Uhmm yes and no.
A lot of the big studios have interests in the smaller indy films now which are growing pretty well and are featuring more and more talented people. So while you won't see movies like the Godfather today, you can find amazing films in select theatres. Anyway, aside from making money from the indy movies, whenever those indy movies receive a great response they are moved onto major theaters (Lost in Translation and Sideways). The people often making the decisions are the investment bankers who have very reliable models that determine whether a movie would get good reception and make money based on previous movies; if the film sucks, they won't provide financing.
Also what this piece doesn't talk about is that the studios have focused more on certain money producing ventures (like releasing DVDs that are cheap to produce but bring in a lot of money).
Anyway, my next pick for a great big-screen movie is Proof. It's a play based on UChicago and shot there.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0377107/
-Rudey
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