Introduction to the film industry - Questions

Media

The Film Industry Introduction questions

1)        In the UK film market, an increase in the number of screens available to show films has not led to an increase in the number of films being shown. Why?

The fact that the number of screens available to show   films has increased has not led to an increase in the number of films being shown because although some people may think more screens opens up the opportunity for more films, the same major films are in fact played at different times of day, and repeated for how ever long they stay in the cinemas for.

2)        In your opinion what might account for the fact that cinema attendances have fluctuated between 139 million and 176 million between 1999 and 2008?

           

In 2002, ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers’ was released. The gross of this film was £91,914,687, which is huge. This is partly because it was the sequel to an unbelievably successful film, which guaranteed it a subsequently large audience.

3)        In 2011, UK film distributors invested £330 million in advertising their new releases and on 35mm film prints. If around 450 new films receive a theatrical release in the UK every year, how much, on average, do distributors spend distributing a film in the UK?

0.7 million

4)        This spending stirred up enormous demand – 171.5 million cinema tickets were bought UK in 2011. This is great news for cinemas – what’s the downside of all this excitement generated and consumer demand for film PRODUCERS in the UK?

America is a lot bigger than the UK, and the advantage of British films generally being in a language most countries are able to understand (English) is obviously also current in America as they speak English. This means that when there is a ‘boom’ in the amount of cinemagoers and people seeing films, America profits also. America can afford to produce more films, which attracts a larger global audience. This results in the UK’s film consumption market generally being dominated by US companies and films.

5)        In 2004, the average cost of releasing a US film domestically was $39m, in addition to the average production cost of $63.8m, making an overall average production/distribution cost per film of $102.8m. What effect might this have on Hollywood production and distribution if these increases have continued?

It could cause the Hollywood production and distribution to decrease because of too high a profit, which would result in less Hollywood films being made.

6)        Why are more ‘middle aged’ people going to the cinema in 2011? Who, in your opinion, are the current most bankable leading actors for the ‘youth’ market in the UK?

More ‘middle aged’ people could be going to the cinema in 2011 because of the age of the starring actors/actresses in the films. Usually an older audience is attracted to older actors.

7) How many of the top 10 films in the US last year made two-and-a-half times their budget?

‘The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1’

‘The Hangover Part 11’

‘Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol’

‘Cars 2’

‘Thor’

Only 5/10 films.

8) Jerry Bruckheimer is still producing films today – find some of their recent films he’s produced and look at the trailers. Is he still a ‘high concept’ producer? Michael Bay has taken over his mantle as the go-to man for the ‘event’ movie. Watch some of the trailers for his recent films – does he deserve his reputation for films that are high on effects and low on narrative?

In my opinion, Jerry Bruckheimer is still a ‘high concept’ producer. Although, having said this

Q9) find some ‘indiewood’ type films – ones associated with a certain ‘art house’ feel yet connected to a big Hollywood studio – that these companies have produced. Who are their films aimed at?

Fox searchlight pictures – ‘beast of the southern wild’ is aimed at children

-‘The sessions’ is aimed at middle aged people/ adults

Paramount pictures – ‘200 cigarettes’ – aimed at adults

-       ‘an inconvenient truth’ – documentary, aimed at middle aged people/adults

Sony pictures classics – ‘where do we go now’ aimed at adults

-       ‘smashed’ – aimed at young adults

Focus features – promised land

Q10)  to what extent does Hollywood dominate the UK film landscape

            How has it managed to retain its stranglehold?

Hollywood does dominate the UK film landscape to a large extent. It seems that high budget Hollywood blockbusters are the most popular films in the UK by far. Also, they are generally the types of films that end up in major cinemas. This results in them being shown widely to the UK’s cinema audiences, and spreading throughout the UK. The idea of ‘herd mentality’ also comes into play here, people follow the crowd and follow what other people deem to be good, hence the phenomena amount of popularity of Hollywood films receive.

Although there is a large market for indie looking films, there is also the ‘indiewood’ genre, which is Hollywood making indie-like film. This is an example of just how much Hollywood has taken over the film industry, it seems to cover almost every genre of film, and make more money out of it than independent film companies or film makers with less money.

Hollywood has managed to retain its stranglehold, because of how popular it is. The popularity automatically means the Hollywood films make more money, which results in more and more films can be afforded to be churned out.