If you saw Universal Studios’ Identity Thief , starring Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy, you may have recognized a familiar voice.
Amanda Brown, from NBC’s The Voice Season 3, has a single on the soundtrack entitled “The Payback” .
The song can be downloaded on iTunes here . Also the CD for the movie’s soundtrack was release on March 5th.
Breathing life into what has been alackluster 2013 box office, “Oz the Great and Powerful” took in an impressive $80.3 million in its North American debut and $69.9 million overseas for a global opening of $150.2 million.
For Time Warner, Time Magazine just ran out of time.
On Wednesday, March 6, 2013, Time Warner announced plans to unload its publishing division, a move that comes as other film and TV conglomerates are also shedding print media assets.
A streamlined, film and TV-focused Time Warner will go head-to-head against a newly independent Fox Group, whose publishing assets will also be housed separately when News Corp. splits in two this summer.
Time Warner is fully absorbed in the challenges of making and managing content in a rapidly changing video market.The newly streamlined Time Warner will now be able to focus entirely on its television networks, film and TV production business that should now provide more strategic clarity .
Technology is taking over Hollywood, and in more ways than digital films and 3D movies.
By the end of this year, many of your favorite movies will no longer exist in physical form.
Movies, of course, started as reels of film and remained like that for the better part of a century. About six years ago, digital distribution began and those movies were distributed as discs or on hard drives. Now, the three biggest theater chains in the country – Regal, AMC and Cinemark – have all but assured satellite distribution will begin to take hold.
The theaters have partnered with a company called the Digital Cinema Distribution Coalition to begin to receive films, promotional materials and more via satellite. The DCDC is currently composed of five major studios, Lionsgate, Disney, Paramount, Warners and Universal, with Sony and Fox are in negotiations to join.
This technological push will deliver positive cash benefits to Hollywood. With over 4,000 theaters in the U.S., celluloid-based movies have lost ground to digital films because it costs $1,500 to print a film on 35 mm but a tenth of that to make a digital version on hard drives. Yet those hard drives still have to be physically delivered to each theater, something which seems increasingly wasteful, inflexible, and unwieldy. A satellite-based system allows studios to upload movies whenever they are ready and even to adjust availability of movies and dynamic scheduling to their liking. Because of equipment costs, estimates are that the new system will cut the price of distribution in half.
Unfortunately, you probably won’t see lower ticket prices resulting from this new distribution method.
The nominees were read, the envelopes opened, the Oscar i announced, the winner walks to the stage and delivers an acceptance speech (preferably before the walk-off music). Beyond the Oscar after-parties and the iconic statue validating movie and talent excellence, winning, and even being nominated for an Oscar is worth much more.
One thing is certain – the Oscar brand is alive and well. Veteran movie marketers that know how to capitalize on the brand image of this $500ish statue will enhance their own brands and make a lot more money.
When used in marketing campaigns, this validation stamp increases the desire of moviegoers to see the films and the talent being honored. It also keeps the movies in theaters longer boosting box office receipts. And it substantially increases DVD, streaming, download, and cable TV revenues.
Payoff for winning
According to IBISWorld, the best picture winners overs the past five years had an average production budget of $17 million and earned an average of $82.5 million at the box-office – generating a 485.6 percent margin. Winners earned…
In 2010, The King’s Speech, garnered $138 million in domestic box office – over $100 million more than was expected before it won. In Hollywood, talent agents and managers estimate that their clients will get a 20% boost in pay for their next film if they win the award for Best Actor or Actress.
Nominations pay off too
Even though winning the Oscar does wonders for movie careers and box office receipts, there is often considerable benefit in being nominated. Per IBISWorld, movies nominated for the Best Picture Oscar from the 2007 to 2011 awards seasons had an average production budget of $42.1 million and earned $104.2 million in box-office revenue for a 247.2 percent margin. Nominees earned…
The King’s Speech was initially projected to gross $30 million worldwide. After receiving 12 Academy Award nominations, the revised estimate was over $200 million. After winning the Oscar for best picture, its worldwide box office surpassed $427 million with domestic DVD sales adding nearly another $32 million.
According to Reuters, an Academy Award nomination can boost ticket sales by one-third and cause a jump in the DVD sales of movies no longer in theaters. When you add downloads, streaming and cable TV revenues, the monetary rewards from receiving a nomination can be substantial.
Turning nominations into profits
Most important of all, award nominations can mean the difference between profits and bankruptcy for some movie productions. This is why marketers go to great lengths to promote their movies for the Oscars long before the nominations are announced in January. They spend from hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars promoting their films for an Oscar nomination.
It is reported that Harvey and Bob Weinstein spent millions promoting The King’s Speech and timed the release of the film to accelerate the Oscar buzz and boost the number of nominations. While actual figures are a highly-guarded secret in Hollywood, some peg the promotional investment in the King’s Speech to rival the $15 million the Weinsteins spent on promoting Shakespeare in Love in 1999.
Marketing investment in nominations pay off
The Oscar marketing strategy paid off again last year. The Weinstein marketing magic is credited with catapulting The Artist—a silent, black & white, French film—to 10 nominations and 5 Oscars including best picture. The previous year, the King’s Speech’s had 12 nominations to put it ahead of the field, and helped it to win. In fact, over the past 20 years, the film with the most nominations has won 15 times. This bodes well for this year’s two top nominees — Lincoln (12 nominations) and Life of Pi (11 nominations)—even though many are betting on Argo and Zero Dark Thirty.