Kimmel hands over ‘Management’ to Image Ent.

Despite the indie unit shutdowns, don’t be surprised if next year we see the same number of theatrical releases. Simply put: while the climate in shaky and buyers are cautionary, it is allowing for more folks especially from the home video sector to make a play for a bigger piece of the pie. After collecting enough positive buzz to round up several bids at the recent edition of TIFF, Image Entertainment’s pick up of indie rom com Management is a major opportunity to showcase a bonafide mainstream star and make a concentrated effort turn into a successful box office run. Image might be doing so via a deal with Samuel Goldwyn for a Spring 2009 release.

Stephen Belber’s rom com chronicles a chance meeting between Mike Cranshaw (Steve Zahn) and Sue Claussen (Aniston). When Sue checks into the roadside motel owned by Mike’s parents in Arizona, what starts with a bottle of wine “compliments of management” soon evolves into a multi-layered, cross-country journey of two people looking for a sense of purpose. Mike, an aimless dreamer, bets it all on a trip to Sue’s workplace in Maryland – only to find that she has no place for him in her carefully ordered life. Buttoned down and obsessed with making a difference in the world, Sue goes back to her yogurt mogul ex-boyfriend Jango (Woody Harrelson), who promises her a chance to head his charity operations. But having found something worth fighting for, Mike pits his hopes against Sue’s practicality, and the two embark on a twisted, bumpy, freeing journey to discover that their place in the world just might be together.