Essay

There are six main companies in the film industry;

Disney
Disney an American company which has taken over some companies like
Pixar and Marvel. They have created such films as snow white (1937) as
well as pirates the Caribbean (2003). Disney offers a wide range of
products from multiple markets, from video games to costumes, as well as
their own TV channel (Disney channel).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBtRx75XwFE
Through Disneys films and TV shows they were able to sell the sound
tracks to the films increasing their revenue. They were also able to sell
merchandise like stuffed toys.

The Disney brand was founded by Walt Disney in 1923 California, since
then the company has released 596 movies creating a total gross profit of
$33,489,670,217.
Throughout the Second World War the Disney Company survived as they
produced pro-Nazi films. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l14WDZCnzw
This assured the companys survival through the war as due to the war
people were not able to spend time or money going to see new films.

The warner brothers studio was founded in 1923 by Albert Warner Harry
Warner Sam Warner and Jack L. Warner in 1923.
They are multimedia company making products like films, video games of
the films and television programs.
Famous films they have created include; Harry Potter, The man from
U.N.C.L.E and Batman. However this company is also famous for the TV
shows like Tom and Jerry.
During the Second World War Warner brothers focused on creating antiNazi films such as The Life of Emile Zola (1937). Towards the end for the
war (1941) they decided to focus on creating war films, they cut their film
production in half, removing the B pictures unit.
Due to the success of Harry Potter, the Warner brothers were able to open
Harry Potter World, a resort that is dedicated to the life of Harry Potter, in
this resort visitors are able to ride on broom sticks, see the castle and buy
wands so they can be closer to their childhood hero. This resort offers
many opportunitys to buy products that will increase the amount of
merchandise bought by people. The Harry Potter brand is now worth $15
billion which is a huge amount when compared to how much other film
companies are worth e.g. Columbia was worth $3.7 billion in 2014.

Paramount

Paramount was founded over 103 years ago by W. W. Hodkinson, Adolph

Zukor and Jesse L. Lasky. Over the 103 years the company has been
running they have created many famous films like Mission impossible as
well as some animated films like the SpongeBob movie. Making both
animated and non-animated films as well as films for all genres and ages
Paramount had a revenue of $3.7 billion in 2014.

Columbia a film company owned by Sony since 1989, they were first
founded by Harry and Jack Cohn as well as by Joe Brandt in 1924. They
have released famous films like Casino Royale (2006) and Peter Pan
(2003).
Sony bought the company in 1989 for $3.7 billion. Sonys servers is
worldwide in the film industry, they also produce products like cameras
and phones, the fact they are selling to different markets means they will
have higher income then there competitors in the film industry. They also
own many companies in the video game industry like Guerrilla Games and
Evolution Studios.

To date Sony owns companies in; music, video games, film and

electronics.

Universal

Universal focuses on high budget films with big special effects e.g. The
Mummy. They were behind the Jurassic Park films which the last one
(Jurassic World 2015) was the third biggest grossing film in the world.
Other well-known films that they have created are Lucy, The Purge and
Kick-ass.

Universal studios is owned by Comcast. Comcast is a big company which

owns a verity of companies to do with the media such as; mun2, E! and
Bravo.
Universal use cross-media** to improve profits, it does this by selling the
sound tracks of their films to the public, e.g. Pitch perfect, this films songs
have been downloaded/bought over 7,000 in total.
** Cross media is when a company realises a product to a new market
using the brand from a different market. E.g. Jurassic Park the game.

20th century Fox is a film company which is owned by 21st century Fox, it
was founded in 1935 and is now known for producing some of the best
CGI/ special effects films in the industry, they have created films like the
Xmen and Aliens. However they have also created films that are not in the
genre of sci-fi, they also make romantic comedys such as The Devil wears
Prada and Marley and me.
They are a multimedia company which are behind the Simpsons,
American Dad and Family guy. They have concord both TV and the film
industry by creating beloved characters in the TV industry that have been
able to keep the shows running since 1989 (the Simpsons). As well as the
film Titanic which brought in $2.187 billion in box office hits, it was the
first film to reach the $1 billion mark, as well as winning 11 awards
including best picture.
20th century Fox has divisions in film and television;
Film

20th Century Fox

Fox 2000 Pictures

Fox International Productions

Fox Searchlight Pictures

20th Century Fox Animation

Blue Sky Studios

20th Century Fox Home Entertainment[2]

20th Century Fox Espaol

20th Century Fox International

Fox Studios Australia

Fox Studios LA

Television

Fox News Group

Fox News Channel

Fox Business Network

Fox Television Stations, also known as Fox Television Stations Group

first-run syndication production

MyNetworkTV

Movies! ( partly owned)

Vertical integration and horizontal integration

Vertical integration
Vertical integration is when a company owns the means to complete
production including distribution with no outside help from other
companies.

The best example for vertical integration is Harry Potter Deathly Hallows
part 2, as the company who made the film is Warner brothers, which is
owned by a huge multimedia conglomerate**, Time Warner. He owns
many companies at each stages of the supply chain, this allows him to
maximise profit as well as enter new global markets.
Harry Potter film used a verity of Time Warners companies, such as, HBO
ran a behind the scenes making of Harry Potter Deathly Hallows part 2
before its cinematic release.
** A conglomerate is the combination of 2 or more companies that
businesses are completely different end up working under one
corporate group.

Horizontal integration
Where a production extends into other areas of one industry. In the hope
to create a better product through using recently bought competitors
techniques and facilities they do this to try and become an monopoly in
there market. Horizontal integration allows the film to be more poplar as
the film will be getting the attention from a larger mass audience.

An example of horizontal integration in the film industry is James Bond

Casino Royale. This film was made by mostly Sony owned companies like
Columbia pictures, however other companies were used like MGM (MetroGoldwyn-Mayer).

Multinational
A company which operates in more than one country. E.g. Disney which
has resorts in both France and America.
Cross media allows a company to use the popularity of a brand, such as
Harry Potter. The Harry Potter brand went from only in books to then in
films to now in the video game market, this means that the brands target
audience will be inclined to buy three different versions of the same
storyline. This means the company is increase its profit for every cross
media product made.
So the film industry works with the video game industry to think of an idea
that could benefit both industries, they are then realised at the same time
so maximise profit as the public are still excited after seeing the film that
they want to buy products based on what they have just seen. The
difference between cross media and synergy is that synergy does not
have to be media related so it can be merchandise.

Mergers/ take over

A merger is when two separate company work together to work on a
project. An example of a merger is Disney Pixars Toy story.

A takeover is the act of assuming control over a company by buying the

company; this is normally done by competitors buying out the competition. An
example of a takeover is Lucasfilm ltd, this company is best known for creating
Star Wars and Indiana Jones, it was bought by Disney in 2012 for $4.06 billion.
A merger however is the joining of two companies like Disney and Pixar in 2006
to create a new business.
Private ownership
A private ownership company is a company which is not owned by a bigger
company, like Disney or 20th century Fox.
An example of a privately owned film company Is Newmarket films, this film
company has made films like Donnie Darko (2001) and Memento (2000)
Another example of a privately owned company is Alchemy who has made a film
with famous singer Miley Cyrus called So undercover (2012), a teen film which
places Miley Cyrus as Molly who is a private investigator with her dad, she is
asked to watch a girl whos dad is testifying, to do this she is asked to attend the
girls college.
Independent

Some producers mainly in the UK work outside the major studies like Disney and
Warner Bros etc, they do this my working with Film 4 or BBC to try and secure
extra funding and to help with distribution, an example of an independent
company is Pulp Fiction. Pulp Fiction is a film telling the story of seemingly
unrelated people and how their lives were woven together by a series of funny
and uncalled for incidents.
Independent film companies are small and are there for able to focus on a
smaller sector than the bigger filming companies, for example Disney offers
sound tracks, toys and video games of each film, were as an independent film
company does not have the funding to offer such a wide range of products to
make money, however this means they will spend less money as they do not
make to hire people to work and design these products to there are over all lower
costs so they will make profit more easily.
However independent films have been known to use bigger companies for
distribution purposes, such as film maker Orin Peli, who made the film
Paranormal Activity, he made this film for only $15,000, but needed Paramount,
a US major studio to distribute his film. In doing so he made $190 million.
Share of ownership
This is when the ownership of a company or corporation is divided into shares
that are owned by different people called shareholders. Shareholders pay for
their shares, and in return get a portion of the profit the company makes
depending on how much of a share they hold.
PLCs (Public Limited Companies) are companies that sell their shares to
members of the public to generate revenue from through public investment.
Privately Held Companies are split into shares between the different owners of
the business, but do not sell shares to members of the public.

