Film Distribution

2000's and 2010's

 

Lost In Translation (2003)

Box Office

Budget:

$4,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$113,419 (Netherlands) (20 February 2004)

Gross:

£9,865,162 (UK)(26 March 2004)

Reviews

7.8/10

 

"Breathtaking and beautiful - improves on second viewing"

"Lingers for days- sucks you in."

"A great film, but the rating was lost in translation"

"Filmed in Tokyo, with Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson, one of the better movies I've seen in a while."

 

Avatar (2009)

 

Box Office

Budget:

$237,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£8,509,050 (UK) (18 December 2009)

Gross:

$760,505,847 (USA)(12 November 2010)

 

 

Reviews

 

8/10

 

"Best movie experience of the last 30 years..."

"Technically outstanding. Originality: oh well...."

"After a decade, Cameron sets the avatar of our new generation"

"Fascinating concept .Must be seen cannot be described"

"How could anyone who's seen more than 4 movies in their life find this creative?"

 

 

How Has Film Distribution Changed?

 

• Towards the end of 2005, the UK distribution and exhibition sectors were starting to move towards digital distribution and exhibition.
•  For exhibitors, digital projection, especially when married to the increasing use digital formats in production, can now replicate - if not surpass - the image quality of conventional 35mm cinema presentation. And, of course, digital sound systems have been used in cinemas for some time.
• Digital distribution and exhibition on a large scale has started to appear in certain parts of the world, notably China and Brazil, where conventional logistics cannot, for one reason or another, efficiently bring together supply and demand. In the UK, digital technology has been embraced by the non-theatrical sector, in film societies and schools, where the use of DVD and mid-range digital projection has replaced 16mm.

http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/distribution/distribution7.html

 

• Over the past decade, much of the value created by music, films, and newspapers has benefited other companies – pirates and respected technology firms alike. The Pirate Bay website made money by illegally offering major-label albums, even as music sales declined to less than half of what they were 10 years ago. YouTube used clips from shows such as NBC's Saturday Night Live to build a business that Google bought for $1.65bn. And the Huffington Post became one of the most popular news sites online largely by rewriting newspaper articles. This isn't the inevitable result of technology. Traditionally, the companies that invested in music and film also controlled their distribution – EMI, for example, owned recording studios, pressing plants, and the infrastructure that delivered CDs to stores. Piracy was always a nuisance, but never a serious threat. The same was true of other media businesses: the easiest place to get a newspaper story was from a newspaper.
• The internet changed all this, not because it enables the fast transmission of digital data but because the regulations that enable technology companies to evade responsibility for their business models have created a broken market. Scores of sites now offer music, while hundreds of others summarise news. Part of the problem is rampant piracy – unauthorised distribution that doesn't benefit creators or the companies that invest in them. It also puts pressure on media companies to accept online distribution deals that don't cover their costs.

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2011/aug/14/robert-levine-digital-free-ride

 

• Hollywood majors are embracing digital to a greater degree than ever before, moving towards an on-demand world to allow streaming, day and date released with a DVD release across a host of devices from PC, tablets and smart TVs, to game consoles.
• Unfortunately for studios, the revenue from VoD has not yet offset the resulting drop in DVD sale revenue, which has been their top earner for over a decade.
• Blu-ray continues to expand its share of new hit sales, jumping from an estimated 27% of total new-release shipments in 2010 to a projected 40% by the end of this year (IHS Screen Digest) but neither Blu-ray nor online retail is growing at a fast enough pace to offset DVD losses.
• The number of illegally downloaded films in the UK has risen 30% in five years, according to internet consultancy Envisional. It reports that the top five box office movies were illegally downloaded in the UK 1.4 million times in 2010 and that the top five TV shows like US imports Glee and House were pirated 1.24 million times - up 33% from 2006.

  http://www.csimagazine.com/csi/The-future-of-online-movie-distribution.php

 

• We all know that the Internet is hastening the decline of “old” media formats that require capital to produce and attention to consume. And movies are no exception, with exceptions for so called tent pole films or blockbusters that are increasingly dependent on international theatrical revenue. Nevertheless, more films than ever are being made.
• As with most things, technology has been a catalyst for change. In the same way it’s possible to start a technology company with cheap and easily available resources like Amazon cloud, it is possible to shoot a film for far less on digital cameras and edit it on your laptop than with traditional equipment. On the distribution side an expensive theatrical release is no longer required, although that is what most film makers still yearn for.
• Digital distribution through companies like Amazon and iTunes is ubiquitous, and a host of Do It Yourself distribution hubs like VHX and Vimeo that offer better margins for filmmakers are springing up. Social media marketing is emerging as an alternative to TV commercials and newspaper ads. One thing is for sure, the business of film is changing, and everyone is not happy.

http://pando.com/2014/02/10/as-more-movies-are-made-is-this-good-for-the-art-and-business-of-film/

 From reading these articles, I have come to find out that film distribution has changed dramatically over the past two decades. As technology has advanced, so has our way of film distribution. Some of the latest ways to distribute films are IMAX cinemas, blu-ray players, iTunes, Netflix and so on. But this also brings the illegal side of film distribution such as online streaming from websites like Pirate Bay. Overall, I personally feel that film distribution has developed and has advanced for the better.