Bryon Allen talks about how he goes about selecting films and distributing them through his Entertainment Studios.
https://deadline.com/2018/04/byron-allen-cinemacon-entertainment-studios-pvod-1202376432/
Interesting read on how bryon Allen’s approach to distribution. He is focusing on titles in the $30-60M range that most studios ignore.
“The old model is half-broken,” Constantin’s Martin Moszkowicz said.
But Constantin and other companies are responding with new plays that are driving market trends and reinvigorating the independent business.
Women are moving to the fore. Slightly more of the EFM’s highest-profile projects headline women rather than men, including Vikander-starrer “The Marsh King’s Daughter,” from STX. Moore leads a remake of Susanne Bier’s “After the Wedding,” from Cornerstone.
Independents are still making big movies, though “our goal is to do expensive movies only if we see franchise potential,” Wachsberger said, citing “The Kingkiller Chronicle.”
So the market is skewing two ways: “bigger movies with a franchise or fan base,” and “more original quality director-driven titles that can cut through, being distinctive and fresh,” said Protagonist’s Dave Bishop. A case in point: Protagonist closed most of its international sales on “The Florida Project” and “The Rider” at Cannes last year.
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-indie-movie-summer-wrap-20170901-story.html
From ‘The Big Sick’ to ‘Brigsby Bear,’ what does box office mean for indie movies these days?
A new study shows that seniors have a much larger impact on the success — or failure — of a film than previously realized, even films that might seem aimed at a much younger audience.
When moviegoers 50 and older pick their flick, they often are determining whether that film will be a hit or a miss revenue-wise, which means they are also “voting” with their box office dollars on what may be booked into local cineplexes in months to come.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/hollywoods-new-problem-sequels-moviegoers-899765
“2016 has proven to be a very tough battleground, and the landscape has been littered with a series of sequels that have come up short and thus call into question the entire notion of the inherent appeal of non-original, franchise-based content,” says one analyst.
At an IFP Film Week panel, distribution executives weighed in on advice, challenges and tips for navigating the distribution marketplace.
A few years back, blockbuster titans George Lucas and Steven Spielberg predicted massive changes in the film industry. Big-budget, overblown studio pics will come crashing to the ground, theater ticket prices will surge, and distribution models will change. That last prediction is hard to deny these days, with online platforms like Netflix getting into feature distribution and indie filmmakers putting their work out on their own. The stigma of not securing a studio release is long gone. “Now you can do it much less expensively, which means it’s going to be a more democratic process, and I think that’s good,” Lucas said. Gren Wells, the writer/director of the new feature The Road Within, is living proof of that statement.
https://variety.com/2015/film/spotlight/cannes-jerome-paillard-digital-revolution-1201491013/
Most distribution deals are made at the European Film Market that is part of the Berlinale, the Film Market at Cannes, the American Film Market that takes place in LA in the falland high profile film festivals.
Variety has an interesting post on how the digital revolution is affecting the indie markets at Cannes. I suspect the phenomenon will spread.
https://io9.gizmodo.com/how-much-money-does-a-movie-need-to-make-to-be-profitab-5747305
The short answer is, it depends on a number of factors, but a rule of thumb seems to be that the film needs to make twice its production budget globally. For the longer answer, read on.
https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/simon-pont/its-not-what-you-spend-it_b_6170038.html?guccounter=1
A good read on successful marketing strategies using specific film examples.
https://www.thewrap.com/punches-translate-better-than-punch-lines-at-overseas-box-office/
There’s a reason superhero movies and effects-heavy epics rule the global box office — action translates.
Punch lines don’t translate as well as real punches, in large part because it’s harder to get across the nuance, subtle jibes, sarcasm and satire that makes up many successful comedies.
https://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/movie-distribution.htm