BIG 5 GLOBAL DOMINANCE

Statista is a great source

Some useful links for now (I've posted similar before with lots of analysis within the posts below...)

A mix of US and global figures/analysis

2020 will be not so useful for assessing big 5 BOX OFFICE dominance as there is so little box office to consider, but...

Deadline analysed the prospects for 2021. Note Paramount's struggles

Statista: Disney were emerging in a league of their own but have lead the shift to PVOD/streaming

Deadline.com's analysis of 2019 + 2020 forecasts.

The-Numbers.com: global, US + international 2019 hits.

Same as above but IMDB table.

ALL-TIME box office - each DISTRIBUTOR's biggest hit (the-numbers)

2019 distributors total box office (the-numbers - no surprise who's #1!! STX [Wiki] join Lionsgate as mini-majors - Paramount actually fell below Lionsgate...) Note that various big 5 subsidiaries are given separate listings

Wiki all-time worldwide box office

UK all-time box office (Wiki)

Most successful 18-rated films (UK: screendaily.com)

Age + gender of UK box office (statista.com)

Proportion of films by age rating (UK: statista.com)

Mark Kermode blog discussion on age ratings

Guide to classification (independentcinemaoffice.org)

How film regulators are responding to an industry in flux (screendaily)

DISNEY China, convergence and franchising exemplified

UPDATE...

China had 4 of 2019's top 20 WORLDWIDE films. In September 2020 it was easily the world's biggest cinema market with the US covid-hit. Read an excellent analysis here.

As of the end of 2019, China now has 69,787 cinema screens, up 9,708 from 2018, according to the Communist party mouthpiece the People’s Daily, which added that more than 1.7 billion tickets were sold. The propagandistic publication went so far as to deem the current moment a “golden age” for the Chinese film industry’s development, as “the market bubble fades… and Chinese films continue to steadily improve.” (Variety: China’s Box Office Hit New Heights in 2019, as Hollywood’s Share Shrank. Good detail on how the Chinese market is shifting towards homegrown hits)

FURTHER UPDATES: Barr condemns Disney and Hollywood for 'kowtowing' to China.

Mulan shows how far Disney will go, self-censor, to maximise the Chinese market (Guardian).

Disney is so damned big it even owns one of its main TV subscription rivals, Hulu. The mighty mouse movie company now gets 50% of its revenues from its multiple theme parks, but is also as much a TV company as it is a film company - from its subsidiaries like ESPN (sports channel) to zeitgeisty series making baby Yoda a global phenomenon, there's more to Disney than movies.

It's buying spree was seen as crazy by some - but bear in mind that Marvel cost them $4bn ... and the last Avengers movie alone raked in $3bn from the box office, never mind its value in driving $5.99/month subscribers to Disney+.

It's even managed to get back into China, having been banned for years because of pro-Tibet movies it now has a Shanghai Disneyland (but it's 57% owned by the Chinese government!) and since 2016 it has been getting movies distributed there again. Their Mulan remake has changed a lot of aspects to avoid upsetting the Chinese government!

This article ends on an intriguing notion - because their stock market value has dropped by over $80bn since the coronavirus hit (a third of their value) ... could Apple sweep in to buy this giant???

Taking the Mickey: how Disney swallowed up all of culture.

Statista.com breakdown of China's surging global share

UNIVERSAL OFFER CINEMA STREAM and PANDEMIC DISRUPTION threat to cinema future?

"Universal Pictures has a broad and diverse range of movies with 2020 being no exception. Rather than delaying these films or releasing them into a challenged distribution landscape, we wanted to provide an option for people to view these titles in the home that is both accessible and affordable," said Jeff Shell, CEO of NBCUniversal, in a statement. "We hope and believe that people will still go to the movies in theaters where available, but we understand that for people in different areas of the world that is increasingly becoming less possible." [MacRumors]

FilmGuardian analysis

It's unclear how (if??) NBCUniversal have cleared this with cinema chains (all posed to be forced to close in the USA, already shuttered across much of the world), but they've announced a new streaming option for titles currently/recently on their theatrical run.

The price is $20 per movie, not quite the cost of two cinema tickets.

They are clearly online innovators, seeking to flip the narrative of disruption into their own favour. I haven't seen any reports on how successful Prima was (if you don't remember, find the tag on this blog), but that for-the-filthy-rich-only model now has its own scruffy cousin. 

The disruption of convergence and digitisation was meant to be in favour of the little guy, according to web 2.0 evangelists like David Gauntlett and Malcolm 'long tail theory' Gladwell, but the dead hand of the big five has not loosened at all from around the throat of the global film industry. We're not seeing a spurt of Indie growth like the late 60s or late 80s/early 90s - though in both cases most of the new auteurs became studio insiders and the upstart companies got bought up.

The pandemic could have as big a long-term impact in disrupting traditional practices and behaviour in its estimated 18 month run as a couple of decades of digital - more specifically, online - disruption has managed. All the big 5 have delayed their tentpole releases and productions (same for TV) are grinding to a halt. 

Universal are trampling over the theatrical release window in a way that Disney tried with Alice in Wonderland - only to back down when the major cinema chains threatened a complete blackout/boycott of the movie. It could be that the pandemic lockdown builds up a renewed appetite for expensive cinema screens ... or that people get very used to their home cinema setup. And just how long can the Bond and all the other tentpoles be held back? Will all the studios ultimately copy Universal's innovation as this lockdown looks set to continue for many months???

SEE: MacRumors and As cinemas go dark, the film industry may go straight to Netflix.

WOMEN Disney back Davis gender script check

I've posted on the issue of women's under-representation at all levels of the film industry, including the nature or narrative significance of onscreen roles, since 2008.

In that time the Bechdel Test has become quasi-law in parts of Scandinavia and the #metoo movement has blown the lid of the routinised abusive behaviour of powerful men in the industry.

Changes, but still statistically the central issue remains pretty similar.

I'm doubtful that this move will achieve a momentous shift, and not entirely certain it's an entirely good thing: content analysis devoid of context - useful to add precision to analysis of overall trends but a fundamental impingement on storytelling freedom (of expression) potentially?

However YOU see it, it is a significant move, and as it's Disney, now seemingly headed for a 40/50% share of the global film market, who are partnering with Davis to trial and develop the AI (which scans scripts for gender terms and roles), it COULD lead to fundamental changes.

Though what will they do if the AI pings that their Marvel movies are fundamentally problematic...?
....

The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media was founded in 2007 after the actor – who won a best supporting actress Oscar in 1989 for The Accidental Tourist – became concerned about the male-dominated entertainment her young daughter was consuming.

At the summit, Davis added: “We don’t have enough female role models to inspire change. We need to see it in fiction to create the cultural change we need. If we see more women on screen as corporate leaders, scientists and politicians, there will be more women in real life taking up these roles.”

Geena Davis announces 'Spellcheck for Bias' tool to redress gender imbalance in movies https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/oct/09/geena-davis-institute-gender-media-disney-machine-learning-tool?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger