Film Distribution

What is film distribution?

Distribution is the highly competitive
business of launching and sustaining films
in the market place.
It's vital to the health of the film industry
as a whole.
Films don't become well known, or find
their place in the world, by accident.
The distributor's challenge is to bring each
one to market, starting from scratch

Tony Angellotti (Distributor)

If you break it down and look at it as a
business then the audience has the
greatest power. It's the audience that tells
you what they like.
So if the audience likes a particular
superstar, then Hollywood is forced to use
the superstar and that star then becomes
extremely powerful.

Toby Miller (Theortist)

In a world where money spent on the budget of a
film often sees 50 % going on promotion as
opposed to what you actually see on screen, the
idea that we have a world where the consumer
can exercise authority is absurd.
This industry is like any other. Of course it has to
sell things, but it doesn't rely on waiting,
listening, responding to what audiences want and
then delivering that to them.

Films audience driven?

They can't both be right and you therefore
need to come to an informed judgement
on this dynamic.
In the case of film marketing, it is a
complex issue.
Q. Did millions of people go to see Pirates of the
Caribbean 2 in the first week of release because
it is such a great film, or because it is so well
marketed? Or both?
It took $135,634,554 in its opening weekend in

Definition of a distributor
A distributor is the link between the filmmakers and the public, and allows a film to
reach the public via the cinemas,
DVD/video and on television.
There are a number of distribution
companies in the UK, all with different
styles, funding structures, aims and
marketing plans, all trying to sell their
films in an incredibly competitive
environment.

Responsibilities include:
deciding on a release date;
deciding how many prints to produce and in
which cinemas to screen them;
advertising campaigns;
designing art work for adverts, posters, flyers and
billboards;
organising premieres and talker screenings;
booking talent (i.e. the stars or director) for press
interviews and personal appearances.

Distribution
Distributors are also responsible for negotiating
deals regarding the film's release on video and
DVD, and showings on television, cable and
satellite channels.
A film could come to the distributor in a range of
ways
films produced by the main American studios
will be distributed through their own
companies, so Warner Bros. will distribute their
own films as will 20th Century Fox and Buena
Vista International will distribute Disney films

Some Background Facts and

Statistics
Worldwide spend on films is around $65 billion a
year, of which the distributors' share is about $35
billion.
Total revenues are split almost equally between
the North American market and the Rest of the
World.
The industry has doubled in size in the last since
2000 an annual growth rate of almost 10%.
Few, if any, major businesses can boast such
continued growth over this period.
DVD has contributed significantly to the growth

More stats
The average cost for an American studio
film is now more than $50m with a further
$30m spent on marketing.
Theatrical (i.e. cinema) revenues only
account for about 25% of the total profit,
with DVD taking about 40%; television
screening accounting for 28% and
ancillary revenues the final 7%.

Revenue Streams
The main revenue streams for filmed
entertainment are:
1. Theatrical (cinema) exhibition
2. DVD/Blu-ray rental
3. DVD/Blu-ray retail (or sell-through)
4. Pay per View Television
5. Subscription or Pay Television
6. Free to air Television

Value chain

The industry maximises revenues at each stage of the

value chain and avoids any clashes in the marketplace.
Release windows are starting to close up as the nontheatrical streams start to eclipse the original release in
terms of revenue generation
Release windows
Theatrical: 0 - 6 Months
DVD/Blu-ray: 6 - 15 Months
Pay Per View: 15 - 18 Months
Pay TV: 18 - 30 Months
Free TV: 30 + Months

Release windows
The spectacular success of the home DVD market has
led to increased pressure on the DVD rental window
with some of the major distributors keen to put their
product into the retail market place as soon as
possible.
In the immediate future more films will be released
simultaneously into the rental and sell-through
DVD/video windows.
The rental window, which currently lasts for about six
months before titles go into retail outlets, may be
closed altogether before too long.
This may also lead to the Pay per View window moving

The share of Box Office paid over to distributors varies

between territories.
The typical exhibitor's share in the US is 45 to 55% and in
the Rest of the World 55 to 65%.

Types of UK distributors

In the UK, distributors are divided into the majors and the
independents.

The majors are those affiliated to the biggest Hollywood

companies and are:
Warner Bros.;
20th Century Fox;
Columbia Tri-Star;
Buena Vista International (BVI, owned by the Disney
Corporation);
United International Pictures (UIP, who release films from
Universal and MGM studios).

Majors
The films released by the majors tend to
be mainstream - Hollywood blockbusters
as well as UK/USA co productions such as
Bridget Jones's Diary, Love Actually and
Calendar Girls.
Some companies have an 'indie' arm such
as Fox Searchlight or Focus Features
(Universal) that will take risks on films that
are not such commercial blockbusters.

The Independents
These are companies who release a much wider range
of films, and include Artificial Eye, Pattie, Metro Tartan,
Metrodome, Momentum and Contemporary.
Titles will include foreign language films,
documentaries, re-releases and non-mainstream
Hollywood/UK titles picked up at film festivals across
the world.
Entertainment Distribution is an unusual case in that it
is a UK independent that has a long standing
relationship with US studio New Line Cinema (a unit of
the Time Warner Corporation).
Entertainment release their titles in the UK, therefore

Releasing a film
Hollywood distributors will consider their release
strategies from (at least) four perspectives:
Global: where will the film work?
Regional: how will we make it work in (say)
Europe?
National: how should we release it in each
country?
Local: are there any particular local conditions
that need to be taken into account within each
country?

Release strategy
Many things have to be taken into consideration
when distributors choose a release date for a
movie. School holidays in Easter, half term,
summer and Christmas tend to be the time when
big family movies are set for release.
Big national sporting events, particularly when
England are taking part, such as the European
Championships and the World Cup can affect
audiences, so care is taken about releasing maleorientated, action-type movies at that time.

Box Office
A film's performance in the cinema is judged on
the box-office figures.
US box-office figures will give a rough indication
of how successful a film might be in the UK.
For most films, almost 40% of total Box Office will
be taken in the first week, with the majority of
that arriving in the first weekend.
Takings tend to fall to about 5% of the total by the
sixth week of release (if the film has lasted that
long).

United International Pictures

(UIP)
UIP is jointly owned by two of Hollywood biggest
studios, Paramount and Universal. They channel
the films they produce through UIP, which is
responsible for distributing them to cinemas in
the international marketplace outside North
America.
UIP also handles films from their non-mainstream
divisions, Paramount Classics and Universal
Focus.
Stephen Spielberg's studio Dreamworks also
distributes its films around the world through UIP.