Chapter 685： Documentary

Today's Embassy Film Industry, the distribution business basically comes from the movies or TV series within Relativity Entertainment, and only a small part of the resources will be invested in foreign films.

For example, this year's "Shrek 2".

The animated feature film produced by DreamWorks Animation Studio received US$457.89 million when it was downgraded in North America. It is currently being shown in many markets overseas, and the global box office has reached nearly US$900 million.

In addition to the theater, the DVD, TV broadcast, network copyright and peripheral products and authorization of "Shrek 2" are all operated by Embassy Pictures.

Although more revenue has not yet been settled, the profit obtained by Embassy Pictures has been infinitely close to 100 million US dollars.

The profitability of popular Hollywood cartoons is generally higher than that of live-action movies.

Because the first "Shrek" caused a sensation and continued to attract attention, Embassy Pictures' investment in publicity and distribution was only more than half of the film's production cost.

In Hollywood, publicity and investment can only be average.

Whenever there is a chance, Ronan will naturally find a way to get the distribution copyright of such a film.

Embassy Pictures will release "The Gang of Sharks" for DreamWorks Animation Studios this year, and next year there will be an animated feature film called "Madagascar".

The foreign film works well, and the profits are equally amazing.

Regardless of whether the production project of Shahai Entertainment or the foreign film purchased by the Embassy Pictures, after the investment reaches 3 million US dollars, Ronan will need to complete the final review.

In the past two years, as the reputation of Relativity Entertainment has increased, the number of investment film projects and the number of films trying to find distribution have all increased. Ronan has a natural advantage in this regard, and of course he will not let his advantage go.

That would be too silly.

Embassy Pictures has also purchased and released films in recent years, but the effect can only be said to be average. The internal competition in Hollywood is fierce, like the kind of film that can really be popular and cannot find a distributor after production. After all, it is a minority of the few. .

The purchase of overseas works should be relatively cautious, especially large investment.

Foreign films are seriously inconsistent in the North American film market. Whether it is from East Asia or Europe, few films can achieve commercial success in North America every year.

Ronan found a familiar name on the latest review project sent by Embassy Pictures.

This is a documentary that Alan Albert of the International Distribution Department of Embassy Pictures found by chance when he went to France on a business trip. It was invested by Bonn Pictet and directed by French director Luc Jage, depicting Emperor Penguins in the extreme climate of Antarctica. A documentary about the arduous journey of survival and reproduction under harsh conditions with strong willpower.

The title of the film is "Emperor Penguin Diary".

According to the report submitted by Embassy Pictures, the documentary has just completed post-production and has not yet entered the release stage. When Bonn Pitch was promoted in Paris to seek distribution channels, it happened to be discovered by Alan Albert, who was on a business trip to France. The film experts from the European branch of Embassy Pictures were convened to inspect the documentary and confirm that the documentary has a certain market value.

Because the response of French films in the North American market has always been a mess, Bonn Picté decided to sell the North American distribution rights of "Emperor Penguin Diaries" separately. Alan-Albert reached a preliminary agreement with the other party to buy out the North American distribution of this documentary. The copyright only needs 1.5 million US dollars.

Documentary films have never been sold at high prices unless they are successful sequels or works by well-known directors.

Luc Jacobs is a retired professional athlete. There is no movie or documentary worth mentioning before. Of course, the works directed by him cannot sell high prices.

This is because the popularity of "Fahrenheit 911" has led to a general rise in documentary prices, otherwise it would not cost 1 million US dollars.

Ronan does not remember the relevant data of "Emperor Penguin Diary", but knows that this documentary was once famous and sought after by countless people. It belongs to the super popular type of documentary.

It won the North American distribution copyright for 1.5 million US dollars, even if the cost cannot be recovered from the theater, based on the estimation of previous popularity, it is not difficult to achieve profitability in the offline market.

Ronan looked at the project materials and confirmed that it was "Diary of the Emperor Penguin", and asked Connie to call Alan Albert in Paris, France, and inform him that he had taken the North American distribution rights of this documentary.

If possible, even the global distribution copyright is taken down.

Two days later, Alan Albert represented Embassy Pictures and officially signed a contract with Bonn Pictet and obtained the North American distribution rights. However, "Emperor Penguin Diary" except for the distribution rights outside North America, Bonn Picté has already signed a contract with France's sunset yellow Sofa Company and Alpha Pictures of Argentina initialed an agreement.

It is good to get the North American distribution rights. Ronan did not force the rest of the market. The Embassy Pictures quickly arranged the release of "Emperor Penguin Diary", which will now be shown in Los Angeles in December if possible.

This is of course to get tickets to the Oscars, the documentary must take the route of winning the prize.

