Examples of Film Facts

KICKASS

Production Companies:

-          Marv Films

-          Plan B Entertainment

Distributors:

-          Universal Pictures

-          Lionsgate

Budget: $28million

Box Office (Gross Revenue): $106,125,903

THE KINGS SPEECH

Production Companies:

-          See-Saw Films

-          Bedlam Productions

Distributor: The Weinstein Company

Budget: £8 million

Box Office (Gross Revenue): $401,429,179

MOON

Production Companies:

-          Liberty Films UK

-          Xunga Films

-          Limelight Fund

-          Lunar Industries

Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics

Budget: £5million

Box Office (Gross Revenue): $5,009,677

TRON

Production Companies:

-          Walt Disney Productions

-          Lisberger/Kushner

Distributor: Buena

Budget: $17million

Box Office (Gross Revenue): £33million

AVATAR

Production Companies:

-          Lightstorm Entertainment

-          Dune Entertainment

-          Ingenius Film Partners

Distributor: 20^th Century Fox

Budget: $237million

-          $9 million+ (Re-release)

Box Office (Gross Revenue): $2,783,165,628

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

Production Companies:

-          Celador Films

-          Film4

-          Pathé Pictures International

Distributors:

-          Fox Searchlight Pictures

-          Warner Bros. Pictures

Budget: $15,000,000

Box Office (Gross Revenue): $141,319,195

The Seven Key Areas of Representation

♥ Social Class - Social classes are the hierarchical arrangements of people in society as economic or cultural groups. A person's social class reflects wealth, income, education, status and power. A person's occupation is generally used to indicate social class

♥ Gender - The state of being male or female (typically used with reference to social and cultural differences rather than biological ones)

♥ Sexuality

♥ Race/Ethnicity - The fact or state of belonging to a social group that has a common national or cultural tradition

♥ Age

♥ Regional Identity

♥ Disability

Posters: Films

The King's Speech Poster

Posters are another part of the marketing campaign designed to introduce an audience to the film. Displayed
in cinemas, bus stops, tube and railway stations or on billboards they are designed to catch the eye and convey a range of information to attract the viewer.

Future of the Media Industry

Film Release Patterns: Definitions

Wide Release - This is the most common release pattern that is released nationally in all markets. This pattern is used by the majors, since this type of release pattern requires a heavy investment in prints and national advertising. It has to reach all markets which is expensive. The producers and distributors can realize revenues to recoup their investment in a shorter time period (provided that the film is successful). Revenues from DVD sales can also be realized faster from a quickly-executed theatrical release (the shorter the time period between the theatrical release and the DVD release, the greater the potential for DVD income).

The Modified Wide Release - The film will open in a few major markets and expand week by week to build awareness and allow positive word-of-mouth reputation to develop. This type of release would initially be supported spot advertising (advertising in a specific geographical area, such as a city) and may move to national advertising once it expands to other markets.

Exclusive and Limited Runs - Exclusive and limited runs begin with engagements at a limited number of screens, traditionally in large urban areas, such as Toronto. Based on favourable reviews and positive word-of-mouth, the film may move slowly to additional theatres. This release pattern is almost always used for upscale 'art-house' or foreign films and may be part of a plat-forming strategy, where critical acclaim in an important market will assist in providing momentum for a wide release.

Territorial Saturation - (a territory is an geographical area in which the film is released, i.e. Europe, the UK, USA, etc.)
Territorial saturation involves saturating a territory with bookings, heavy advertising and promotion, before moving on to another territory. This method would be used for films tailored to specific markets. In Canada, this would be seen with French-language films, which primarily would be well-received only in Quebec. It is also used by independent distributors for exploitation or family movies.

Universal Release – the film is released in several countries on the same day. For instance a major blockbuster is sometimes released in the USA and the UK on the same date.

Film Distribution

After a film has been produced, it needs to be released in cinemas. Film Distributors are a company or an individual that are responsible for releasing the films to the public, by cinema or for home viewing (DVD, Video-On-Demand, Download, Television etc). A distributor may do this directly (if the distributor owns the theatres or distribution networks) or through theatrical exhibitors and other sub-distributors.

If a distributor is working with a theatrical exhibitor, the distributor secures a written contract stipulating the amount of the gross ticket sales to be paid to the distributor by the exhibitor (usually a percentage of the gross) after first deducting a "floor", which is called a "house allowance" (also known as the "nut"), collects the amount due, audits the exhibitor's ticket sales as necessary to ensure the gross reported by the exhibitor is accurate, secures the distributor's share of these proceeds, and transmits the remainder to the production company (or to any other intermediary, such as a film release agent).

The distributor must also ensure that enough film prints are struck to service all contracted exhibitors on the contract-based opening day, ensure their physical delivery to the theatre by the opening day, monitor exhibitors to make sure the film is in fact shown in the particular theatre with the minimum number of seats and show times, and ensure the prints' return to the distributor's office or other storage resource also on the contract-based return date. In practical terms, this includes the physical production of film prints and their shipping around the world (a process that is beginning to be replaced by digital distribution) as well as the creation of posters, newspaper and magazine advertisements, television commercials, trailers, and other types of ads.

Furthermore, the distributor is responsible for ensuring a full line of film advertising material is available on each film which it believes will help the exhibitor attract the largest possible audience, create such advertising if it is not provided by the production company, and arrange for the physical delivery of the advertising items selected by the exhibitor at intervals prior to the opening day.

Film Distribution: Motherhood

It’s called ‘Motherhood’, stars Academy Award nominee Uma Thurman, UK star Minnie Driver, and TV show ‘ER’ helmer Anthony Edwards.

The plot outline for the film is: In Manhattan, a mother of two preparing for her daughter's sixth birthday party has no idea of the challenges she's about to face in order to pull off the event.

The total UK Theatrical Box Office for ‘Motherhood’ was $131 (£86) for just one weekend. Less than ten people in the whole of the UK actually bought tickets. Of which the tax man will take 17.5% of that £86 (VAT), the theatre will take 75% of the remaining, leaving nothing for the film makers. The film makers don’t get anything until the distributor has recouped thousands of pounds first, and take their fee for releasing it. Distributors, like the cinema owners, are not in business to cash flow any film, nor are they in business to lose money.

Distributors explained that Motherhood was not a hit because:
• The film is not very good (though it’s not terrible either)
• The film was released in one cinema in London only. Very little PR was done
• This limited release is a tactic to gain exposure and reviews for DVD, VOD and TV sales. They expected to do very little business in theatres (though maybe not this little)
• The distributor may have been contractually bound to release the film in theatres when in fact, it should never have appeared in theatres (but the film maker demanded it), therefore they did the minimum needed to fulfil their end of the deal.
• The DVD was released on the same day as the theatrical release (figures not available yet, but let’s not jump to any conclusions).
Metrodome released the film and their very own James Brown gave a presentation at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School. He said:
• The GFC (Global Financial Crisis) has killed UK distribution, which is on life support. Retailers are going out of business. There is no theatrical audience over the age of 35 in the UK.
• In the UK, the audiences for theatrical and video are distinct. This means that, for example, you can make UKP 2.4 million on Broken Embraces at the box-office, but only ship 1,000 DVD's. Or UKP 800,000 on Away We Go and only ship 800 copies of the DVD in the 1st month. Conversely, it means there are massive DVD audiences for films which would not warrant a theatrical release.
• His main message: "I'm here to give you permission to make commercial crap to fund your passion project".