This was the case for Matthew Vaughn’s Kick-Ass, which initially had a budget of only $10 million, as Vaughn had to focus on producing the film himself and had to invest money in the film from his own pocket and his relatively small production company, Marv Films. This was because the source text (the comic book) was extremely controversial, and so, many companies were not expressing any interest in its content – the final product portrayed an 11-year-old girl to be tremendously violent and slipping in the notorious ‘c’ word. Once pre-production started, however, Plan B Entertainment – another relatively small production company - decided to get involved. Consequently, Brad Pitt, owner of Plan B, supported Vaughn with an additional $20 million, bringing the budget of the film to $30 million, which now made the process a lot more achievable. Although, this increase in budget was still not enough to supply the demands of big, Hollywood stars, unless they worked for the screen actor’s minimum, and so the cast was made up of relatively unknown actors such as Aaron Johnson, whom the audience may have recognised from ‘Nowhere boy’, and up-and-coming actors such as Chloe Moretz. An exception to this was Nicholas Cage, who, as previously mentioned, would have had to work for the screen actor’s minimum, though he is a huge star. The rest of the cast included a significant amount of British actors, posing as Americans, which would have resulted from the influence of Matthew Vaughn, a British director. Furthermore, although Vaughn had managed to sell the film’s US distribution rights to Lionsgate Films, one of the ‘mini-major’ studios, which would have significantly boosted potential for the film, he was still at a disadvantage as they could not use an all-star cast as a weighty marketing tool, and therefore around a third of the budget had to be spent on heavily distributing the film across the US instead, so as to secure an American audience along with the British and consequently bring in a larger profit. This was also thought about during the production stages of the film, and so a lot of the filming took place in parts of America and Canada as well as England, so as to entice the American public more to the film.
Kick-Ass was also distributed in the UK by Universal Pictures, one of the six major movie studios, which was promotion for the film in itself, thus proving how significant the size of the companies involved are when compared to the success of the film – if Kick-Ass had been distributed by two studios of the same size as the two production companies involved (Marv & Plan B), then audiences may not have felt as inclined to watch Kick-Ass as profit suggests.
Without this use of synergy and co-operation between companies, the film would have been a flop no doubt, as Vaughn could not have possibly produced, promoted or distributed the film on a similar level by himself.
Another issue raised by media ownership in the production of Kick-Ass was due to the fact that they could not afford to perfect a lot of the special effects with the use of CGI, which once again would have placed the film significantly behind others of the same genre such as Iron Man, as the companies involved with production – Marv and Plan B - were now going to have a very hard job to convince the audience that the action scenes within the film were believable.
Nonetheless, the soundtrack created for the film was not much of an issue, as most of the tracks featuring on it were recognisably from other films or shows, thus cutting down costs in this respect, and consequences due to this would not have been enormous, as this would have conformed to the stereotype of a traditional superhero movie.
Issues raised by media ownership in the exchange of Kick-Ass, however, could be seen as more threatening to its success, as the film had to be rated R in the US and was labelled a 15 in the UK during cinema exhibition, because of its violent content and language – to say the least – and so did not portray a typical family film which others of the same genre would have fallen under, such as Batman or Spider-Man. Usually, comic book adaptations fall under a 12/12A certificate, and so this change would have dramatically affected box office figures, as the rating of the film had significantly limited the audience. Therefore, Kick-Ass could be classed as a cult film, as it was made specifically for a particularly small audience. This was once again due to the production of the film, however, and so could not be prevented, as the content had already been provided by the source text and could not be altered without completely damaging the storyline.
Kick-Ass was also sold to online distributors such as LOVEFiLM, which would have increased profit overall, as it would have provided a way for the audience to view the film in the comfort of their own homes without paying out a tremendous amount of money for the one investment.
The film was not converted into 3D, but this decision may have been made due to the fact that it would not fit the generic conventions of a traditional superhero film, rather than lack of funding.
Within the first week of its home media release, Kick-Ass sold 1.4 million units in America alone, one third of these in Blu-ray format, and debuted at number one on the DVD sales chart. This shows that although the rating of the film affected the number of participants which viewed the film to begin with - achieving only $19.8 million its opening weekend in the US, though it did widely gross 3 times its budget overall – the film was obviously not a flop due to its production practices, as people were more than willing to make a permanent investment in Kick-Ass, and the exchange techniques used were more than satisfactory in this sense.
When compared to a film like Harry Potter and the Deathly
Hallows Part 2, however, which had a massive budget of $250 million (shared
between both parts) due to generous funding by Warner Bros., this suggests that
media ownership can sometimes raise no issues at all, providing they can afford
to supply an extensive amount of money in the production and exchange of a
film, which clearly Warner Bros. could, and that the content of the film
appeals to everybody, which Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 came
very close to doing.