Customers
Customers are the people who are buying the product or are paying to see the
product. Customers are the main reason why a film is made; the film is made to
attract the most amount of customers so that the highest amount of revenue can
be achieved by selling products/ merchandise or tickets to see the film to the
customers. The film Big hero 6 on the opening weekend made $56,215,889 in a
total of 3,761 screens, the admission of the film was over 5,308,761 in Japan.
This shows that the customers have a strong impact on what films are made as
they are the ones the film companies have to sell to.

Competitors
In the film industry there are many competitors, if it is from the 6 larger
companies like 20th century Fox or Columbia. These companies deal with
competitors by taking over smaller film companies which focus on a more niche
market, such as focusing on amination like Pixar or superheroes like Marvel, both
of which have been bought by Disney, this allows Disney to appeal to a wider
range of needs and wants of customers. This gives the companies an edge over
one another as each company they take over the more customers will watch
their films as the companies they take over have a high number of loyal fans who
will watch a film just because they were made by a certain company.

Licenses and franchise

A franchise is a company which allows different people to set up a business
under their name, for example if someone wanted to open a Disney store. This
would allow the person to run a business under the name of Disney so they
would be using an already well known and successful company, this reduces the
change of the shop going out of business with in the five years which one third of
start-up businesses do. The drawback of being a part of a franchise is that they
have to obey by the companys codes and rule; they are also not allowed to sell
any other products which are not approved by the franchise.
Organisation objectives
Organisation objectives are objectives created by a company in regards to where
they want to be in the future. They are set by the owner/CEO of the company.
These objectives are generally based on sales and rates of growth the business
wants to achieve.
Sources of income
There many ways of sourcing income in the film industry:

Selling merchandise such as toys.

Cross media (video games and sound tracks).
Selling shares publicly.
Voluntary donations from such people as a business angel.
Product diversity
In the film industry, a diverse product is a product or film which can be adapted
to be sold in other markets, such as in video games or merchandise. Disney is
the best company at doing this. Disney has made millions basing rides, video
games and sound tracks on their films, they have done this by making rides and
putting them in their popular amusement parks (Disney land Paris/ Disney
world). An example of one of their films they have made diverse is the film
Frozen, this film has led to the sales of costumes, toys, duvets and even its own
advent calendar.

Profitability of product range

The profitability of a product is how much a certain product has made in a certain
period of time for example how much a film has made in its opening weekend or
in a quarter.
For example the film Avatar (2009) made 8,509,050 (UK) in its opening
weekend.
Cross media regulation
The aim of this regulation is to avoid creating a monopoly in the industry so not
one company is so much bigger than the others that it dominates the market and
can control the market.
National and global competition and trends
Normally when a product or idea begins to trend, competitors will try to copy the
idea if it is not copywrited, for example the use of the villain turning good
throughout the film. This has been used in popular films like Maleficent and
Despicable me. This trend has even been made clear in the television industry in

programs like Once upon a time, were the character evolves into a better person
showing a development of the character throughout the film.
Conglomerates
A conglomerate is a large company that seems to be made up of other, smaller
companies. A good conglomerate is a company which is made up of a verity of
business which seemingly unrelated. An example of a conglomerate is Walt
Disney, they own companies like ABC (American Broadcasting Company), Pixar
(animation) and ESPN (Entertainment Sports and Programming Network). It also
owns the Marvel which is direct competitors with Warner Bros as they also focus
on super hero films.