However, before its release in North America, Embassy Pictures will hand over "Emperor Penguin Diary" to Shahai Entertainment, and Shahai Entertainment will re-convene actors to dub.

This documentary uses French narration, which is definitely not suitable for the North American film market.

At the same time that Embassy Pictures won the North American distribution rights of "Emperor Penguin Diary", after Embassy Pictures joined Relativity Entertainment, the first documentary film released officially landed in North American theaters.

Filmed and produced by James Cameron, the experimental 3D documentary "Deep Sea Alien" was screened in 30 theaters in North America.

This is a full 3D documentary, some of which are also filmed and produced using IMAX3D technology. To a large extent, it is James Cameron's technical preparation for the next feature film.

At present, there are not many commercial screens in North America that can support 3D projections. Among them, even fewer are willing to choose a 3D documentary. Even if the director's name is James Cameron, the Embassy Pictures has struggled to win 30 3D screens. .

Unexpectedly, the market response of "Deep Sea Alien" is not bad. With the Embassy Pictures almost no publicity, thanks to James Cameron’s appeal among fans and the appeal of 3D movies, this film In the first weekend the documentary was screened in North America, it received 550,000 U.S. dollars from 30 theaters, with an average score of more than 18,000 U.S. dollars in a single hall.

However, limited by the number of 3D screens, it is not easy to expand the screening range.

Fortunately, neither Ronan nor James Cameron expected much money from this film.

The three major contributors to this documentary are IMAX, Sony Electronics, and James Cameron himself. They have all stated that as much money can be reaped, the losses should be reduced.

What they really gain is the new 3D shooting and production technology that has been experimented and improved by shooting "Deep Sea Alien". This is a high-value product with an infinitely broad future market.

It is no exaggeration to say that "Deep Sea Alien" is just a subsidiary product of the new 3D technology.

For Ronan and Relativity Entertainment, "Deep Sea Alien" is a bridge to open up communication channels between the two parties.

It was through this feature-length documentary that Relativity Entertainment and James Cameron established a business connection.

The reputation of "Deep Sea Alien" is not bad. Although the release range is not large, the trend is quite stable. The next weekend still has 410,000 US dollars in receipts. Adding the workday income, the North American box office also exceeded 1 million US dollars.

This also means that "Deep Sea Alien" can stay in the theater for a long time.

The Embassy Pictures saw a good market response. Commercial cinemas were unable to expand the scope of screening due to various objective conditions. They simply changed their minds and switched to other aspects. After the first week of the filming, with the help of the film’s good market response, it cooperated with many aquariums The Science and Education Museum and the Natural Museum signed a contract.

Many similar exhibition halls in North America have theaters that support 3D projections. Before the new century, 3D and IMAX technologies were used most frequently in these exhibition halls.

Originally, there are few 3D cinemas now, and natural science and education documentaries made entirely with 3D technology are even rarer. These pavilions have signed long-term lease contracts with Embassy Pictures for "Deep Sea Alien".

The longest Washington Museum of Nature has even signed a three-year long contract with Embassy Pictures worth 3 million US dollars.

With the help of IMAX3D technology, those species that live in the deep seabed and the audience rarely have the opportunity to see are vividly visible, so close that the audience can seem to touch them with their hands.

The audience can follow the lens closely to the deepest part of the ocean floor by wearing stereo glasses.

Many people, even most people in the Hollywood industry, just regard "Deep Sea Alien" as a natural science and education documentary filmed by James Cameron purely because of his interest, and simply do not pay attention to the industrial changes that may be brought about by film technology. .

The new IMAX3D technology has begun to show its charm.

But there are also huge flaws.

For example, it is not suitable for very intense action scenes The large movements of the lens and characters can easily cause the audience to dizzy; long-term viewing can easily cause visual fatigue, which is not suitable for young children; 3D effects must be achieved through glasses. Very unfriendly to people who wear glasses such as myopia, etc.

These technologies also require technical experts in the film industry to solve them.

The former James Cameron almost turned the "Avatar" sequel into a lifetime series for fans. One of the reasons was that the technology did not meet the requirements of his director.

James Cameron claimed more than once that he was developing naked-eye 3D technology at United Technologies.

After the release of "Deep Sea Alien", Ronan received a notice from Tony Koch, who was attending the Toronto Film Festival in Canada. "Eavesdropping Storm" hoped to win the award in the festival competition. If Ronan time permits, he can go to Toronto. trip.

The Toronto Film Festival is now an extremely important publicity for Hollywood award-winning films. Not only "Eavesdropping Storm", "When Happiness Knocks Door" starring Will Smith, is also exhibiting at the Toronto Film Festival.