ThinkFilm: Following an eclectic path

ThinkFilm unveiled 21 films last year, and its biggest grosser also was its biggest critical hit, "Half Nelson," directed by Ryan Fleck and starring Ryan Gosling. Boasting stellar performances, the film grossed $2.7 million. ThinkFilm also bought the Comedy Central-series adaptation "Strangers With Candy" from Warner Independent Pictures and took it to $2 million. ThinkFilm rang up slightly more than $1.9 million from the sexually explicit "Shortbus" and another $1.6 million for the much less controversial British comedy "Keeping Mum." But more than a third of ThinkFilm's 21 releases grossed in the five figures, including its day-and-date Web/theater release with ClickStar, "10 Items or Less," despite such stars as Heath Ledger, Morgan Freeman and Nick Nolte.