This post is focussing on US institution together with one of their recent films from production, distribution and exhibition which is AVATAR. I will focus on how British audiences reacted to the film and the distributor's efforts to market and distribute the film.
US conglomerates can use their size and reach to create massives synergies to awaken desire in audiences to see their films. They can cross-promote their films across their media empires!
| Directed by | James Cameron | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Produced by | James Cameron - he was one of the main attractions why people wanted to watch this movie because he was so successful withTitanic, Terminator 1 & 2 ,Aliens and True Lies this film was bound to be amazing. Jon Landau | ||||||
| Written by | James Cameron | ||||||
| Starring | Sam Worthington Zoe Saldana Stephen Lang Michelle Rodriguez Giovanni Ribisi Joel David Moore C. C. H. Pounder Wes Studi Laz Alonso Sigourney Weaver | ||||||
| Music by | James Horner | ||||||
| Cinematography | Mauro Fiore | ||||||
| Editing by | James Cameron John Refoua Stephen E. Rivkin | ||||||
| Studio | Lightstorm Entertainment Dune Entertainment Ingenious Film Partners | ||||||
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox | ||||||
| Release date(s) | December 10, 2009 (London premiere) December 18, 2009 (United States) | ||||||
| Running time | 162 minutes | ||||||
| Country | United States | ||||||
| Language | English | ||||||
| Budget | Reportedly budgeted is bettewn a whopping $237m - $500m which would make it the most expensive film ever made. | ||||||
| Gross revenue | 20th Century Fox's "Avatar" Opening Weekend $77,025,481 (USA) 20 December 2009 (3,452 Screens) Total World Wide = $745m (£460m)£8,509,050 (UK) 20 December 2009 (503 Screens) |
Press reviews
A film preview by The Guardian.
"This morning saw the first ever screening of 15 minutes of footage from James Cameron's film Avatar. The 3D landscapes are spectacular, writes Ben Child - shame the alien romance has so much less depth."
Articles on the film
"This morning saw the first ever screening of 15 minutes of footage from James Cameron's film Avatar. The 3D landscapes are spectacular, writes Ben Child - shame the alien romance has so much less depth."
Articles on the film
Is James Cameron's 3D film changing the way we watch films?
3D films are back - with a vengeance. And some believe they will change the way we watch movies forever
"They call it 'the illusion of depth', a conjuring trick on the visual cortex, and it works like this. You take two cameras and shoot with them side-by-side. Later, when the results are projected, the viewer interprets these dual images as a single three-dimensional image. We see (or believe we see) a foreground, a background and, best of all, bulky projectiles that threaten to leap from the screen and land in our laps. This is the USP of 3D or stereoscopic cinema, a gimmick as old as film-making itself. In the past the success of this illusion has likewise proved illusory – but this time, we are assured, the landscape is different."
"This year has already witnessed an unprecedented rise in the number of 3D studio pictures, from Coraline to My Bloody Valentine to Monsters vs Aliens. The 3D version of Monsters vs Aliens earned more than its flat-screen counterpart despite playing in fewer cinemas.
Another adantage about 3D films is that you can't pirate a 3D image by smuggling a camcorder into your local multiplex. Cameron first devised the concept for Avatar in the mid-90s, but decided to hold off on the actual filming until the technology caught up with his vision which of course would make the film a million times better.
In the UK alone, only around 320 out of 3,600 cinemas are digitally equipped, while in the US the ratio is even worse (2,500 out of 38,000), the danger is that, in this digital switchover, a number of cinemas may well be left behind , because they weren't 3D equipped and it cost £80,000 to get themselfs into a 3D position."
These are bits that I have picked out from the articles that I think are important for my research.
How much did Avatar really cost? by Vanity Fair
Was Avatar worth it?
"Determining the final cost of this film is a trick in itself. Wildly different reports have been published, ranging from $230 million (The New Yorker) to nearly $500 million (The New York Times). The buget has not yet been confirmed.
Avatar’s official budget lies somewhere in between, probably closest to the figure of the Los Angeles Times’s—$280 million for the production, plus marketing costs. It is the most expensive film they’ve made, but now, having the luxury of hindsight, it is money well spent, so their not concerned about it.
Normally, when people talk about a movie budget, they’re talking about the production costs—the expense of hiring the actors, building the sets and keeping the special effects artists chained to their computer monitors. They’re not talking about the marketing costs. So when you hear that the third Pirates of the Caribbean movie cost $300 million, that number doesn’t include paying to slap Johnny Depp’s face on every billboard and bus in town."
These are bits that I have picked out from the articles that I think are important for my research.
The articles above are important for understanding the issues around technological convergence and how it affects the ways we consume films. They also reveal the growing significance of 3D films and the newly developed cameras that help make them.
Reviews
