Getting the Right Creative Content in Front of the Right Audience Andy Marken February 6, 2025
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Just relax, darlin'. This is the Big Easy. Folks have a certain way o' doin' things down here. Remy McSwain, The Big Easy, 1987, Kings Road Entertainment
It's a poorly kept secret that Hollywood is the center of the universe when it comes to movie/show production.
For years, the major studios controlled the films that would be made, which cinemas got which movies and when; and well, you get the picture.
The town liked that image of 100 percent control of entertainment and it still loves to extoll its successes with red carpets, premiers and award events. But this past year, it has reminded us of Gloria Swanson's famous quote in Sunset Boulevard as a fading silent movie star prepared for her movie comeback.
Source - Paramount
You know, when Norma Desmond said, All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up.
However, just as with the storyline of Sunset Boulevard, the film and the show industry isn't fading it's just changing.
Yes, fewer projects are actually being made in Hollywood today.
However, the projects - regardless of where they are produced are richer, more diverse and for the most part more entertaining.
In the Americas; studios in Atlanta, New York City, Austin, New Mexico, Vancouver and Toronto as well as south of the border have attracted film and show production.
Challengers was shot in Boston. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice was produced in Vermont. Civil War was done in Atlanta. Hit Man was created in New Orleans. Twisters was filmed in Oklahoma. Longlegs was shot in Vancouver. Joker: Folie a Deux was done in Maine, Massachusetts.
Project owners/producers also have a growing number of international production location options.
Maxxine was filmed in Ireland. The Brutalist was done in Hungary. Kraven the Hunter was filmed in England. The Substance was created in France. Wicked was filmed in England. Venom: The Last Dance was shot in Spain. Gladiator II was created in Europe and Africa. Fall Guy was filmed in Sydney. The Killers was done in France. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes was shot in Sydney.
New/expanded studio facilities and virtual production sets enable creatives to duplicate/create any location on or off the planet.
Economical, top-notch gear is available everywhere. Focused, well-trained, experienced production personnel are available everywhere and countries from Croatia to Kenya to Thailand are training people in the latest technology, techniques.
Post-production has almost become a non-issue because the internet puts project owners, producers, directors and DITs (digital imaging technicians) in instant touch with their video/sound editors, VFX and other post specialists no matter where they're located.
In addition, project owners and producers have been able to take advantage of city, state, country production financial subsidies and assistance.
Source - Paramount
Once the project is a wrap, studios and project owners now have choices.
Studios and project owners still prefer (actually need) to ensure that their big budget action and superhero movies are shown first in theaters for as long as possible to recover their costs and hopefully produce a profit.
Global Films - New studio facilities, production team training and incentives have opened up opportunities for studios and project owners to develop - and acquire - great video content around the world.
The first target for a film (regardless of where it is produced) is the Americas and Europe because the areas represent the largest movie-viewing markets.
While theater ticket sales have been in a downward trend since 2002, box office receipts have continued to slowly rise because of increased ticket costs and concessions.
According to Statista, box office revenues will reach $38.99B this year with revenue slowly rising 6.5 percent to $53.6B by 2029.
Viewer attendance worldwide is expected to be 1.9B and even show slight increases in the years ahead.
Poorly Kept Secret - It is well known throughout the film industry that regular movie house attendance has dropped over the years and the pandemic only reinforced that shift to home entertainment. Studios have to weigh the benefits of having people in seats in big dark rooms and the marketing value they can provide their streaming services when the project is available online.
With the exception of India, most countries have shown seen overall theater attendance decrease from frequent attendance to infrequently to never as people become more comfortable with the expanding anytime, any screen in-home entertainment viewing opportunities.
It should also be noted that India also has a very robust film industry with Bollywood, Tollywood and Kollywood regularly producing more than four times the motion pictures Hollywood produces annually.
The films are usually shown in India and surrounding countries. It's interesting to note that Indian titles are slowly becoming of interest to theater attendees in other countries, perhaps because of the exposure their projects have received because of global streaming services.
China's film industry created about 1,000 films last year with 80 percent of the viewing being in country.
Major studio executives (Disney, WBD, Paramount) have to make tough calls as to whether their mid to modest projects will get theatrical windows - drastically reduced or go direct to their streaming services. The new focus is obviously to stimulate and increase subscription numbers to impress wall street.
Independent US studios (Sony, Universal, Legendary, Universal, A24, Neon, Lionsgate) though have real options: create projects for the major studios and streaming video services (Netflix, Amazon, Apple) and set their own theatrical calendars or
