“Hollywood’s global strategy: Made in America, but not for Americans”
More fodder for the “screenwriters better pay attention to movie studios’ focus on international market” message I’ve been drumming away at almost as long as I’ve been hosting this blog. Great analysis by Patrick Goldstein [The Big Picture / LAT]:
Moviegoing may be lagging in the U.S., but it’s enjoying explosive growth in markets such as Russia, China, Brazil and South Korea. Just look at the numbers: Three of the four top-grossing films of 2011 — “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” and “Kung Fu Panda 2” — did more than 70% of their business overseas.
This focus on foreign markets is clearly changing the way studios assemble their feature film slates. Nowhere is this more evident than at Paramount Pictures, Hollywood’s market-share leader in 2011 with 19.2% of the overall business. In 2007, when the studio also had the largest share of the market, Paramount did roughly the same amount of business in the U.S. as it did overseas — $1.5 billion domestic versus $1.6 billion international. In 2011, the studio’s films grossed $1.9 billion in the U.S. But they made a whopping $3.2 billion overseas.
That is double international business in a mere 4 years time while domestic totals rose only $400M. Paramount has championed a bifurcated model that other studios are using:
Under Brad Grey’s leadership, Paramount is now focused on making two radically different kinds of films — behemoths that appeal to audiences everywhere and low-budget ones that appeal to a specific niche of American moviegoers. Nine of the 10 movies the studio bankrolled in 2011 cost at least $125 million — or $25 million or less. The studio has a hit this week with “The Devil Inside,” a horror film released through Paramount’s micro-budget Insurge label. Made for $1 million and marketed without any prime-time TV advertising, it was the weekend’s №1 release, taking in $33.7 million.
“There’s been a definite recalibration of the movie business,” Grey says. “With that in mind, our strategy has been to focus on big franchises or films that use the power of our Viacom-branded networks, which can bring in revenues from a variety of aftermarkets for years to come. And at the same time, we’re making small movies that allow us to use innovative social media and viral marketing techniques to go after specific targeted audiences.”
Obviously a great story is a great story, whether it has an international feel to it or not. Furthermore just as Bridesmaids came along and blew out of the water the conventional wisdom that women wouldn’t go see R-rated comedies, I’m sure there will be some decidedly American-themed movie that pays no heed to the international marketplace in terms of concept, production, casting or otherwise that hits it big overseas.
However knowing this is top-of-mind for buyers, doesn’t it make sense for screenwriters to be thinking this way, too? I know when I focus on generating story concepts, I’m actively aware of how important the international market is in the current state of the film business.
My advice: So should you.
For more of the Goldstein article, go here.
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