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Matt Donnelly
Chief Correspondent
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Courtesy Everett Collection / Matt Infante Movies developed and financed outside of the major studios and streamers have a massive hill to climb. It happens that Topic Studios, one such independent shop, has made it all the way up the Rockies — with some of the year’s buzziest films in tow.
On the ground at this weekend’s Telluride Film Festival in Colorado, Topic will show Jesse Eisenberg’s anticipated follow-up to “A Real Pain,” the Julianne Moore and Paul Giamatti dramedy “The Debut.” The studio will also let Jordan Firstman’s “Club Kid” out of the gate for the second time after enchanting the Cannes Film Festival in May. In a month, Black Bear will release Topic’s “Wicker” after a successful bow at Sundance in January. Founded in 2017, the company is a division of First Look Media and has been behind some of the most acclaimed projects of the past decade (including Pablo Larrain’s “Spencer,” Michael Angelo Covino’s “The Climb” and the Oscar-winning “Spotlight”). Variety caught up with Topic film and documentary head Ryan Heller to discuss the company’s secret sauce, surviving without M&A and what’s next.
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