In the late 1890s, British film pioneer William Friese-Greene filed a patent for a 3-D movie process.
Two 30-minute Nazi propaganda films shot in 3D in Germany in 1936 were found in Berlin’s Federal Archives in 2011. By 2004, 54% (133 theaters of 248) of the IMAX community was 3D-capable.
3D film has resurged a number of times over the past 100 years; in 1952–1955, 1960, 1985 and 2009.
2011 has shown a considerable decline in audience interest in 3-D presentation. For instance, only 45% of the premiere weekend box office earnings of Kung Fu Panda 2 came from screenings in the 3D presentation format as opposed to 60% for Shrek Forever After in 2010.
A major criticism of 3D is that many of the movies in the 21st century to date were not filmed in 3D, but converted after filming. Filmmakers who have criticized this process include James Cameron, whose film Avatar was created in 3D from the ground up and is largely credited with the revival of 3-D.
Director Christopher Nolan has criticised the notion that traditional film does not allow depth perception, saying "I think it's a misnomer to call it 3D versus 2D. The whole point of cinematic imagery is it's three dimensional... You know 95% of our depth cues come from occlusion, resolution, color and so forth, so the idea of calling a 2D movie a '2D movie' is a little misleading."
Some films, like "Piranha 3D" have been accused of being made specifically to cash in on the hype around 3D.
Four of the biggest box-office films (Beauty and the Beast, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Titanic and Finding Nemo) will all be re-released in 3-D in 2012.
Monday 30 January 2012
Saturday 28 January 2012
Film and Piracy
According to a report from the website TorrentFreak, 'Avatar' -- the highest grossing movie ever -- is the most pirated movie of all time. The film has been illegally downloaded 21 million times, two million more than runner-ups 'The Dark Knight' and 'Transformers.'
The MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) has consistently tried to get The Pirate Bay closed down but has always being thwarted by fact that The Pirate Bay’s base of operations is in Sweden, out of the jurisdiction of U.S. copyright law.
CASE STUDY: The Dark Knight
Box office gross: Over $1 billion ($158.4 million in the first weekend). Also sold 3 million copies on DVD on its first day of release in the U.S., Canada, and the UK and managed record Blu-ray sales.
With 'The Dark Knight,' Warner Bros. devoted six months to an anti-piracy strategy that involved tracking the people who had a pre-release copy of the film at any one time. The film was always guaranteed to be a hit, but studio executives knew that an early leak of the film to online sources could prevent the record-breaking opening weekend that ended up becoming a reality. Shipping and delivery schedules were also staggered and spot checks were carried out both domestically and overseas to ensure illegal copying of the film was not taking place in cinemas. Despite all this, a pirated copy was released on the Web approximately 38 hours after the film's release. BitTorrent search engine The Pirate Bay taunted the movie industry over its ability to provide the movie free, replacing its logo with a taunting message.
However, Darcy Antonellis, president of Warner’s distribution and technical operations told the LA Times that the first weekend is important to ensure a film's success and the 38-hour delay between release and free pirated availiability was very important:
“One of the reasons why it’s so important to try to protect the first weekend is that it prevents the pirate supply chain from starting... A day or two becomes really, really significant. You’ve delayed disc manufacturing that then delays distribution, which then delays those discs from ending up on street corners for sale.”
(source: http://www.webtvwire.com/batman-the-dark-knight-movie-how-warner-bros-stopped-film-leaking-to-internet/ )
The MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) has consistently tried to get The Pirate Bay closed down but has always being thwarted by fact that The Pirate Bay’s base of operations is in Sweden, out of the jurisdiction of U.S. copyright law.
CASE STUDY: The Dark Knight
Box office gross: Over $1 billion ($158.4 million in the first weekend). Also sold 3 million copies on DVD on its first day of release in the U.S., Canada, and the UK and managed record Blu-ray sales.
