2. