ROM-COM Is this Working Title's signature genre?

In this post I highlight a recurrent point that has been made for some years now: the rom-com is DEAD and (box office) buried!

That is based on the lack of major, 'breakthrough' [very wide audience, typically overachieving for its budget] rom-coms in recent years, with the series of Jennifer Aniston flops symbolising this seeming reality. Is this true? Debatable. All genres go in and out of fashion. There is a solid argument that TV is now the home of the rom-com (not least the TV adaptation of About a Boy!).

Working Title are arguably more commonly associated with the genre than any other film production outlet, not just in the UK, but globally. They have had an impressive run of rom-com hits, and it seems unlikely that they will simply fail to add to this list. The upcoming third Bridget Jones flick could well change views on the rom-com's box office potential.

As far back as 1987, WT's 3rd production was a rom-com, albeit one with a social realist style which made minimal impact, Hanif Kreshi's Sammy and Rosie Get Laid (US cinema release only through Cinecom, just $1.2m, no budget figure available; it is also listed as unrated, indicating it didn't get a wide release). Director Stephen Frears had also directed their debut feature, My Beautiful Laundrette, and would go on to direct many more for the company.

The Tall Guy didn't stand too large at the box office...but did bring Richard Curtis into WT

1989 saw the introduction of Richard Curtis, screenwriter of The Tall Guy, a rom-com with a US star (Jeff Goldblum) plus Emma Thompson and Rowan Atkinson. Apparent changes to remove some British references (replacing US actors names in dialogue) and positive reviews didn't save it from box office gloom, a mere $500k and no record of releases elsewhere (straight-to-TV in the UK?). You can visit its blank WT website page here!

ROM-COM no more love for the classic hybrid?

I've read a variety of articles over the past decade announcing the death of the rom-com after some genre flick flopped (often starring Jennifer Aniston!).

Here's another ... which goes a step further in pronouncing a range of genres as dead and box office buried, but also argues that TV is now the true home of the rom-com, an intriguing point in this era of digitisation and convergence:

REPRESENTATIONS Hollywood's war on Muslims?

A detailed analysis of the real world impact of the normative representation of Arabs, the Middle East and Muslims (all very diverse demographics) as anti-Western, violent and a threat.

A recent study found a stunning 97% of such Hollywood characters to be negatively portrayed.

This is despite the seeming lack of box office appetite for films on the Iraq or Afghanistan campaigns - though this us now being reflected in a turn to satire and comedy after the failure of even critically acclaimed dramas such as The Hurt Locker.

‘Death to the infidels!’ Why it’s time to fix Hollywood’s problem with Muslims http://gu.com/p/4hcpx?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger

STARS Hiddlestone key to Wheatley's High Rise financing

“You’ve always got the question of how to trigger the finance for a film as crazy as this,” Wheatley says. “And that comes from casting as much as anything.

Ben Wheatley: ‘Financing a film as crazy as this takes good casting’ http://gu.com/p/4h7jh?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger

RELEASE WINDOW Star Wars 16.5 week wait for DVD

A typically jargon-packed column here on the UK's weekly box office; regular exposure to writing such as this will teach you a lot about the way this industry thinks and operates.

We have the 'counter-programming' of Working Title's Hail Caesar, adult fare from the Coens in amongst the various franchise, tentpole releases dominating the box office as ever.

Then there's Deadpool dropping 48% in its 3rd 'frame' (week of release, with weekend takings really the key measurement, thus the term 'opening weekend'), a typical figure.

Grimsby is compared to all the previous Bacha-Cohen releases, a serious flop given the heavy marketing campaign. I thought it was notable that the actor chose to appear as Ali G when doing his turn at the Oscars on Sunday; now a well established brand, unlike the struggling 90s-style English lad/lout he's failing to sell in Grimsby.

The major story nails down the precise terms demanded by the UK multiplexes for exclusive exhibition rights before DVD release: 16.5 weeks. Star Wars may actually exceed this, with the lucrative Easter holidays not far off and the film only just outside the top ten. No DVD release date has yet been announced, suggesting an extended cinema window is being considered.

It's now up to £122m, easily the biggest ever in the UK, trouncing the £105m Skyfall raised as the only other 9-figure film (the latest Bond, Spectre, topping out just short at £94m).

Bear in mind that such figures are routine in the US, where $1bn is the target figure for the truly monster hits (Gant rule...).

Grimsby sickens but fails to gross as Deadpool continues heroics at the UK box office http://gu.com/p/4h7c4?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger

Social Realism

[I'll be updating this with Warp/WT egs]

The film genre that is most associated with British cinema (costume/historical/heritage drama also: Elizabeth, Pride and Prejudice...). Features:

• Few films from the genre enjoy major box office success, because...
• they have low budgets, because...
• they rarely feature any stars (maybe some TV actors that are quite well known in the UK only, but not internationally), and even...
• often cast non-professional actors; This is England's Shaun (Thomas Turgoose) was a kid Meadows spotted bunking off school (truanting)!
• they often have no script, instead actos improvise - Ken Loach and Mike Leigh are famous for this approach, which makes it hard for them to convince studios to fund their films!
• whereas most successful, hit UK films are set in London/the South of England, these often use locations around the UK: Sweet Sixteen in Scotland, Mickybo and Me (WT2) in Northern Ireland
• most UK hit films also use middle or upper class characters, or central protagonists (all those Hugh Grant Working Title rom-com characters...), but social realist films typically centre on working [DE] (or lower middle [C2]) class characters: look at the opening shot of This is England, with the peeling wallpaper in Shaun's bedroom, or the opening scene of WT's debut film back in 1985, My Beautiful Laundrette, seeing the homeless lead being kicked out of a 'squat'
• Thats the 'social' bit of social realism - this generally means focussing on underprivileged or minority sections of society, including ethnic minority and sexual minority characters too (MBL's co-lead is a gay Asian man)
• the 'realism' bit comes from their documentary style: they aim to present 'the truth' about the country, not an idealised version that sells, and use documentary-style approaches to do so: handheld cameras, natural lighting, which of course also means...
• that, coming full circle, they are cheap to produce!
• See links below: the genre comes from earlier historical film traditions

British films that fictionalise real-life social issues, using a filming style similar to documentary (handheld, shaky, natural lighting, comparatively limited non-digetic music, usually unknown or minor actors). Developed out of the 1920s-40s BDM, 40s/50s Italian neo-realism, 50s/60s French New Wave, and British New Wave around the same time.

There are at least 25 posts on this blog which reference social realism; see also:
http://britrep.blogspot.co.uk/2010/04/britishness-miserable.html
http://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2010/may/28/british-film-social-realism
http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/1037898/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_realism#In_British_cinema
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitchen_sink_realism
http://www.slideshare.net/tinkertaylor1981/british-social-realism-3986811 (teacher PowerPoint) 
http://www.slideshare.net/hannahmedia123/codes-and-conventions-of-british-social-realism (student PowerPoint)


A classic BDM eg: Night Train (Watt & Wright, 1936) follows the journey of a mail train across Britain and the working men who see our mail gets delivered. [Watch on YouTube here.]
Here's some excerpts from a PowerPoint I've done (full version available on request)

AUSTRALIA Warp and Working Title's subsidiaries down under

TBC

IMDB's list of Carver Productions' 3 films - actually Warp Films Australia productions

CARVER FILMS (IMDB)
MADMEN ENTERTAINMENT (IMDB)
WARP FILM AUSTRALIA (IMDB)

The UK already provides substantial tax advantages that make it an attractive location for film production - so too does Ireland (North and South have their own specific tax benefits, thus Game of Thrones joining other major TV series in shooting in Belfast).

So too does Australia. It also has a longstanding tradition of skilful low budget filmmaking, including the Ozploitation era, and breakthrough films like Mad Max.

Acordingly, both WT and Warp have set up offices down under and have overseen a variety of productions.

Warp Films Australia has produced three so far: Snowtown; Shopping; Partisan. They have received government (local and national) funding in Australia.

***UPDATE*** WARP FILMS AUSTRALIA DISBANDED! Late 2015

The label may reappear as a co-producer, with Mark Herbert saying they plan to work in Australia again, but the co-founders of the Aussie subsidiary have left to form Carver Pictures (working in both TV and film, like Warp).

This is actually typical of Warp, which can be considered a real talent incubator (as can BBC Films, Film4, and the government-funded agencies - the BFI, but previously the UKFC and its still running regional wings such as Screen Yorkshire).

ScreenDaily - co-founders of Warp Films Australia to go it alone with new Carver Films:

Snowtown and Partisan producers Anna McLeish and Sarah Shaw are moving on from Warp Films Australia to launch production outfit Carver Films with a slate that includes Nick Cave adaptation The Death of Bunny Munro.
McLeish co-founded Warp Films Australia six years ago with ’71 and This Is England producers Warp UK, which will discontinue the Warp Films Australia banner but where possible will look to continue to produce with the territory. 
McLeish and Shaw produced Kurzel’s acclaimed debut Snowtown, Ariel Kleiman’s Vincent Cassel starrer Partisan, which premiered at Sundance this year, and New Zealand drama Shopping, which played in Sundance and Berlin.
...
Carver is also set to cut its teeth in TV, entering into a development and co-production deal with Australian production outfit Matchbox Pictures ...
...
“It’s been an exhilarating journey with Warp,” McLeish told Screen. “Sarah and I remain drawn to creating content with the same kind of exceptional talent we’ve worked with to date, in Australia and abroad. We look forward to unveiling more of that with Carver.”
“What Anna and Sarah have achieved in a short time is fantastic and we fully support their decision to set up their own production company,” said Warp UK’s Mark Herbert.
“We’ve enjoyed working with them and Warp will still continue to make productions in Australia and with Australian talent.”

PARTISAN

POSTERS:

WARP as seen by US magazine Variety

A fantastic overview of the company's history, production philosophy, struggles with box office and distribution, distinctive Britishness, and how they're evolving to look to work with bigger budgets and with high-end TV productions that can be sold internationally ... and even stop-motion kids films!

The article dates from 2012, and several of the productions mentioned as being green lit have yet to come about, but still may do.

Brilliant resource for anyone looking to write an analysis of the film industry using Warp as a case study - Mark Herbert notes himself how common a choice of study Warp has become within Media Studies!

Edgy Warp Films eyes U.S. entre

December 15, 2012 | 04:00AM PT

10-year-old Brit shingle steps up with pricier slate

Adam Dawtrey

LONDON — On a Saturday night in November, 1,200 people gathered in a converted steel mill near Sheffield to watch the Shane Meadows thriller “Dead Man’s Shoes” on a giantscreen, with a live band playing the soundtrack and the director spinning discs afterwards. Those in the hip young crowd were paying $45 a head to celebrate the birthday of Warp Films, the Sheffield-based shingle that started 10 years ago as an offshoot to electronica label Warp Records, and still prides itself in being a bit of an outlaw.
Based 150 miles north of London, Warp has emerged over the past decade as the strongest brand in British indie filmmaking, and the anniversary marks a watershed of sorts: After winning awards and a cult following with edgy, provocative, low-budget movies, including teen skinhead drama “This Is England,” which beat out “Atonement” to nab the BAFTA for outstanding British film in 2007, the company is leveraging its reputation and relationships to launch its biggest slate of projects, with larger commercial ambitions. While trying to staying true to its distinctively British and defiantly non-metropolitan roots, Warp is aiming to make a greater impact in the international market, including a project or two that can finally break into the U.S.

RELEASE WINDOW Cinemas love Amazon, nix Netflix

TBC

Guardian article.

There have been several high profile battles over the traditional release window - the convention that there will be around a 3 month gap between cinema run and DVD release, and another before TV release (which can be further staggered in the UK between premium subscription channels such as Sky Movies and terrestrial channels BBC1, BBC2, ITV1, C4 and C5).

Disney was forced to back down over its plans for Alice in Wonderland when several of the major chains threatened to boycott the movie if they didn't stick to the release window.

Netflix seems to have suffered such a backlash with its plans for a Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon sequel (the biggest foreign hit in US history took $130m there) to be an IMAX release seemingly abandoned. Cinema chains again pledged to boycott the film, due to be released on the Netflix platform at the same time.

REPRESENTATION + BOX OFFICE Why Mickybo flopped

Note the lack of official reviews.

**a linked, more recent film to consider alongside this: Warp's '71**

LINKS:
IMDB.
BoxOfficeMojo.
Wiki.
RottenTomatoes.
Trailer; VoD.
Culture NI feature.
Fan-made video (young boy).
Russian fan-made video/trailer?
OST as YouTube playlist.
1st 10 minutes + playlist.

Son of Rambow Wiki; trailer; BoxOfficeMojo;
WT2 IMDB.



This was one of Working Title's WT2 productions, their shortlived Indie-style subsidiary for low budget films:

IMDB's list for WT2

IMDB figures; BoxOfficeMojo puts it at $465k - but still a UK release only.

BOX OFFICE, AND A POTENTIAL AUDIENCE LOST?
This film came out around the same time as Son of Rambow; both films were about two boys obsessed with a movie (Rambo; the Western Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid). The film set in southern England did much better at the box office ... TWENTY TIMES better!!!

WARP v WORKING TITLE WEB 2.0 comparing social media

Through various case studies I've noted a key difference between the two companies in how their social media operates: scale.

In theory, web 2.0 creates a potential level playing field for Indie minnow and (conglomerate subsidiary) mini-studio alike ... but it still takes skilled, paid operators to create and update content, and respond to user comments/posts ... not to mention doing so in multiple languages (Paul and Les Miserables are just two WT examples which had Facebook accounts in multiple languages; you have to look to the truly weird L for a Warp example: essentially a Greek film, its no surprise to find a Greek language presence!).

Although we do see some very smart content (the Le Donk Xmas card) on some Warp sites, the considerable investment that WT make (encroaching on traditional distributor territory in doing so) on content rich websites stands out: the huge interactive Tinker, Tailor... online/offline game, Hot Fuzz Pacman, Shaun of the Dead Space Invaders... even the Smokin' Aces comic book.