With 'The Dark Knight,' Warner Bros. devoted six months to an anti-piracy strategy that involved tracking the people who had a pre-release copy of the film at any one time. The film was always guaranteed to be a hit, but studio executives knew that an early leak of the film to online sources could prevent the record-breaking opening weekend that ended up becoming a reality. Shipping and delivery schedules were also staggered and spot checks were carried out both domestically and overseas to ensure illegal copying of the film was not taking place in cinemas. Despite all this, a pirated copy was released on the Web approximately 38 hours after the film's release. BitTorrent search engine The Pirate Bay taunted the movie industry over its ability to provide the movie free, replacing its logo with a taunting message.
However, Darcy Antonellis, president of Warner’s distribution and technical operations told the LA Times that the first weekend is important to ensure a film's success and the 38-hour delay between release and free pirated availiability was very important:
“One of the reasons why it’s so important to try to protect the first weekend is that it prevents the pirate supply chain from starting... A day or two becomes really, really significant. You’ve delayed disc manufacturing that then delays distribution, which then delays those discs from ending up on street corners for sale.”
(source: http://www.webtvwire.com/batman-the-dark-knight-movie-how-warner-bros-stopped-film-leaking-to-internet/ )
Friday 27 January 2012
Media Technology and Film Research
1976 - Year VHS launched
1996 - DVD is launched in Japan, followed by USA release in 1997 and Europe release in 1998.
2006 - Blu-ray Disc launched
Home-entertainment Wars
Two major conflicts have arisen throughout the past 40 years over home entertainment between alternate formats and ways to watch film:
-Videotape format war (1970s-80s): Battle between Sony's Beta and JCV's VHS video cassette systems for who had dominat use over the market. Although higher quality, standard Betamax tapes recording span lasted 60 minutes— not long enough to record a movie. Conversely, the 3-hour VHS tapes were perfect for recording television programmes and movies. Sony adopted changes too late and thus lost the war. The issue of recording time is often cited as the most defining factor in the war.
Both Betamax and VHS were later rendered useless with digital technology such as DVD; VHS ceased to be a format for major film releases in 2006.
-HD DVD vs. Blu-ray (2006-8): Battle for HD home entertainment between HD DVD and Blu Ray (both launched in 2006). In 2008, major content manufacturers and key retailers began withdrawing their support for the format after the manufacture and devlopement of Blu Ray disks became cheaper and more efficent.
On-Demand Streaming and the Digital Revolution:
With the emergence of fast internet connection on a wide-access scale in the early to mid-2000s, video streaming websites like Youtube became popular for accessing and watching video clips.
Youtube was launched on February 14, 2005 and in October 2006, the website was purchased by media-giant Google for $1.65 billion. Despite asking users not to upload copyright material, Organizations including Viacom, Mediaset, and the English Premier League have filed lawsuits against YouTube for the upload of such material. Viacom, demanding $1 billion in damages, said that it had found more than 150,000 unauthorized clips of its material on YouTube that had been viewed "an astounding 1.5 billion times".
However, some companies, particually the music industry, have used this website to its advantage. Vevo offers music videos from three of the 'big four' major record labels: Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, and EMI and is part of the Youtube video website. There are more than 45,000 videos available on Vevo for viewing in most countries.
However, the film industry is yet to launch a similar format on Youtube for taking advantage of the Youtube audience, only really making money through uploading adverts on offical film trailer accounts.
Netflix is an example of an emerging film-streaming website. According to its offical website, Netflix more than 20 million streaming members at the end of September 2011.
What the website offers is a membership fee of £5.99 a month in exchange for unlimited film and TV show viewing. Initially, the feature offered subscribers one hour of media for approximately every dollar they spent on their subscription but this was lifted in January 2008.
In September 2006 iTunes progressed to selling full-length films, an alternate form of pay-for-viewing films from an online source. iTunes also gives the option of renting movies, which began in January 2008. Once a rental is downloaded the viewer has thirty days to watch the movie before it expires and once the viewer begins to watch the movie he/she has twenty-four hours to finish the movie before the file expires the useage period.
Alternatively, film-rental sites that send copies of the film physically via post or download, such as LoveFilm, are becoming popular. At the end of 2011, LoveFilm claimed to have over 1,500,000 members, over 70,000 titles, and over 4 million rentals per month across five countries. Through a series of mergers and acquisitions, LoveFilm has, in a few years, become the leading online DVD rental outlet in the UK and across Europe.
Film rental has changed considerably over the past decade; Blockbuster (founded in 1985) has undergone significant revenue losses due to LoveFilm's popularity. On September 23, 2010, Blockbuster filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection due to challenging losses, $900 million in debt, and strong competition from Netflix, Redbox, and video on-demand services.
Other physical suppliers of film have been facing difficulty for a number of reasons, including competition from online sources.
On Christmas Eve, 24 December 2008, the "Zavvi UK" group went into administration owing to the loss of its supplier, as the company was unable to source stock in its usual way. The visual media department primarily consisted of DVDs. By March 2008, with the demise of the HD DVD format, Zavvi stores only stocked the Blu-ray High-definition video format. The company has since reopened exclusively as a website at www.zavvi.com.
HMV, an entertainment retailer that supplies films on DVD and Blu Ray format. currently faces a £180m debt. HMV and Zavvi are two examples of a trend that has effected the entertainment-supplying market along with the highstreet as a whole; a recession-hit public has stopped buying as much lesuire products such as films to save money. As a result of this causing less profit, a rise in production prices and inflation, prices rise and thus fewer and fewer products are bought.
Such issues have claimed the lives of retailers Zavvi and Woolworths that both supplied films to the public.
Facts:
-In 2010, 80% of American Internet users had watched video online.
-142 paying VOD services were operational in Europe at the end of 2006 increasing to 650 by 2009.
-Movie piracy alone has cost the United States economy $20.5 billion per year in loss of business, jobs, wages and taxes, according to a recent market study.
-In the UK, Piracy generates £200m a year for criminals
1996 - DVD is launched in Japan, followed by USA release in 1997 and Europe release in 1998.
2006 - Blu-ray Disc launched
Home-entertainment Wars
Two major conflicts have arisen throughout the past 40 years over home entertainment between alternate formats and ways to watch film:
-Videotape format war (1970s-80s): Battle between Sony's Beta and JCV's VHS video cassette systems for who had dominat use over the market. Although higher quality, standard Betamax tapes recording span lasted 60 minutes— not long enough to record a movie. Conversely, the 3-hour VHS tapes were perfect for recording television programmes and movies. Sony adopted changes too late and thus lost the war. The issue of recording time is often cited as the most defining factor in the war.
Both Betamax and VHS were later rendered useless with digital technology such as DVD; VHS ceased to be a format for major film releases in 2006.
-HD DVD vs. Blu-ray (2006-8): Battle for HD home entertainment between HD DVD and Blu Ray (both launched in 2006). In 2008, major content manufacturers and key retailers began withdrawing their support for the format after the manufacture and devlopement of Blu Ray disks became cheaper and more efficent.
On-Demand Streaming and the Digital Revolution:
With the emergence of fast internet connection on a wide-access scale in the early to mid-2000s, video streaming websites like Youtube became popular for accessing and watching video clips.
Youtube was launched on February 14, 2005 and in October 2006, the website was purchased by media-giant Google for $1.65 billion. Despite asking users not to upload copyright material, Organizations including Viacom, Mediaset, and the English Premier League have filed lawsuits against YouTube for the upload of such material. Viacom, demanding $1 billion in damages, said that it had found more than 150,000 unauthorized clips of its material on YouTube that had been viewed "an astounding 1.5 billion times".
However, some companies, particually the music industry, have used this website to its advantage. Vevo offers music videos from three of the 'big four' major record labels: Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, and EMI and is part of the Youtube video website. There are more than 45,000 videos available on Vevo for viewing in most countries.
However, the film industry is yet to launch a similar format on Youtube for taking advantage of the Youtube audience, only really making money through uploading adverts on offical film trailer accounts.
Netflix is an example of an emerging film-streaming website. According to its offical website, Netflix more than 20 million streaming members at the end of September 2011.
What the website offers is a membership fee of £5.99 a month in exchange for unlimited film and TV show viewing. Initially, the feature offered subscribers one hour of media for approximately every dollar they spent on their subscription but this was lifted in January 2008.
In September 2006 iTunes progressed to selling full-length films, an alternate form of pay-for-viewing films from an online source. iTunes also gives the option of renting movies, which began in January 2008. Once a rental is downloaded the viewer has thirty days to watch the movie before it expires and once the viewer begins to watch the movie he/she has twenty-four hours to finish the movie before the file expires the useage period.
Alternatively, film-rental sites that send copies of the film physically via post or download, such as LoveFilm, are becoming popular. At the end of 2011, LoveFilm claimed to have over 1,500,000 members, over 70,000 titles, and over 4 million rentals per month across five countries. Through a series of mergers and acquisitions, LoveFilm has, in a few years, become the leading online DVD rental outlet in the UK and across Europe.
Film rental has changed considerably over the past decade; Blockbuster (founded in 1985) has undergone significant revenue losses due to LoveFilm's popularity. On September 23, 2010, Blockbuster filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection due to challenging losses, $900 million in debt, and strong competition from Netflix, Redbox, and video on-demand services.
Other physical suppliers of film have been facing difficulty for a number of reasons, including competition from online sources.
On Christmas Eve, 24 December 2008, the "Zavvi UK" group went into administration owing to the loss of its supplier, as the company was unable to source stock in its usual way. The visual media department primarily consisted of DVDs. By March 2008, with the demise of the HD DVD format, Zavvi stores only stocked the Blu-ray High-definition video format. The company has since reopened exclusively as a website at www.zavvi.com.
HMV, an entertainment retailer that supplies films on DVD and Blu Ray format. currently faces a £180m debt. HMV and Zavvi are two examples of a trend that has effected the entertainment-supplying market along with the highstreet as a whole; a recession-hit public has stopped buying as much lesuire products such as films to save money. As a result of this causing less profit, a rise in production prices and inflation, prices rise and thus fewer and fewer products are bought.
Such issues have claimed the lives of retailers Zavvi and Woolworths that both supplied films to the public.
Facts:
-In 2010, 80% of American Internet users had watched video online.
-142 paying VOD services were operational in Europe at the end of 2006 increasing to 650 by 2009.
-Movie piracy alone has cost the United States economy $20.5 billion per year in loss of business, jobs, wages and taxes, according to a recent market study.
-In the UK, Piracy generates £200m a year for criminals
Sunday 22 January 2012
Film Distribution Example
INCEPTION
UK Distribution: Warner Bros. UK
Budget (Advertising): $100 Million
Notable cast/crew used for advertising (i.e. interviews): Christopher Nolan (Director), Leonardo DiCaprio
Press Agents: Eugénie Pont, Carole Chomand, Sabri Ammar, Caroline Marechal.
Trailers: http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/inception/trailers/ (Includes teaser and several different standard trailer clips).
Sue Kroll, president of Warner's worldwide marketing, said the company believed Inception could gain awareness due to the strength of "Christopher Nolan as a brand".
After the revelation of the first teaser trailer in August 2009, the film's official website featured only an animation of Cobb's spinning top. In December, the top toppled over and the website opened the online game Mind Crime, which upon completion revealed Inception's poster.
More pieces of viral marketing began to surface before Inception's release, such as a manual filled with bizarre images and text sent to Wired magazine, and the online publication of posters, ads, phone applications, and strange websites all related to the film. Warner also released an online prequel comic, Inception: The Cobol Job.
The official trailer released on May 10, 2010 through Mind Game. On June 7, 2010, a behind-the-scenes featurette on the film was released in HD on Yahoo! Movies.
UK Distribution: Warner Bros. UK
Budget (Advertising): $100 Million
Notable cast/crew used for advertising (i.e. interviews): Christopher Nolan (Director), Leonardo DiCaprio
Press Agents: Eugénie Pont, Carole Chomand, Sabri Ammar, Caroline Marechal.
Trailers: http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/inception/trailers/ (Includes teaser and several different standard trailer clips).
Sue Kroll, president of Warner's worldwide marketing, said the company believed Inception could gain awareness due to the strength of "Christopher Nolan as a brand".
After the revelation of the first teaser trailer in August 2009, the film's official website featured only an animation of Cobb's spinning top. In December, the top toppled over and the website opened the online game Mind Crime, which upon completion revealed Inception's poster.
