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Cinematical posts

New studio's business plan should be a lesson to media conglomerates

Posted Jun 16th 2009 3:40PM by Steven Mallas (RSS feed)
Filed under: General Electric (GE), Time Warner (TWX), Walt Disney (DIS), Viacom (VIA), Sony Corp ADR (SNE), News Corp'B' (NWS), Media World, Film

I caught a very interesting post by Julia Boorstin over at CNBC.com. She discusses a movie studio that apparently wants to change the way movies are made. The company is called DF Indie Studios. Here's what it wants to do: make a dozen or so films each year on the cheap. What is cheap in Hollywood? Try $10 million or less. DF Indie Studios wants to go it alone, which means that it would rather not hook up with a Disney (NYSE: DIS) or a Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) to get distribution for its product. And Boorstin mentions that equity will be used as financing.

This movie-making model is right up my alley. I've written extensively about how Tinsel Town has gotten out of control when it comes to budgets and marketing expenses. Movies simply don't need to cost as much as they do. And projects give away way too many concessions in terms of cash-flow participation. Big stars tend to receive percentages of the gross that are too significant, in my opinion.

Continue reading New studio's business plan should be a lesson to media conglomerates

Money Face-Off: Ivanka Trump vs. Paris Hilton

Posted Sep 15th 2007 2:10PM by Gary Sattler (RSS feed)
Filed under: Columns, Trump Entertainment Resorts (TRMP), , Entrepreneurs

This post is part of our Money Face-Offs feature. Let us know who you think comes out ahead in this head-to-head match-up, and check out our other Money Face-Off posts.

How does one go about drawing a comparison between Paris Hilton and Ivanka Trump? In my estimation, although there a some mildly reasonable parallels between the two ladies, they are two significantly different people. It's difficult in this format to strip the comparison down to bare facts and then to build a picture of each woman's character and experience from there. So, what I shall try to do is give you just the basics to help you and then I'll leave you to determine which of these women you'd prefer to spend some time with. I'd be pleased if you would comment about which woman you would choose as a business associate, an employee, a national leader, or a life partner.

Continue reading Money Face-Off: Ivanka Trump vs. Paris Hilton

Remember 'Akeelah and the Bee'? -- neither do I

Posted Jul 13th 2006 6:36PM by Michael Canfield (RSS feed)
Filed under: Bad News, Starbucks (SBUX), Marketing and Advertising

Laurence Fishburne in Lionsgate Films and Starbucks (SBUX) partnered this past Spring to promote one of the (seemingly endless number of) spelling-bee-themed rockyesque films recently in production, Akeelah and the Bee. (Read: Video Business Online: Lionsgate and Starbucks get educated.) Starbucks has had good cross-promotion success in the past, notably with music CD's (not only with repackages of well-known artists like Ray Charles, but also, promoting niche acts like Sonya Kitchell) but this maiden attempt to tie-in with a film fizzled. The film has grossed just around $18.5 million through last weekend-- some 70+ days since opening. I myself never caught spelling-bee fever from the promotional sleeves featuring obscure words and definitions that came with my cups of joe during the promotion. Evidently others felt much more than indifference.

The movie studio, naturally, prefers to show the experience in a positive light.

Continue reading Remember 'Akeelah and the Bee'? -- neither do I

Superman returns super-positive receipts for Imax

Posted Jul 7th 2006 11:40AM by Michael Canfield (RSS feed)
Filed under: Good news, Time Warner (TWX)

Regardless of how Time Warner's (TWX) movie division fairs overall this summer, The Man of Steel has been a boon for Imax (IMAX). Choose your metaphor: "Superman Returns" either soared with, flew away with, or as Sandy Brown of TheStreet.com says, "lifted" Imax this week when the movie took in $6.83 million during its first seven days as an "Imax 3D Experience." This special 3D-enhanced version of the film is currently showing on over 70 Imax screens in the US.

In recent summers movie-goers have shown themselves to be more the up to the challenge of craning their necks for recent Hollywood blockbusters such as "Batman Begins" and whatever they called the last Matrix movie, as opposed to just the forty-five minute glacier, coral reef, or mountain adventure odysseys that still dominate the big big big screen.

A little 3D Imax buzz can only help Time Warner, which has seen the decent revenue taken in by this lynchpin film in its summer schedule overshadowed amidst repeated reminders in the media that, yes, other superhero movies have opened stronger -- and that is without even mentioning the decidedly mixed reception the movie got from critics.

[Disclosure: I have seen "Superman Returns" once, on the regular-sized big screen, liked it, and will probably see it again.]

(You can read more about Superman breaking a box office record from Christopher Campbell at Cinematical).

'Superman is not coming to save the day for Time Warner'

Posted Jun 30th 2006 6:05PM by Michael Canfield (RSS feed)
Filed under: Good news, Bad News, Products and Services, Consumer Experience, Time Warner (TWX)

... so said Richard Steinberg (Steinberg Global Asset Management) in a Reuters story that reports TWX shares increased more than one percent last Monday. Advanced screenings of "Superman Returns" got positive reactions from investors and some movie critics. Now, after the film's Wednesday opening Box Office Mojo is calling the opening gross solid, while Cinematical and others call the take "respectable." Seems to be some disappointment that Superman, with 21 million on Wednesday underperformed compared with Sony's two Spider-Man flicks -- both of which had Opening day grosses around the 40 million mark.

The Reuters piece goes on to say that Time Warner may need more than one good showing by one blockbuster this summer to balance out the spring-time disaster that was "Poseidon." The coming weeks will show whether word-of-mouth will drive more eyes toward the Man in Tights or send them away. Long-term success or failure will depend on whether the inevitable two sequels will hold onto enough box office to make the revived movie franchise a solid investment for the studio division.