BIG NEWS YOU WON’T HEAR ANYWHERE ELSE!!!!

Geez, were the cinetrix and Filmbrain sitting around watching Variety in anticipation of the big breaking news? Both of them posted last night (as did The Movie Blog) last night … not long after the news hit the Variety web site. To be fair, though, those kings of inside indie info, the indieWire Insider, had it first … before 8 PM no less.

I don’t really need to say what I’m talking about, do I? The little movie directed by the really big guy that won Cannes? Oh fine: Fahrenheit 9/11. You happy? I said it. So I don’t really have that much to add, except that the cinetrix’s take is by far the best (as usual). Filmbrain takes a closer look at the name The Weinsteins bestowed upon their new shingle, and Anthony Kaufman goes even deeper in examining all the parallels between this distribution deal and The Lord of the Rings, thanks to Michael Moore’s statement:

With Frodo (Harvey) and Sam (Bob) now in charge of the Fellowship, I welcome the addition of Lions Gate and IFC to our quest in bringing good family entertainment to the viewing public.

The interesting thing to me about this deal according to the Variety story (subscription req’d) is that Showtime has already secured pay cable rights for the film thanks to their regular output deal with Lions Gate, but IFC Films — another partner in this distribution deal — did not manage to capture the basic cable rights for its sibling basic cable channel whose name it carries — the Independent Film Channel, i.e., the IFC in IFC Films. I would think that would be the most important part of any deal for IFC Films and for the Weinsteins. Why else would they need both Lions Gate and IFC?

Also, back to the Frodo and Sam comparison … does anyone think the Brothers W would fight over who should get to be whom? I mean, Frodo is the main focus of much of the story and the caretaker of the ring, but ultimately, doesn’t Sam become the real hero? What with his unconditional love and friendship, and always working behind the scenes to save Frodo, and ultimately saving Frodo from the power of the ring itself, even if Frodo will still get most of the glory?

Hey … wait a minute ….

(Psst: indieWIRE has a full story on the, uhm, story too now.)