More pieces of viral marketing began to surface before Inception's release, such as a manual filled with bizarre images and text sent to Wired magazine, and the online publication of posters, ads, phone applications, and strange websites all related to the film. Warner also released an online prequel comic, Inception: The Cobol Job.
The official trailer released on May 10, 2010 through Mind Game. On June 7, 2010, a behind-the-scenes featurette on the film was released in HD on Yahoo! Movies.
Monday 16 January 2012
Golden Globes 2012
Winners
Best Drama
The Descendants
Best Comedy/Musical
The Artist
Best Animated Film
The Adventures of TinTin
Best Actor in a Drama
George Clooney, The Descendants
Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical
Jean Dujardin, The Artist
Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture
Christopher Plummer, Beginners
Best Actress in a Drama
Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy
Michelle Williams, My Week with Marilyn
Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture
Octavia Spencer, The Help
Best Director
Martin Scorsese, Hugo
Best Screenplay
Midnight in Paris, Woody Allen
Best Score - Motion Picture
The Artist - Ludovic Bource
Best Original Song - Motion Picture
"Masterpiece" - Madonna
Best Foreign Language Film
A Separation, Iran
Cecil B. Demille Award
Morgan Freeman
Television
Best TV Comedy or Musical
Modern Family
Best Television Series - Drama
Homeland
Best Mini-Series
Downton Abbey
Best Actor in a TV Drama
Kelsey Grammer, Boss
Best Actor in a TV Musical or Comedy
Matt LeBlanc, Episodes
Best Supporting Actor in TV Series, Mini-Series, or Made-for-TV Movie
Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones
Best Actress in a TV Drama
Claire Danes, Homeland
Best Actress in a TV Musical or Comedy
Laura Dern, Enlightened
Best Supporting Actress in TV Series, Mini-Series, or Made-for-TV Movie
Jessica Lange, American Horror Story
Best Actor in a TV Movie
Idris Elba, Luther
Best Actress in a TV Movie
Kate Winslet, Mildred Pierce
20th Century Fox did best at the award ceremony, winning two awards (not counting awards for actors or directors). However, one of these awards was for best television series.
No film was the overall winner at the ceremony, but George Cloony won two awards for his film "The Descendants" (best drama film) and Clooney himself received the best actor in a drama film award. The film "The Artist" won three awards.
The Golden Globe Award is an accolade awarded by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA); these members HFPA members attend more than 300 interviews and countless movie and television screenings throughout each year. None of these active members were from the United States (source http://www.goldenglobes.org/hfpa_members/ )
The broadcast of the Golden Globe Awards, telecast to 167 countries worldwide, generally ranks as the third most-watched awards show each year, behind only the Oscars and the Grammy Awards.
Revenues generated from the annual ceremony have enabled the Hollywood Foreign Press Association to donate millions of dollars to entertainment-related charities.
Six of the top seven highest-grossing films worldwide of all time have some British historical, cultural or creative dimensions: Titanic, The Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean and the Harry Potter films. The second culturally American film on the list, Star Wars at number 9, was filmed principally in the UK. Adding four more Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings films, plus three about a Scottish ogre in British fairy tale setting (Shrek), and about two-thirds of the top twenty most commercial films, with combined cinema revenues of about $13 billion, had a substantial British dimension.
