MTL - Movie Master-Chapter 995 property rights department

For most people, the reason why the six major Hollywood labels are called "film production companies" is that their main function is to produce movies, and the main source of income is movie box office; but in fact, movie box office consists of Distribution companies, production companies, and movie theaters are divided into three parts. It is almost impossible for production companies to rely on the box office to make money. Making full use of the copyrights in their hands to create cyclical benefits, peripheral benefits, and derivative benefits is the only way to make a film. The company's main source of income.

Take "Batman Begins: Beginnings of Man" as an example. This work is calculated purely based on box office data. After deducting high costs and publicity expenses, Warner Bros. lost about 15 million. Under such circumstances, even if the reputation of film critics and audiences is against the sky, a loss is a loss. If it cannot make money, Warner Bros. will definitely not approve the production of the sequel.

But in fact, regardless of the strategic significance of this movie for Warner Bros. to restart the DC Comics series, thanks to its excellent reputation, "Mystery of Heroes" achieved excellent results in the video tape rental market, and later released DVD. The sales volume is also very good. In addition, the replay rate of the movie on TV stations and video websites is even more eye-catching. Just at this stage, Warner Bros. has already turned a profit. After that, Warner Bros. can continue to develop suits, dolls, comic characters, series of animations, etc., and the profit industry chain can be continuously extended.

British scholar Martin-Dale (Martin-Dale) stated in his book "The Game of Movies" written in 1997 that after the 1990s, the American film industry has undergone earth-shaking changes, and the real value of the film industry has no longer remained in the The box office profit of the film itself lies not in how many opportunities it provides for the film company to cooperate with other fields. These areas include television products, theme parks, consumer goods, music soundtracks, books, computer games, interactive entertainment, and more. All of these peripheral benefits reduce costs and risks, thereby increasing revenue, and movies provide the keys to this magical kingdom.

Disney has an inherent advantage in this aspect. After Michael Eisner came to power in the 1980s, the reason why he was able to lead Disney to achieve a counterattack was that it took the lead in achieving transformation in this area and rose strongly. This also made other top film producers The factory is jealous. In order to obtain more derivative income, large production companies began to concentrate their funds on those fantasy works, especially the "Titanic" in 1997 marked the maturity of computer special effects, and provided convenient conditions for fantasy works , Warner Bros.' "Harry Potter," Paramount's "Transformers," and Sony's "Spider-Man."

Someone once wondered why the "Fantastic Four" had already hit the street in the second part of the series, why 20th Century Fox is still tirelessly trying to bring it back to life, the reason is very simple, what such a series of works carry is not as simple as the box office , and a huge industrial chain derived from a work. The same is true of the "Spider-Man" series. Sony Pictures holds the copyright of the adaptation, clenching its teeth and unwilling to let go. First, the Tobey Maguire version, then the Andrew Garfield version, and then developed the Tom Hollander version. (Tom-Holland) version.

The realization of this industrial chain is intellectual property rights. The simple and direct explanation is that after Warner Bros. holds the property rights of "Harry Potter", whether it is books or movies, or TV series, toys, games, etc., derivatives can continuously generate benefits.

This is also the core essence that separates the Big Six Hollywood studios from the rest.

For other film companies, movies are their most profitable means - or the only means, whether it is the production company or the distribution company, once the box office fails, it is difficult for them to find other ways to make up Loopholes, loss reduction, and what's worse, the lack of sufficient financial support will naturally affect the investment and development of new projects, thus forming a vicious circle.

DreamWorks is a typical representative. The lack of support from the publishing department is only the first link to bear the brunt. The failure of intellectual property rights to be utilized is the culprit in cutting off the circular chain. The box office pulling ability of the "Shrek" series is unparalleled in the world. Even Pixar can hardly shake the position of this series in the hearts of the audience, but DreamWorks has not been able to fully develop it and develop the peripherals of the series as much as possible.

One detail can be seen. After the split of DreamWorks, the popularity of DreamWorks Animation has remained high, even ten years later.

Of course, looking at it from another perspective, it's not that DreamWorks doesn't want to develop it, but that the capital investment needed to develop the surrounding industrial chain is too huge, and they don't have the ability to develop it.

