Having studied the film industry, I will focus on how media ownership impacts the distribution of film. The big six is made up of 20th century fox, Paramount, Universal, Warner Brothers, Sony and Disney. Disney is a multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate and it was founded in 1923. It is one of the largest and most popular diversified entertainment company with the set up of theme parks and popularity from its iconic animated movies. This company produces high budget films and it is a part of the big six oligopoly.
A recent film that is extremely popular for its sister loving power and inspirational attitudes is frozen which was produced and marketed from a budget of $150 million, and Disney believe that Frozen is the 18th highest grossing movie ever. As Disney is such a large company it vertically integrated its film, meaning all revenue and costs would go straight to disney as a company. Disney having previous popular films, they had a large foundation which helped to produce and distribute their film, as well as it being a multinational conglomerate there are various companies situated all over the world as well as different groups. For example there is a Walt Disney Motion Pictures in Norway and Japan which helped wth the distribution process. Frozen was most popular in America and Europe however it did make it to many other countries such as Japan and China. It was recorded in 41 languages and was particularly large in Japan where box-office receipts contributed to 19% of the worldwide earnings as well as USA's 32%. Frozen has taken a total of £723 million worldwide and a domestic gross of $400 million+. Frozen is rated high in getting the largest amount of domestic growth of all time. It has won a variety of awards which is down to the films distribution techniques and its wide variety of showings across the world. They won Golden Trailer Awards and won a Bafta and Golden Globe award in 2014-2015. Instead of using one trailer which is the main source of marketing for a film, they created an extra trailer which was aimed towards a target audience of boys specifically to show them that the film didn't just focus on princesses and girly themes. In connection with trailers, some of the cast, directors and producers all had interviews where they expressed their feelings and knowledge of the film which excited others for the film. Due to technological convergence merchandise was another platform that this film relied on relating to their marketing techniques as they released various products, games and music a long with the film. For example they used synergistic techniques such as working with apple to create games online, on the app store as well as being available on android and tablets. Cross media convergence also allows the film to be played on amazon, sky movies and virgin movies and the film was available to be viewed in 2D, 3D, 4D, 5D and IMAX.
Studio Canal was responsible for the distribution of Fast Girls and Aegis Film Fund, Dj Films and Ealing Metro International were all apart of the production. Fast Girls was launched at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2011 and was cast promoted the film at 2012 Cannes Film Festival which secured an international distributor for the movie. Having a film being promoted at a festival it receives a recognition platform from a variety of people, allowing it to be nominated for some awards before and after the release. In comparison to Frozen the budget for this British indie film is extremely low with a figure of £50,000 and box office taking of over £1 million. They got a review of 6.2/10 from IMDb and from the guardian 3/5. As they didn't have the money too market the film widely they use below the line marketing to entice the public, so they distributed flyers, put up posters, spread the word on social media and created a website and Facebook page. As well as this at the premiere of the film they shared photos of this events showing that the red carpet was theoretically a running track in support of the themes in the film. This film is also widely available as it is being shown on Netflix, Amazon and Google Play Movies and has been shown in 2D and 3D and can be purchased on DVD and blu-ray. Piracy is prevented from the film being available to be viewed in 3D as it wouldn't be able to be filmed properly. Moreover, with this film being produced and distributed by smaller companies they still managed to get a few famous artists for the soundtrack which helps promote the film from the minute the artist is associated with the film. Even though Disney have released a film every single year they have the income to reproduce these, although studio canal have had a number of films also, such as Paddington, Nanny McPhee and Love Actually.
Another type of company that have benefitted with their distribution of their films due to media ownership was the mini major companies. Lions-gate, MGM studios and dreamwork studios have all produced and distributed well known films however they arent' incorporated by the big six, one of the big six companies could still own them. For example Columbia is owned by Sony which is well known for their action films.
As a result of media ownership there has been a range of successful distribution techniques within the film industry which makes independent companies look a lot smaller in comparison to the mini majors and the big six. Disney do not have to worry if they make an unpopular film as they know they will recieve all their money back with extra takings as well, where as a smaller company such as studio canal or Aegis Film Fund rely on their DVD sales, cinema takings and popularity within the media. The development of technology has helped smaller independent companies within the distribution of their film as they can now film in 3D technology and incorporate different camera effects and special effects, increasing the consumption of the film.
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