Best Drama
The Descendants
Best Comedy/Musical
The Artist
Best Animated Film
The Adventures of TinTin
Best Actor in a Drama
George Clooney, The Descendants
Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical
Jean Dujardin, The Artist
Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture
Christopher Plummer, Beginners
Best Actress in a Drama
Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy
Michelle Williams, My Week with Marilyn
Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture
Octavia Spencer, The Help
Best Director
Martin Scorsese, Hugo
Best Screenplay
Midnight in Paris, Woody Allen
Best Score - Motion Picture
The Artist - Ludovic Bource
Best Original Song - Motion Picture
"Masterpiece" - Madonna
Best Foreign Language Film
A Separation, Iran
Cecil B. Demille Award
Morgan Freeman
Television
Best TV Comedy or Musical
Modern Family
Best Television Series - Drama
Homeland
Best Mini-Series
Downton Abbey
Best Actor in a TV Drama
Kelsey Grammer, Boss
Best Actor in a TV Musical or Comedy
Matt LeBlanc, Episodes
Best Supporting Actor in TV Series, Mini-Series, or Made-for-TV Movie
Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones
Best Actress in a TV Drama
Claire Danes, Homeland
Best Actress in a TV Musical or Comedy
Laura Dern, Enlightened
Best Supporting Actress in TV Series, Mini-Series, or Made-for-TV Movie
Jessica Lange, American Horror Story
Best Actor in a TV Movie
Idris Elba, Luther
Best Actress in a TV Movie
Kate Winslet, Mildred Pierce
20th Century Fox did best at the award ceremony, winning two awards (not counting awards for actors or directors). However, one of these awards was for best television series.
No film was the overall winner at the ceremony, but George Cloony won two awards for his film "The Descendants" (best drama film) and Clooney himself received the best actor in a drama film award. The film "The Artist" won three awards.
The Golden Globe Award is an accolade awarded by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA); these members HFPA members attend more than 300 interviews and countless movie and television screenings throughout each year. None of these active members were from the United States (source http://www.goldenglobes.org/hfpa_members/ )
The broadcast of the Golden Globe Awards, telecast to 167 countries worldwide, generally ranks as the third most-watched awards show each year, behind only the Oscars and the Grammy Awards.
Revenues generated from the annual ceremony have enabled the Hollywood Foreign Press Association to donate millions of dollars to entertainment-related charities.
Six of the top seven highest-grossing films worldwide of all time have some British historical, cultural or creative dimensions: Titanic, The Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean and the Harry Potter films. The second culturally American film on the list, Star Wars at number 9, was filmed principally in the UK. Adding four more Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings films, plus three about a Scottish ogre in British fairy tale setting (Shrek), and about two-thirds of the top twenty most commercial films, with combined cinema revenues of about $13 billion, had a substantial British dimension.
Friday 13 January 2012
Tuesday 10 January 2012
Film Industry info...
None of the 20 Most Profitable Movies (Based on Absolute Profit on Worldwide Gross) are above the age recommendation of PG-13 (source: http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/records/budgets.php). 5 of these films are child-friendly animations (such as The Lion King) aimed at a family audience.
12 of the 20 films are part of a series (such as Harry Potter, Star Wars and Lord Of The Rings).
However, the most profitable movies based on investment return tend to be low-budget horror movies, such as Paranormal Activity which were produced independantly on a low-budget and became mainstream oftern by the movie being distributed by a powerful distributor such as Dreamworks.
12 of the 20 films are part of a series (such as Harry Potter, Star Wars and Lord Of The Rings).
However, the most profitable movies based on investment return tend to be low-budget horror movies, such as Paranormal Activity which were produced independantly on a low-budget and became mainstream oftern by the movie being distributed by a powerful distributor such as Dreamworks.
Monday 9 January 2012
Film Production, Distribution and Audiences
Film Production and Distribution
The top 10 film distributors owned 93.7% of the 2010 market share in 2010. The top 6 distributors are known as "The Majors" and they dominate the UK and US film market; these companies own over 80% of the film distribution market themselves. The top majors are Warner Bros (18.3% with 31 films released) and 20th Century Fox (15.9% with 28 films released).
The cinema market can be broken down into three sections:
-High-budget tentpoles, or films that are designed for a large audience.
-Mainstream movies on wide release.
-Specialised films that require a more selective and considered release.
High-budget tentpoles, or "event movies," attempt to appeal to a large audience; The film industry call this audience 'the four quadrants audience' e.g everybody - children, young adults, parents, male and female.
Examples of tentpoles for 2012 are:
-The Avengers (Marvel/Disney/Paramount)
-Men In Black 3 (Sony Pictures)
-Ice Age 3 (Dreamworks)
Many tentpole movies, particually the Avengers, use merchandise to generate publicity and money. The Avengers has a deal with toy maker Hasbro to produce an offical line of Avengers toys to coincide with the movie release, annouced in Feb. 2011 (see previous blog for more details.)