Although the size of Warner Bros. contributed to the fact that it could lenient with money, the same could be said for Universal Studios and why they did not do the same for Kick-Ass.
Had Warner Bros. believed that the final film in the Harry Potter series would not do well, I scarcely believe that they would have provided as much money as they did, though this was almost certainly not likely to happen. Kick-Ass on the other hand was a stand-alone film, and so a public fan base had not been established yet, therefore Universal Pictures and even Lionsgate Films would not have felt inclined to significantly contribute to the budget of the film.
Since deciding that he wanted to focus on film adaptations of books, David Heyman, a British producer, founded his own production company, Heyday Films, and put his faith in the Harry Potter series. Although the company is relatively small, the financial support from Warner Bros., particularly during production and of the final film, was substantial enough to secure worldwide success.
Most of the cast had been established already, due to the fact that this was the eighth and final instalment in the Harry Potter series, although I’m sure this wouldn’t have been a major issue had this not been the case anyway, as the budget for the film suggests that other named stars would have been interested, due to being well-paid.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 received a 12A certificate from the British Board of Film Classification, who noted that the film ‘contains moderate threat, injury detail and language’, which was the only Harry Potter film to receive a warning for ‘injury detail’, though no real restrictions had been made where audience was concerned, as this would have allowed all ages to view the film during its cinema release.
Marketing was extensive across all areas of the world, special effects were mastered terrifically, cinema tickets were being bought like no one’s business – the film broke five box office records, including ‘opening weekend worldwide’, bringing in an impressive $483,189,427, and ‘highest grossing film of 2011’, bringing in a total of $1,328,111,219 - DVD and Blu-ray sales went through the roof, selling 2.71 million Blu-ray units in three days and 2.83 million DVD units during its debut, and the film had even been converted into 3D.
Virtually no issues were raised in the production or exchange of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, which was solely reflective of Warner Bros.’ financial contribution to its success; and although few negative reviews will have still criticised the film, I do not believe that this has anything to do with media ownership, and rather personal opinion, as the companies involved could not have possibly done any more to improve the film.
In conclusion, these two case studies show that media ownership plays a massive role in the production and exchange of a film, whether it be its downfall or its claim-to-fame. Either way, the companies involved are extremely important to a film’s success, as they provide the bulk of a film’s existence - the budget -which can either limit or widen the choices which can be made when producing and distributing a film.
(Already marked. 45/50 'A' grade.)
Although the size of Warner Bros. contributed to the fact that it could lenient with money, the same could be said for Universal Studios and why they did not do the same for Kick-Ass.
Had Warner Bros. believed that the final film in the Harry Potter series would not do well, I scarcely believe that they would have provided as much money as they did, though this was almost certainly not likely to happen. Kick-Ass on the other hand was a stand-alone film, and so a public fan base had not been established yet, therefore Universal Pictures and even Lionsgate Films would not have felt inclined to significantly contribute to the budget of the film.
Since deciding that he wanted to focus on film adaptations of books, David Heyman, a British producer, founded his own production company, Heyday Films, and put his faith in the Harry Potter series. Although the company is relatively small, the financial support from Warner Bros., particularly during production and of the final film, was substantial enough to secure worldwide success.
Most of the cast had been established already, due to the fact that this was the eighth and final instalment in the Harry Potter series, although I’m sure this wouldn’t have been a major issue had this not been the case anyway, as the budget for the film suggests that other named stars would have been interested, due to being well-paid.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 received a 12A certificate from the British Board of Film Classification, who noted that the film ‘contains moderate threat, injury detail and language’, which was the only Harry Potter film to receive a warning for ‘injury detail’, though no real restrictions had been made where audience was concerned, as this would have allowed all ages to view the film during its cinema release.
Marketing was extensive across all areas of the world, special effects were mastered terrifically, cinema tickets were being bought like no one’s business – the film broke five box office records, including ‘opening weekend worldwide’, bringing in an impressive $483,189,427, and ‘highest grossing film of 2011’, bringing in a total of $1,328,111,219 - DVD and Blu-ray sales went through the roof, selling 2.71 million Blu-ray units in three days and 2.83 million DVD units during its debut, and the film had even been converted into 3D.
Virtually no issues were raised in the production or exchange of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, which was solely reflective of Warner Bros.’ financial contribution to its success; and although few negative reviews will have still criticised the film, I do not believe that this has anything to do with media ownership, and rather personal opinion, as the companies involved could not have possibly done any more to improve the film.
In conclusion, these two case studies show that media ownership plays a massive role in the production and exchange of a film, whether it be its downfall or its claim-to-fame. Either way, the companies involved are extremely important to a film’s success, as they provide the bulk of a film’s existence - the budget -which can either limit or widen the choices which can be made when producing and distributing a film.
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