NYT reports on Hollywood's dependence on Foreign Box Office...
NYT's writer Laura M. Holson elucidates on Hollywood's dependence on foreign box office, and its effect on a movie's creative and marketing appraoch. While the piece does not mention digital cinema blogger Pilgrim from Digital Cinema Matters makes an astute point: "Digital cinema will only accelerate the trend of global day-and-date and put more pressure on overseas distributors to better understand the global audiences the better to adapt the marketing campaigns for local markets."
Excerpts:
More Than Ever, Hollywood Studios Are Relying on the Foreign Box Office - New York Times
"Hollywood increasingly looks to global markets to bolster the bottom line. Movie attendance has declined in the United States over the last decade, forcing studios to cultivate a wider audience."
"And combined with the increasing cost to make and market films, many here agree that having an overseas strategy is more important than ever."
"Industry analysts predict an increase in worldwide movie attendance over the next five years, with Asia and Central and Eastern Europe the fastest-growing regions. According to PricewaterhouseCoopers, global spending on film entertainment from 2006 to 2010, including movie tickets and DVD’s, is projected to grow at an annual rate of 5.3 percent."
"But the rules that apply to movie marketing and distribution in the United States — a barrage of talk-show interviews and television advertising — do not necessarily translate in Hamburg, Tokyo or Moscow. In France, for instance, American studios are barred from advertising movies on television. Japanese audiences are notoriously fickle, and marketers appeal to women by stressing a movie’s romance. (At the “Superman” premiere in Tokyo, Mr. Singer said they gave away prizes.) And don’t even try to release a film anywhere in the world during a major sports event like the World Cup."
"People apprised of the marketing budget said Sony spent about $70 million to market the movie abroad. It paid off. “The Da Vinci Code” brought in double the amount at the box office abroad than in the United States."
"The World Cup soccer championships were scheduled to begin in Germany on June 9, just as the summer movie season moved into high gear. Both Mr. Zoradi and Mr. Cook knew that even the savviest marketing campaign was unlikely to coax fans from their television sets. So, Disney decided to release “Pirates of the Caribbean” over several weeks instead of on the same day worldwide."
"Europe proved more challenging. The international campaign for “Pirates” began on July 6, with releases in Britain, Australia and New Zealand. “We took a bet that England and Australia wouldn’t be in the World Cup finals,” Mr. Zoradi said."
"It was a good guess. But there were other factors working in the movie’s favor. Not only was it a sequel, but the cast, including Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom, was largely British."
"Ms. Kroll and her team were charged with updating the superhero’s image. But each country had its own rules to market films. France, for instance, barred American movie studios from advertising on television. So, Warner’s French marketing team came up with an outdoor campaign based on The Daily Planet, where Clark Kent and Lois Lane worked. The ads, one with the headline “Superman Est de Retour!” (Superman is back!), were plastered on the back of buses beginning in May, as well as in bus shelters and in transit stations."
"Con Gornell, Warner’s executive vice president for European marketing, said French staff members proposed the idea last November. The studio began its French campaign in May at the Monaco Grand Prix, where a team of drivers wore Superman-style jumpsuits."
"Then, too, the studio began giving away three million copies of a French edition of The Daily Planet on the streets of Paris and 10 other cities. Like many studios these days, Warner heavily promoted Superman on the Internet. On a Daily Planet Web site, French speakers could post photos of Superman, track Superman on a map, watch a video blog from the director or play a game. Mr. Gornell said executives in other countries modeled aspects of their campaigns after the French effort."
"People apprised of the marketing budget said Sony spent about $70 million to market the movie abroad. It paid off. “The Da Vinci Code” brought in double the amount at the box office abroad than in the United States."
"The World Cup soccer championships were scheduled to begin in Germany on June 9, just as the summer movie season moved into high gear. Both Mr. Zoradi and Mr. Cook knew that even the savviest marketing campaign was unlikely to coax fans from their television sets. So, Disney decided to release “Pirates of the Caribbean” over several weeks instead of on the same day worldwide."
"Europe proved more challenging. The international campaign for “Pirates” began on July 6, with releases in Britain, Australia and New Zealand. “We took a bet that England and Australia wouldn’t be in the World Cup finals,” Mr. Zoradi said."
"It was a good guess. But there were other factors working in the movie’s favor. Not only was it a sequel, but the cast, including Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom, was largely British."
"Ms. Kroll and her team were charged with updating the superhero’s image. But each country had its own rules to market films. France, for instance, barred American movie studios from advertising on television. So, Warner’s French marketing team came up with an outdoor campaign based on The Daily Planet, where Clark Kent and Lois Lane worked. The ads, one with the headline “Superman Est de Retour!” (Superman is back!), were plastered on the back of buses beginning in May, as well as in bus shelters and in transit stations."
"Con Gornell, Warner’s executive vice president for European marketing, said French staff members proposed the idea last November. The studio began its French campaign in May at the Monaco Grand Prix, where a team of drivers wore Superman-style jumpsuits."
"Then, too, the studio began giving away three million copies of a French edition of The Daily Planet on the streets of Paris and 10 other cities. Like many studios these days, Warner heavily promoted Superman on the Internet. On a Daily Planet Web site, French speakers could post photos of Superman, track Superman on a map, watch a video blog from the director or play a game. Mr. Gornell said executives in other countries modeled aspects of their campaigns after the French effort."