Three basic points:

1. These combined materials are a vast learning resource freely available to you - the YouTube uploads especially
2. Warp's shift towards TV (think convergence) is evident based on my sampling today (Feb 14th 2016), with This is England 90 and The Last Panthers most prominent
3. As I note above, the lack of investment from Warp in maintaining these sites is also clear, with nobody updating the YouTube description for example for at least 6 months!

WARP
THIS BLOG TAG
WIKI 
IMDB (no separate TV division)
IMDB Warp Films US (limited brand)
IMDB Warp X
IMDB Warp Films Australia
THE-NUMBERS.COM
WEBSITE
YOUTUBE
TWITTER
INSTAGRAM
FACEBOOK 
WARP FILMS 10 (a dead link - they can't afford to maintain hosting fees?!)
TUMBLR (actually Warp Records, no separate Films site, another sign of limited funds; sample: '71 post)
TUMBLR TAG: warp films (plenty of UGC, and links from other companies, such as Australia's Madman Films (Snowtown, Shopping, Partisan all with Warp).

NEWS SITES
VARIETY Leading Hollywood trade magazine.
BFI (Google search) - see their review of 10 key Warp releases.

WORKING TITLE
THIS BLOG TAG
WIKI 
IMDB
IMDB WT2
IMDB WTTV 
IMDB WT AUSTRALIA
THE-NUMBERS.COM
WEBSITE
YOUTUBE
TWITTER
INSTAGRAM
FACEBOOK
TUMBLR - no official page, but tagged a lot (including Working Title Korea) 

BFI 
VARIETY (also a simple search, brings up different results) 


COMPARING WARP/WT FOLLOWER NUMBERS:
Twitter Warp 30k v WT 8k
Facebook Warp 50k v WT 24k
YouTube Warp 666 v WT 388
Instagram Warp 4k v WT 4k
Tumblr numbers not shown
TOTALS: Warp 85k v WT 36k
BUT ... on YouTube views: Warp 159k v WT 466k (on a new channel, launched 2013, replacing previous channels)


WARP
THIS BLOG TAG
WIKI 

IMDB (no separate TV division)

The shift towards TV is clear

IMDB Warp Films US (limited brand)

IMDB Warp X

IMDB Warp Films Australia

THE-NUMBERS.COM

Notably this site only picks up on FOUR Warp films! An indication of their lack of US success (though the likes of TisEng are missing)

WEBSITE

Four social media outlets listed/linked.

Click on the 'read more' link for further screenshots, links and analysis

MALE GAZE left behind in Deadpool?

A lengthy discussion here on the extent to which the 'pansexual' Deadpool character is or is not counter-hegemonic (underming hetero-normativity), given that the only relationship or physical intimacy (other than with a unicorn in the end titles) is with his girlfriend ... but also a very direct discussion of the male gaze, and how it might be subverted here.

Note how the writer homes in very specific moments; this is just what you need to do too when writing an analysis of cinema - in the micro elements we find evidence to discuss the macro environment in which these are created and consumed:

The film’s reluctance to make good on its hero’s pansexuality should not overshadow the little moments of daring, the subtle advancements, that have survived to the screen. In a medium characterised by the male gaze, it is implicitly radical to include a lingering closeup of a man’s pert behind, especially when that shot isn’t giving straight male viewers the get-out clause of replicating a woman’s point-of-view: everyone, male or female, is simply being invited to enjoy the image on its own merits.

UNIVERSAL tentpole franchise kings hiking ahead

ScreenDaily reports on the huge turnaround, after a poor 2014

IN THIS POST: Analysis of how Universal's shifting strategy impacts on WT; an outline of what this strategy is, with key figures; details of how the new horror universe was proposed in 2014, and how its taking shape in 2016; the Battlestar Galactica bid to take on Star Wars.

Working Title's conglomerate parent, NBC-Universal, clearly knew what it was doing in downgrading its subsidiary's relationship to 'first look' status*; NBC-U would have first refusal over any new WT production, but had no obligation to pick it up for distribution or to fund production proposals. WT have to find their own financing now, even if that still often means pre-signing distribution deals with StudioCanal or UIP, all part of the NBC-U (and Comcast) conglomerate. Gone are the days of massive block funding for WT.

*See this post for details on the new deal (and a definition of first look), signed in 2012 and due to run out in 2015; no news yet of any changes

This shift in approach, which may seem surprising given how successful WT have been, reflects a hardening of Universal's commitment to the tentpole strategy, and the franchising that largely underpins this. Anita Elberse, who uses the term 'blockbuster' in her book, would approve: she argues that this is the only viable approach for any major player in any entertainment industry (she also considers football and music among other industries - a very interesting, digestible read, I recommend it).

Bridget Jones's Diary v This is England

TBC!!!

We've been exploring the similarities and differences between these, and I'm going to note some of the points we raised below - I've blogged extensively on both, and I'm not trying to reflect the full range of that in this one post!

