Both Warner Independent Pictures and Picturehouse will be closed down, Time Warner, their corporate parent said this Thursday. WIP and Picturehouse are both specialty arms of Warner Bros and New Line Cinema, respectively, and they focus on movies with budget usually under $30 million.

"With New Line now a key part of Warner Bros., we're able to handle films across the entire spectrum of genres and budgets without overlapping production, marketing and distribution infrastructures. After much painstaking analysis, this was a difficult decision to make, but it reflects the reality of a changing marketplace and our need to prudently run our businesses with increased efficiencies. We're confident that the spirit of independent filmmaking and the opportunity to find and give a voice to new talent will continue to have a presence at Warner Bros." -- Alan Horn, President and COO of Warner Bros.

When Warner Bros absorbed New Line within its fold, it was expected that the two specialty arms will either merge or one of them will be shut down. But it turned out both will be shuttered.

Perhaps we should have seen this coming when President and CEO of Time Warner said this in his message to shareholders,

"Making cost management a continuing commitment, we're extending this discipline across all of our operations. Our decision to combine Time Warner's film studios, for example, will enable New Line Cinema to achieve significant savings in overhead by taking full advantage of Warner Bros.' infrastructure."

We now know how committed to "cost management" Time Warner is. With this move, it looks like Warner Bros is no longer chasing Oscar gold, but gold of a different color.

Here is Variety's coverage.

Tip to Deadlinehollywooddaily.com.