case studies

NEW ZEALAND FILM:
WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS:

Release date:  19th June 2014 (NZ), 13th February 2015 (USA)

Budget: $1.6 million USD 

Opening weekend: $83,555 (2.4% of total gross)

Gross earnings: $3,469,224 (domestic) 
                               $4,788,759 (international) 

Directors: Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement

Cast: Taika Waititi, Jemaine Clement and Jonny Brugh

A-list actors: Taika Waititi

Controversy:  The film was pirated. After shutting down a piracy website based in Mount Wellington, Auckland, the website revealed that, at 277,000 downloads. What We Do in the Shadows is one of its most heavily pirated movies.

Distribution: Madman Entertainment (NZ) and Paramount pictures (North America)

Funding: Crowd funding 

Critical response: Average rating of 7.80/10.  "Smarter, fresher, and funnier than a modern vampire movie has any right to be, What We Do in the Shadows is bloody good fun." 
However Mark Kermode gave the film a negative review, until a couple years later, when, on the BFI Player, Kermode chose this film on his BFI Player choice's film and gave a positive review. ( Wikipedia)

Distributed: Online on Hulu, apple TV, academy on demand (streaming service).

Marketing: Was at a media screening, they turned up at fan events, they ran art competitions, They changed the sign for the new Zealand capital Wellington (changed white w to a red v), They made a trade me account selling items from the vampire house, they did interviews with everyone who asked, had a Facebook account, they did an online dating vampire profile. 

















HOLLYWOOD BLOCKBUSTER:
JURASSIC WORLD:


Release date: 11th June 2015

Budget: $150 million USD

Opening weekend: $208.8 million 

Gross earnings: $1.670 billion

Directors: Colin Trevorrow

A-List cast: Chris Prat and Bryce Dallas Howard.

Cast: Chris Prat, Bryce Dallas Howard, Nick Robinson, Ty Simpkin, Vincent D'Onofrio, Irrfan Khan.

Controversy:  It is sexist, some people found some dinosaurs racist and they were thick headed dinosaurs. Chris got more money. 

Distribution: Universal Studios alongside Legendary Entertainment

Funding:  Universal pictures

Critical response: On the website Rotten Tomatoes, Jurassic World had a score of 71% based on 340 reviews, with an average rating of 6.65/10. The critical consensus of the site reads, "Jurassic World can't match the original for sheer inventiveness and impact, but it works in its own right as an entertaining-- and visually dazzling--popcorn thriller." Toddy MaCarthy writing for The Hollywood Reporter wrote that despite its shortcoming it would appealing to audience everywhere he praised the CGI and score. 

Distributed: 
Distributor- Universal Picture 


On October 20, 2015 Jurassic World was released on DVDBlu-Ray and Blu-Ray 3D. It was the highest-selling home entertainment live-action film since upon the first week of release it sold nearly three million DVD and Blu-ray units. In total Jurassic World collected $82.6 million in its first week across all its digital and physical formats. The Jurassic Park 4K UHD Blu-Ray collection which was released on May 22, 2018, included Jurassic World. It is now available through the online video-sharing platform Youtube and the website Google Play Movies & TV. 



Marketing:
synergy and cross-media convergence:
  • Adverts and trailers on platforms.
  • Jurassic World rides in Universal Studios.
  • Imprint logo and dinosaurs onto objects.
  • Designed video games based on the film.
  • Distributes and sells pieces of clothing, such as t-shirts.
  • sells toys which resemble characters from the film (such as toy dinosaurs)

  • It is a sequel as there were many jurassic park movies in the 90's.  

Actors:
  • Chris Pratt: 32.1 million on Instagram
  • Bryce Dallas Howard: Few million on Instagram
  • Nick Robinson: 1.5 million followers on Instagram
  • Ty Simpkin: 160,000 followers on Instagram 

All of the main cast of Jurassic world has a great following on social media platforms which helps the production company, in this case Universal to have an advantage of advertising their movie, creating a greater volume of watchers and fans. 

On their social media platforms they can post spoilers and promote merch or the film by posting the trailers and short cuts from the film to get the audience engaged in what the film will hold. 

















INDI FILM:
THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER:

Release date: 12th October 2012

Budget: $13 million USD

Opening weekend: $228,359

Gross earnings: $33,384,127 (33 million)

Directors: Stephen Chbosky 

Cast: Logan Lerman, Emma Watson, Ezra Miller

A-list Cast: Emma watson

Distribution: Lionsgate

Funding:  Lionsgate

Critical response: On Rotten Tomatoes, the film had an average rating of 7.44/10 based on 162 reviews giving it an approval rating of 86%. The critical consensus of the site reads, "The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a heartfelt and sincere adaption that's bolstered by strong lead performances." The film received numerous accolades including the Independent Spirit Award, the Hollywood Film Festival Award and the Teen Choice awards. 


Distributed:
When & where film released- September 21, 2012, in 4 theatres in selected USA cities; October 12,2012 nationwide release; September 23, 2012 UK premiere at Cambridge Film Festival 

Originally the film received an R rating for "teen drug and alcohol use, and some sexual references," however, when the filmmaker appealed the MPAA changed rating to PG-13 for "mature thematic material, drug, alcohol use, sexual content including references, and a fight-all involving teens."

It is now available through the online video-sharing platform Youtube, the website Google Play Movies & TV and the streaming and production company Netflix. 



Marketing:
  • synergy:
- Chbosky book by the same name became a New York Times Best Seller selling more than 1.5m copies: attracted longtime fans of the book to the movie and vice versa.

  • cross-media convergence:
- use the movie to market the movie, marketing president of Summit, Nancy Kirkpatrick said. 

















A FILM THAT DIDNT DO WELL:
THE INTERVIEW:

Release date: 11th December 2014

Budget: $44 million USD

Opening weekend: $1.8 million 

Gross earnings: $11.3 million USD

Directors: Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg  

Cast: Seth Rogen, James Franco, Lizzy Caplan, Randall Park  

A-list Cast: James Franco and Seth Rogen

Distribution: Sony

Funding:  Sony

Critical response: On Rotten Tomatoes, the film had an average rating of 5.6/10 based on 141 reviews giving it an approval rating of 51%. The critical consensus of the site reads, "Unfortunately overshadowed by controversy and under-screened as a result), The Interview's screenplay offers middling laughs bolstered by its two likeable leads."

The hacks of the Sony Pictures Entertainment shows leaks of emails between Sony Pictures Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton and RAND Corporation defence analyst Bruce Bennett. Bennett expressed his view that the graphic Jong-un death scene in The Interview was "the only resolution I can see to the North Korean nuclear and other threats for the North Korean government to eventually go away." 



Distributed:
Due to changes in post-production, Sony delayed the movie's initial theatrical release from October 10 to December 25, 2014.  The movie plot was about assassinating a real-life world leader which caused controversy. The movie had a limited release across 331 independent theatres in the United States. Australia and New Zealand were the only countries in the Asia-Pacific region to get the movie.  Japan and Russia did not get the movie.

The premiere that was supposed to be held in New York City on December 17 was cancelled by Sony. Major theatres chains such as Regal, Southern Theatres, AMC, Cineplex and Cinemark also delayed or cancelled the film screenings. The theatres came under pressure from the shopping malls- they feared an event of an attack because of the commercial blackmail by the hacker Guardians of Peace. 

Platform: 
Sony's legal counsel David Boies told NBC's Meet the Presson that Sony planned a limited release of the movie at American independent and arthouse cinemas. On December 24,2014, The Interview was released in the United States for rental of purchase through the streaming services Youtube, Google Play and Xbox Video.  The file-sharing website SeeTheInterview.com had a security hole and so people were able to illegally download the movie- ToorentFreak estimated at least the film had been download $1.5 million times in two days. 

On December 28, 2014,  the film was released on iTunes. On January 24, 2015, the film became available for streaming on Netflix. 


Home media On February 2015, the film was available on Blu-ray Disc and DVD and it included behind-the-scenes featurettes, a blooper reel, 90minutes of deleted scenes, feature commentary with directors Rogen and Goldberg, and a special episode featuring Rogen and Franco of Naked and Afraid this package was called the "Freedom Edition". By July 2015, the film sales in the United States was over $6.7 million. 



Marketing:
Sony's decision to withhold the movie's release sparked a debate which caused it to become the media's focus.
  • It became a popular film despite the negative review (because of its conversational political portrayal of North Korea including the death of their political leader). Some saw this movie not as a joke but as a declaration of war.  


Piracy:
In one day the movie was illegally downloaded 904,237 times worldwide according to Excipio, a pirating tracking firm.









 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Script (PT1)

Thriller opening sequences research