BJD tag

TisEng tag

To add:
BJ:Edge of Reason The-Number.com report; box office report; with the 2001 original taking $282m and the 2004 sequel $264m, only Les Miserables (2012) keeps the franchise off WT's all-time top spot ($442m) [the-numbers all-time list].

Other films that come close: Bean (1997) $257m, Love Actually (2003) $248m, 4 Weddings (1994) $242m [their most profitable film as a $4.5m budget!], Everest (2015) $204m. Those are the 7 WT films that grossed $200m+ worldwide.

9 more top $100m: Burn After Reading (2008) $168m, Johnny English Reborn (2011) $165m, The Interpreter (2005) $163m, About a Boy (2001) $131m,  Atonement (2007) $130m, Everest (1998 44min IMAX film) $128m, The Theory of Everything (2014) $122m, Billy Elliot (2000) $110m [2nd most profitable as a $5m WT2 production], Paul (2011) $101m.

THE CONTENDERS

Bridget Jones' Diary (Sharon Maguire, 2001)

Working Title, StudioCanal, $26m budget. £42m UK box office ($61m), $72m US ($281m world)

The money and the lead are American; the marketing in the UK featured Grant and Zellwegger, but everywhere else it was only Zellwegger featured on posters, sleeves etc. (Stereo)typically London/South setting, and comfortably middle-class (and upwards) white characters. A female director ... who wouldn't work again for several years despite the success with this (she didn't direct the sequel). A franchise, an increasingly key part of a successful film company's output and strategy, with considerable merchandise too - and even tie-ins (Does my Butt Look Big In This 2-for-1 London-New York seat?). 

DISTRIBUTION Video resources

An evolving playlist of YouTube videos on distribution. There are a wide range here, most are from/by industry insiders - often Indie, so similar to yourselves - with a range of specific themes covered. Click through to watch on YouTube to view the full playlist.

If you have any suggestions of more resources you've found useful, send a link/brief description as a comment


BELOW: boxofficemojo data on Bridget Jones' Diary.
Compare to films like Submarine - 
[boxofficemojo]
[film site]
[IMDB]
[Wiki]
[posts on this blog]
[BFI feature]
[review of the book]
[Guardian review].

...

DISTRIBUTION What is a 'wide' release?

Up against the continuing might of animated sequel Kung Fu Panda 3, as well as fellow debutants including romantic drama The Choice and horror-comedy Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, the 50s-set tale of a major film star gone missing scored just $11.4m (£7.9m) to open in second place. The Coen brothers’ previous lowest bow for a film in wide release – usually estimated at around 2,000 cinemas – was the $12.5m taken by 2003’s Intolerable Cruelty in North America. [Ben Child's US box office column]

The UK equivalent would be around 150-200.


A big risk/investment in short!

Whilst digital copies reduce the distribution cost to near zero, physical prints (costing around $10k apiece) remain the norm for now, with the cost of prints AND marketing generally matching the production as a rough rule of thumb. The $250m Avatar (estimates vary as to the actual budget) was well over $500m in costs once distribution (a simultaneous worldwide release meant an exceptional number of prints) and marketing costs are considered.

Wide release means the majority of cinemas in a territory will be showing your film on at least one screen. In the US that means around 2,000-4000+, in the UK around 300-600+ (the Gant Rule applies here to an extent: as well as the box office the theatre count is likely to be around x10 for the US).

You can see this from various Working Title films - although, being British, they often enjoy high popularity in the UK.

THE GANT RULE APPLIED...
Does it work with these charts?

Gant argues that most UK hits make 1/10 (ignoring currency values) of a US hit (roughly!)...

THE REVENANT: UK £12m, US $140m ... so, roughly, yes!
STAR WARS THE FORCE AWAKENS: UK £120m, US $900m ... roughly, yes!

See 'Gant rule' tag on this blog for more...

The BoxOfficeMojo chart.

From Gant's weekly column.

...

'71 Distribution and Marketing

This overlaps with other posts, but as there are a lot of images, a new post makes sense.

OVERVIEW: KEY POINTS
This is a film with wider ambitions, and arguably a more commercial approach, than most of Warp's productions - as it should, with its ambitious £5m budget*, twice that of Four Lions. UPDATE, 2016: BUT...It flopped, despite the awards, critical acclaim, and gaining distribution in the US and 10 more territories (12 total including the UK) for a worldwide total of $3m: $1.6m UK,, $1.3m US and just $355k from 10 other territories. *According to this Screen article (cited in Wiki) it was £8.1m

According to IMDB, it is getting theatrical releases in France, Spain, Greece, Germany, Canada, USA, Australia, Middle East (eg UAE, see section below). However, we have seen past Warp films such as Tyrannosaur getting distribution in multiple territories, but not getting any marketing spend to give it a real chance (its specialist LGBT distributor didn't issue a trailer, and it limped to a mere $22k). The absence of any information on its US distributor does not augur well.

IMDB company list.

Boxofficemojo: Not every distributor took up the option for a theatrical release.

OPENING WEEKEND: This has become a key figure - if it is lower than expected a film is likely to be labelled a flop and the odds are high that the public will be deterred from seeing a 'flop', while distributors may hold back on further prints and marketing investment. What is significant about the table above is that almost all of '71's national releases saw most of the entire box office raised in the opening weekend - it failed to get a wider, longer release beyond then. The UK figure, in contrast, is just 21% - in this case it built well by word-of-mouth, as I saw first-hand at Bradfor's National Media Museum, where a low opening night (Friday) turnout would be hugely boosted by a review in that day's Guardian (UK broadsheet/quality) newspaper.

COMMERCIAL? COUNTER-TYPICAL FOR WARP? MAYBE NOT...
The 'commercial' element lies in pushing the action/thriller genre over the setting or any real exploration of the issues raised.

BUDGETS Mid-budget movies missing from multiplex?

Another theme I've flagged up before; the disappearance of what used to be the dominant production model, the mid-budget movie, defined here as $10-50m, though I'd consider it more $20m and up for US productions.

There is another reason the barricades between “serious” and “popcorn” are coming down – the “squeezed middle”. In short, Hollywood movies have become either very cheap or very expensive. The middle ground – traditional habitat of awards-friendly drama – has all but disappeared. As Jason Bailey wrote in Flavorwire in 2014, that mid-budget range (roughly between $10m and $50m) was once filled by the likes of John Waters, David Lynch, Francis Ford Coppola, Spike Lee, Steven Soderbergh and countless others. Now Lee has to fund his films through Kickstarter, and Lynch and Soderbergh have quit movies in favour of television. Even Bay has noticed it. “The movie industry has really changed. The middle-[budget] movie is basically gone. They just want these big movies,” he complained to Rolling Stone, with no apparent trace of irony.

Why so serious? The directors ditching the daft for the dramatic http://gu.com/p/4g8fg?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger

AGE RATING BOX OFFICE 5th Wave's 15 wipes target audience

I've raised again recently the issue of 18 ratings as box office cyanide, but here's a great example of the difference between 12 and 15 too - and a practical application of the Gant Rule to boot.

Adapted from the Rick Yancey science fiction novel, and featuring a female teen protagonist, future dystopia, alien invasion and two appealing romantic options for our heroine,The 5^th Wave appeared to have all the elements needed to connect it with the tween and early-teen girl audience that has proved so crucial to the success of franchises such as Twilight, The Hunger Games and Divergent. What The 5^thWave crucially lacked, however, was the certificate – a 12A – that would have made the film available to those audiences in The UK. Instead, British censor the BBFC slapped it with a 15 (for “strong violence” and “injury detail”). In the US, it’s rated PG-13. The 5^th Wave debuted with a rather flat £498,000 from 338 cinemas. In the US, it opened with $10.3m. Based on that number, a UK debut gross of around £1m might have been predicted.

The Revenant mauls UK box office but Sandra Bullock's brand may be in crisis http://gu.com/p/4g69p?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger

RATINGS MPAA and BBFC ratings

Just a quick post to ensure you have quick reference of the two main age ratings systems we'll refer to.

The MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) you'll recognize from the green background on US trailers. [see Wiki]

The BBFC are the UK censor ... but they dropped the word censorship from their name quite smartly to take on a more neutral name ... the British Board of Film Classification. Their website is excellent, including a student-specific section, and a quick search tool to find their rationale for specific movie ratings.

In most cases, the 18/NC-17 rating is box office cyanide - see this post on Zombie, and here, where I analyse the record of 18-ratings including Fifty Shades of Grey, an exception. (There's also the possible F for feminist rating, the Bechdel Test applied in Sweden!). Wal-Mart won't stock any NC-17 DVDs, a serious consideration as the biggest DVD retailer in the US!

I include the BBFC explanation for 3 case study films in this post: This is England, Hot Fuzz, The World's End.

Do the regulators favour the studios and treat Indies more harshly? There's certainly a case to be made, and the 18 ratings of TisEng and Sweet Sixteen seem to be quite typical, as are the 12 ratings of films like The Dark Knight. You can make an interesting comparison of Warp and Working Title on this.

The following trailer is the ironic, entertaining (NB: and UK 18-rated) documentary investigating the ultra-secretive MPAA, This Film Is Not Yet Rated (IMDB; Wiki). In the full film you'll hear Trey Parker comparing his poor treatment by the MPAA when he submitted his Indie debut feature ... and how this changed utterly when he was behind the Sony-backed South Park movie.

(Can't embed the trailer: here's the link)

Here are the two ratings systems graphically compared.

