The sound, that is, of the specialty film business landing in the basement.

I didn’t think things were that dire until I saw the numbers assembled by Variety’s box office guru, Pam McClintock. Box office totals to date for 2008 specialty films from the studio-owned art house divisions totaled $161 million to date, compared to $330 million last year and $418 million in 2006.

Little wonder that the acquisitions folks from these divisions heading for Toronto and other festivals show little desire to buy new movies for distribution. (Why are they going? You might ask.)

What these numbers say is simply this: In McClintock’s words, “The worst thing that ever happened to indie film was that the studios decided it was a good business.”

Her numbers include the studio units plus the Weinstein Co. They also include those New Line releases that do not fall into the bigger-budget category.

What’s responsible for these trends? The expectations of the studios for their art films were too high. Their production budgets were too lofty and their marketing budgets too ambitious.

But here’s a bigger question: The filmmakers out there aren’t coming through, either. There are more indie movies being made but, for some reason, they don’t reflect the passion and artistic clout of films of the ‘60s or ‘70s.

“The kids are all trying to be commercial and they’re falling on their faces,” says the chief of one of the specialty divisions who doesn’t want to be quoted.