Leaving aside the big project of theme parks, the peripheral industrial chain means cooperation with different fields, such as TV stations, record companies, doll developers, game developers, publishers, etc. First, this requires a strong professional department to Negotiations in different fields will face different challenges, requiring a large number of professionals to join in; second, each field requires a large amount of investment in pre-development and production before harvesting expenditures, not to mention the need for publicity before listing operate. These all require huge financial support; thirdly, they also need a rich intellectual property library. Simply put, there is enough material to develop and produce.

The reason why Disney is able to lead the six major film studios in this respect is because of their heritage. They started with cartoons and formed a peripheral industrial chain as early as the 1980s. What they need to do is to maintain their advantages and continue to Development, excavation, innovation, continue to lead. Later, Disney’s acquisition choices can also be seen that Robert Iger continued this idea: Pixar’s cartoons, Marvel’s comic characters, Lucasfilm’s Star Wars series…

For most film companies—more precisely, for film companies other than the six major studios, they often do not have the ability to tap the industrial chain. Even with the injection of Wall Street funds, they can start from scratch Opening up the surrounding areas is also an arduous task.

The reason why Lionsgate can rise strongly in the future is because the "Twilight" series, "The Hunger Games" series, and "Chain Saw" series have formed an industrial chain, which makes them have the conditions to become a movie empire . But it is a pity that the successor of Lionsgate Films is weak and unable to develop more intellectual property rights with commercial value. They even did not hesitate to divide "The Hunger Games 3" into two parts in order to continue the vitality of the industry chain. , the result is still regrettable that it did not succeed. If new intellectual property rights cannot be found, then Lionsgate will either retreat and become a very successful medium-sized film company; or it will inject Wall Street funds and inherit the six major production systems. The blood of the studio.

Therefore, before Lance's rebirth, the momentum of Lionsgate Films slowed down significantly, apparently encountering a bottleneck in development.

For Chaos Shadow Industry, Lance's goal has never changed. If he wants to have the ability to change Hollywood, if he wants to turn Hollywood into his ideal Hollywood, Chaos Pictures must have the ability to turn things upside down. Therefore, first came the trailer soundtrack department, then the screenwriter department, and then the distribution department. Step by step, Chaos Films is improving itself. Next, there is the intellectual property department.

For the intellectual property department, there are two most important factors: one is financial support, and the other is copyright library support.

The six major Hollywood film companies have an average annual production volume of around 15, and their copyright library is supported by tens of thousands of works. They can search their inventory anytime and anywhere to find suitable ones for the development of the industrial chain. projects to recycle these property rights.

Take Disney as an example. In 2014, they announced their filming plans for the next few years, including "Fantasy Forest", "Alice in Wonderland 2", "Peter's Dragon", "Blowing Dream Giant", "Beauty and Nearly 20 works such as "Beast" are all animated live-action works~www.novelbuddy.com~bring the advantages of intellectual property rights to the fullest.

But now Chaos Films has just started, and their copyright library is pitifully scarce; at the same time, their annual works are only stable at about two. After the success of "Fury Road", they have entered a new stage of development, but considering The next Marvel acquisition plan, they still can't fully speed up for at least a year-provided that all works have achieved great success as expected, then after one year, their annual output can be increased to five works. Maybe.

So, as James said, even leaving aside the money, their wretched copyright library didn't generate any support. Establishing a property rights department at the current stall is really insane, even for Lance.

"Relax." Lance chuckled when he saw James' red face. He can feel that James is really worried about the company's prospects. James has truly regarded himself as a member of Chaos Films, willing to participate in decision-making, and willing to express his opinions, although the road of trust is still very difficult. Long, but it's a good sign, isn't it? "Relax! Even if I wanted to fly right now, I wouldn't stand on a cliff and risk myself without wings."

The teasing tone made James's chest twitch, and he drooped his shoulders speechlessly, "Lance, I'm not joking." Facing Lance, James was no longer restrained, and under the premise of absolute professionalism, he had more Frankness and directness between friends.

Lance spread his hands, "Neither do I. I know that we have no funds, no copyright library, not to mention the property rights department, and even our production department and distribution department have not fully grown up yet." Words After a pause, the tone changed, "But, no one stipulated that we can't start now."