(CMD/CTRL-) Click picture to enlarge

...

CONVERGENCE Lionsgate jump at chance to sponsor TV show

A fortuitous bit of trashy reading ... buried at the end of this inconsequential article is the following revelation:

This year’s series is sponsored by Hollywood film company Lionsgate which is launching a biopic of Edwards, starring Hugh Jackman, Christopher Walken and Kingsman’s Taron Egerton, which will hit cinemas from 1 April.

Superman's Dean Cain and Girls Aloud's Sarah Harding join C4's The Jump http://gu.com/p/4fpe7?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger

BOX OFFICE Di Caprio franchise-free; Star Wars only 15th

Gleaned from Phil Hoad's latest column on global box office, extremely informative, useful and interesting as ever - it's worth following through an RSS feed, the Guardian app... Newspaper indeed!

Adjusted for inflation Star Wars is only the 15th biggest hit of all time - Titanic still well ahead (some would quibble over the figures, which track ticket numbers rather than revenue). As I've blogged previously, hype over records is a central part of modern movie marketing.

It's clear that franchises rule and look set to continue doing so. Distributors still work on the assumption that star appeal is king, but this is becoming ever more questionable as stars struggle outside of franchises to successfully open movies on their name. Do Caprio is perhaps a rare, maybe even unique exception - Hoad works through the figures, including an impressive early run for Revenant, a difficult to market western.

The Revenant's franchise-free DiCaprio is the ultimate A-list survivor http://gu.com/p/4fycm?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger

MPAA Zombie celebrates drop from NC-17 to R

In Britain the 18 rating is generally box office cyanide, barring as it does the main cinema market of teens, although some horrors and the occasional drama (Fifty Shades of Grey) manage to succeed with an 18.

Warp have frequently been hit with an 18, This is England being a notorious but typical example - intended as a 15, the BBFC decided it's strong language (scripted by the teen cast themselves to a degree) and one violent scene made it an 18. Many newspapers noted their disagreement with this judgement, and several local councils used their discretionary power to make it a 15 in their area. See also Ken Loach's social realist Indie Sweet Sixteen (18) and the studio tentpole Dark Knight (12), or WT's World's End (15) for could be seen as a system that favours the studio releases.

The documentary This Film Has Not Been Rated exposed a very clear bias of the US film censor towards the studios, with South Park's Trey Parker noting the contrast between the help he got to keep the South Park movie rating down and the stony silence he got when producing his debut film, a low budget Indie.

Rob Zombie has just tweeted his relief at getting his next film, 31, down to an R rating from the NC-17 it had twice gotten from the MPAA - whilst promising fans he'd release the uncut NC-17 version on DVD. He also released the poster (which takes the same basic design approach as Warp's '71 I noticed!) on his Twitter feed, a nice example of convergence and the potential importance of social media to Indie filmmakers (do Warp use it as well as they could?).

http://bloody-disgusting.com/news/3375759/rob-zombie-will-release-uncut-version-of-31/

GLOBAL Gotta be Indiat to win it

TBC

Bollywood box office takings down for first time in five years http://gu.com/p/4fhzn?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger

ANALOGUE Kodak resurrect Super-8 cameras

With vinyl exploding, and even Polaroid enjoying a resurgence, the march of digitisation is not absolute, there remains enthusiasm for analogue tools and formats.

The Super-8 camera had largely existed as a special effect plug-in for editing software, something I've looked at with students seeking a retro look, but it is once more to receive mass production from Kodak, backed up with marketing featuring enthusiasts such as Quentin Tarantino.

The return of Super 8: why Kodak’s rebooted old-school camera could be a hit http://gu.com/p/4ft2f?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger

NBC-U owner Comcast to buy ITV?

They've issued a blunt denial today, but if a rival, say Viacom, bids for ITV (as seems rather likely) then I'd be surprised if the home of Downton Abbey didn't get snapped up by a US giant.

UK media ownership laws are much looser than the USA's (where Murdoch had to become a US citizen before he could further expand his US media empire).

Keep an eye on the economics and business sections of papers for this one...

ITV shares fall as investors cool on bid after Comcast denies holding talks

http://gu.com/p/4fa94?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Copy_to_clipboard

Paramount's toy story is a GI Joke

If ever there was a flicker of doubt about Hollywood's aversion to originality and determination to tap into existing IP, then this announcement surely pours a bucket of water (or cinema syrup-hydrated carbonated artery miller) over this.

There will be another Transformers! Yay, and alert the Oscar committee now!

There will be a THIRD GI Joe (seriously, there's been TWO?!).

And now there will be more brain-rot productions seeking to cash in Hasbro toys brand recognition and taking up the notion of the Marvel universe (a tremendously intricate, complex and highly converged narrative world, regardless of your view of the quality of TV or film instalments).

Hurrah for Hasbro!

