Berney takes 'Orphanage' under his wing

October 26, 2007 Bob Berney pauses just a split second when asked if his December release "The Orphanage," a gothic chiller sure to send sales of Ambien skyrocketing, might have trouble simultaneously landing younger genre fans and older specialty audiences. It's a pause that hints at the marketing contradictions faced even by a decorated whiz like Berney, president of Picturehouse Entertainment. Previously at IFC and Newmarket, and now as the head of the HBO-New Line venture Picturehouse, Berney has made an art of divining new demos and giving them movies they never even knew they craved -- think the evangelicals who flocked to "The Passion of the Christ" or the multigenenerational and immigrant audiences of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding."

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