Despite Lack Of Docus On Big Screen, Non-Fiction Is Alive Theatrically As Concert Pics & Feature Source Material: Lionsgate EVP & Producers Deliberate At SXSW

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Many documentary filmmakers want their work on the big screen and not small. So, what gives? Why isn’t that happening? One could argue that we haven’t seen a doc boom in cinemas since 2018 which served up such breakouts as Won’t You Be My Neighbor ($22.8M), Three Identical Strangers ($12.3M) and RBG ($14M).

The pandemic is partially to blame as audiences have savored non-fiction stories on streaming, i.e. the Netflix series, Tiger King. “It’s not that it doesn’t work theatrically,” explained Lionsgate EVP Acquisitions and Co-Productions, Charlotte Koh who was part of the SXSW session “How to Tell True Stories: Narrative vs.

Documentary”. “It’s becoming more competitive to get people’s attention because there is so much documentary product out there that can be watched through streamers and other ways,” Koh added.

Also on the panel moderated by Variety documentary journalist Addie Morfoot were Bryan Mooser, the EP of the docu Diane Warren: Relentless, which is world premiering at the fest, and Prentice Penny, whose company A Penny For Your Thoughts Entertainment produced the Hulu docu-series, Black Twitter; another SXSW debut this year. “There are films that break through very rarely in theatrical, it does happen,” said Mooser about big screen docs, “It goes back to what works theatrically.