Paramount and Hasbro uniting GI Joe and other toys in new movie universe http://gu.com/p/4f52d?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger

The sound of family audience music to TV ears

So, UK TV channel ITV is to live broadcast The Sound of Music ... following in the footsteps of NBC in the US. The UK version takes the edgier setting of the Nazi backdrop, US network TV not exactly being known for its risk taking!

Why post this on a cinema blog?

Convergence.

We have the Universal link with NBC.

I've recently sat and listened to Warp's Barry Ryan flag up Warp Films' relative focus on TV.

More evidence of franchising and the reliance on pre-existing IP with likely built in audiences, or at least easier marketing challenges.

We're also seeing a surge of live cinema, led by opera and theatre, but also event cinema using back-catalogue movies.

As ITV prepares for The Sound of Music Live, are we watching TV's future? http://gu.com/p/4f3nt?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger

The 'UK' box office: FOUR national audiences?

I'll add a Mickybo and Me trailer/link when at a computer, but spotted this gem in the ALWAYS useful Guardian box office column...

The headline story was the flop of the needless Frankenstein retelling, a good sign that a 'built-in' audience isn't guaranteed by widely known source material (a Fox off message for the Murdoch empire distributor).

Much further down, however, came this ... and I'm mindful of the stereotyped nonsense we get in such fare as Working Title's Wild Child (Scottish matron... the joke is...her voice... It's funny see if you don't talk with a southern English accent) as an explanation for the following:

Sunset Song lights up Scotland

Landing outside the top 10 with £114,000 from 80 cinemas, including £28,000 in previews, Terence Davies’ period romance Sunset Song is hardly a box office powerhouse. In Scotland, however, where it did 69% of its business – and especially at independent cinemas in cities such as Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness and Dundee – it’s a different story. Distributor Metrodome is billing Sunset Song as Davies’ biggest opening, because the previews push the tally past his previous best, The Deep Blue Sea (£109,000) in 2011.

This is one of the reasons I tend to put quote marks round 'British' cinema.

Victor Frankenstein dead on arrival at UK box office http://gu.com/p/4eq9q?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger

CHINA's monstrous box office mythical, actually

This post is a simulacrum of itself - Google, why can't you sort out the damned Android app??? TWICE I've written (tapped ) this and twice its disappeared by switching apps or trying to navigate in the blogger app*. Not good.

Anyway... I've mentioned before the issues around the fantastical claims of China's explosive box office growth. Taking their cue from the Hollywood hegemons, who make 'biggest ever' standard marketing fare, we've seen the same approach to box office figures as to the Chinese stock market: only good, upbeat news is allowed. Make that was.

A recent US-China trade deal means that China now has an increased legal duty to ensure box office figures are accurate, and clamp down on piracy. The Chinese government finally permitted the huge 'correction' (econospeak for massive fall) in the value of the Chinese stock market recently, and with the state media reporting on suspicions that the home-grown CGI-fest Monster was exaggerating the box office returns, we're seeing the start of a similar process.

India will undoubtedly become a hype story soon enough, with equal issues over its figures, given how 'cinema' runs in the still huge rural market; listen to Chuck D and don't believe the hyp when that becomes the next meme.

The Western markets have inspired this behaviour - cinema crowds do operate on a herd/heard (word-of-mouth ...) basis, and we flock to a hit. As a recent, typically insightful Guardian box office column pointed out, the studios have been engaged in unattributed flame wars seeking to brand each other's tentpole releases as flops through social media, hoping to convince people to avoid them.

China takes box office manipulation to the twilight zone - as this article reports, the figures for Monster were inflated not just by benefitting from the period when US films are blocked each year, but also 40m 'public welfare' tickets given out to families. This often results in empty cinemas screening in the early hours, a phantom operation indeed (just how many horror intertextualities can I squeeze in from dusk 'til dawn...).

I guess the moral of the story is, don't get too wrapped up in box office this yuletide...

*The blogger app is handy but its way too easy to lose something you've worked on - don't try to switch windows to ... ironically, given the ownership ... Google something for example! A longer, wittier version of this post had appeared on the wrong blog, was shown as an earlier link-only post when I tried to navigate back to the right blog to re-post it ... and deleted entirely along the way. VERY annoying. Brings to mind Battlestar Galactica's haunting version of All Along the Watchtower: "all of this has happened before and all of this will happen again" [and thats the second time I've typed/tapped that ... this time on a Macbook now on 4% battery!]

Mock exam

As promised, here's the details for your AS mock exam, taking the form of a controlled test.

The timings and style of this combines elements from both exam questions (1: semiotic analysis of media language + representations in a TV drama clip, 2: British Cinema essay, centred on Warp/WT comparative case studies).

This is available as a Slideshare document, but also below the line as plain text.

AS mock exam outline Dec 2015 StG from DB3igs