus with FilmDistrict CEO Peter Schlessel. The studio installed most of FilmDistrict’s management team atop Focus and relocated the company to Los Angeles.
The new Focus will make more movies – and more commercial movies. Focus produced and distributed arthouse movies, some of which had commerical appeal. FilmDistrict released genre fare with mass appeal like “Insidious” and “Olympus Has Fallen.”