Dropping the Bomb on Fox Atomic

When it became obvious that smaller boutique labels, most of which were inspired by the success of Miramax in the 1990s - were big business, the major studios created "independent" branches. They were still part of the big multi-headed corporate hydra, but they were designed to give us smaller films that could exist outside of the $100 budget realm. But very few of them have made the grade both financially and creatively. Warner Independent is done, as is Warner's Picturehouse. Universal has found success with Focus but sold Rogue a few months ago. Fox Searchlight is the gold standard, so it's strange that Fox Atomic would be dissolved just a couple years into its existence. Don't they have a better blueprint for success than they other guys? Still, Variety reports that Fox Atomic is dunzo, in part because it just wasn't that successful and in part because label head Peter Rice will now run Fox Broadcasting. But when you look at the stable of films released by Fox Atomic, only 28 Weeks Later and The Hills Have Eyes II made over $20 million, and the recent failures of Miss March and 12 Rounds couldn't have helped. Odds are Jennifer's Body and I Love You, Beth Cooper will go back into the fold at 20th Century Fox instead of Searchlight when they're released later this year. Oh, and this is curious: Atomic was developing 28 Months Later, which means that Fox proper will probably assume control of that project as well. Last year, Danny Boyle told me he'd be interested in directing the third film in that series after only producing Weeks.