Puss in Boots is an example of a film with a merchandise line that is produced along with a children's fast food menu; The restaurant McDonalds produces a themed-happy meal pack with a children's meal and free toy oftern from a children's blockbuster film which generates interest about the movie from the children.
More examples of past McDonalds toys produced can be found at:
http://www.kathysfastfoodtoys.com/
In 2010, film-based toys include toys themed from the films Megamind, Transformers, Shrek Forever After, Star Wars, How To Train Your Dragon, Alvin And The Chipmunks (The Squeakquel) and Madagascar. A full list can be found at:
http://www.kathysfastfoodtoys.com/McD2010.html
Similally, in 2010, Burger King produced its own ranged of movie-themed toys such as Iron Man 2 and Marmaduke.
The Avengers has a merchandise deal with Hasbro, Funko and Mondo to produce toys and sports-based products. See some of the products here:
http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/MarvelFreshman/news/?a=52053
The biggest budget ever for a film is $300,000,000 for Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides while the most profitable movie is Avatar ($1,154,959,491 profit).
Source: http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/records/budgets.php
Here is a link to cinema tickets sold and top movies of each year (1995-1011): http://www.the-numbers.com/market/
In addition, here is a chart of the top 100-selling movies on DVD (2011): http://www.the-numbers.com/dvd/charts/annual/2011.php
Film Audiences
UK film admissions
2011: 157,930,152
2009: 173,461,335
2007: 162,542,120
2005: 164,666,563
2003: 167,255,261
2011 experienced a 10-year low in cinema admissions (down by an average of around 10,000,000).
62% of people said they went to the cinema at least once last year, up by 2% on the year before; 19% said they went to the cinema at least once a month.
-On average, each person watched 81 induvidual films in 2010.
-80% of these viewings were on TV and only 4% in the cinema.
-Viewing on demand owned only 1% of the film audience and DVD/Blu-Ray the remaining 16%.
(Note- These figures do not take into account film viewing from illegal sources, such as illegal pirate website downloads)
-The total 2010 film audience is estimated at 4,609 million people.
-The main cinema audience for the top 20 films were aged 7-24 (about 48%)
The top 10 film distributors owned 93.7% of the 2010 market share in 2010. The top 6 distributors are known as "The Majors" and they dominate the UK and US film market; these companies own over 80% of the film distribution market themselves. The top majors are Warner Bros (18.3% with 31 films released) and 20th Century Fox (15.9% with 28 films released).
The cinema market can be broken down into three sections:
-High-budget tentpoles, or films that are designed for a large audience.
-Mainstream movies on wide release.
-Specialised films that require a more selective and considered release.
High-budget tentpoles, or "event movies," attempt to appeal to a large audience; The film industry call this audience 'the four quadrants audience' e.g everybody - children, young adults, parents, male and female.
Examples of tentpoles for 2012 are:
-The Avengers (Marvel/Disney/Paramount)
-Men In Black 3 (Sony Pictures)
-Ice Age 3 (Dreamworks)
Many tentpole movies, particually the Avengers, use merchandise to generate publicity and money. The Avengers has a deal with toy maker Hasbro to produce an offical line of Avengers toys to coincide with the movie release, annouced in Feb. 2011 (see previous blog for more details.)
Puss in Boots is an example of a film with a merchandise line that is produced along with a children's fast food menu; The restaurant McDonalds produces a themed-happy meal pack with a children's meal and free toy oftern from a children's blockbuster film which generates interest about the movie from the children.
More examples of past McDonalds toys produced can be found at:
http://www.kathysfastfoodtoys.com/
In 2010, film-based toys include toys themed from the films Megamind, Transformers, Shrek Forever After, Star Wars, How To Train Your Dragon, Alvin And The Chipmunks (The Squeakquel) and Madagascar. A full list can be found at:
http://www.kathysfastfoodtoys.com/McD2010.html
Similally, in 2010, Burger King produced its own ranged of movie-themed toys such as Iron Man 2 and Marmaduke.
The Avengers has a merchandise deal with Hasbro, Funko and Mondo to produce toys and sports-based products. See some of the products here:
http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/MarvelFreshman/news/?a=52053
The biggest budget ever for a film is $300,000,000 for Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides while the most profitable movie is Avatar ($1,154,959,491 profit).
Source: http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/records/budgets.php
Here is a link to cinema tickets sold and top movies of each year (1995-1011): http://www.the-numbers.com/market/
In addition, here is a chart of the top 100-selling movies on DVD (2011): http://www.the-numbers.com/dvd/charts/annual/2011.php
Film Audiences
UK film admissions
2011: 157,930,152
2009: 173,461,335
2007: 162,542,120
2005: 164,666,563
2003: 167,255,261
2011 experienced a 10-year low in cinema admissions (down by an average of around 10,000,000).
62% of people said they went to the cinema at least once last year, up by 2% on the year before; 19% said they went to the cinema at least once a month.
-On average, each person watched 81 induvidual films in 2010.
-80% of these viewings were on TV and only 4% in the cinema.
-Viewing on demand owned only 1% of the film audience and DVD/Blu-Ray the remaining 16%.
(Note- These figures do not take into account film viewing from illegal sources, such as illegal pirate website downloads)
-The total 2010 film audience is estimated at 4,609 million people.
-The main cinema audience for the top 20 films were aged 7-24 (about 48%)
Friday 6 January 2012
The Avengers: Marketing and Promotion #1
"we will own the summer of 2012... by the time The Avengers debuts in 2012, there will be a significant amount of awareness in the marketplace."
--Paul Gitter, president of consumer products for Marvel Entertainment
The Avengers takes advantage of social media by installing a "Share" tab on its offical website, allowing vistitors to blog or post the link on social networking sites such as twitter or facebook. This is a form of free advertising for the company because users inform their friends of the film's relase through word of mouth and therefore generates more interest.
Offical facebook Avengers feed:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/AvengersUK
This facebook page keeps fans and also casual film goers updated.
Mechandise
In December 2011, Marvel announced that a four-issue comic book prelude to the film, written by Christopher Yost and Eric Pearson with art by Luke Ross and Daniel HDR, will be released in March 2012. A videogame coinciding with the film's release was planned but was eventually cancelled due to game-producer THQ failing to sell several other of its projects successfully.
In february 2011, Hasbro debuted 21 Avengers toys at the Toy Fair in New York.
Habro announced there were no plans for an offical X-Men First Class line of figures, only an Avengers line. The fact that X-Men was a film released a year before the Avengers proves the marketability of the franchise.
Link:
http://www.mania.com/21-avengers-toys-marvel-toy-fair-2011_article_128535.html
Link:
http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/MarvelFreshman/news/?a=50329
Tuesday 3 January 2012
FilmStudies Research Project...
For my FilmStudies research project, I will be following the marketing and release of Marvel's The Avengers movie.
Release Date: May 4th, 2012 (USA)
Starring: Samuel L. Jackson and Robert Downey, JR,.
Synopsis:
When an unexpected enemy emerges who threatens global safety and security, Nick Fury, the director of the international peacekeeping agency known as S.H.I.E.L.D., finds himself in need of a team of superheroes to pull the world back from the brink of disaster.
Offical Trailer:
I have decided to study and follow the release of this film because of the huge marketing budget and marketing scale behind it; The Avengers follows the release of several previous Marvel superhero films building up to The Avengers storyline, including Iron Man
and The Hulk, and is predicted to be the boxoffice smash hit of the summer.
Release Date: May 4th, 2012 (USA)
Starring: Samuel L. Jackson and Robert Downey, JR,.
Synopsis:
When an unexpected enemy emerges who threatens global safety and security, Nick Fury, the director of the international peacekeeping agency known as S.H.I.E.L.D., finds himself in need of a team of superheroes to pull the world back from the brink of disaster.
Offical Trailer:
I have decided to study and follow the release of this film because of the huge marketing budget and marketing scale behind it; The Avengers follows the release of several previous Marvel superhero films building up to The Avengers storyline, including Iron Man
and The Hulk, and is predicted to be the boxoffice smash hit of the summer.
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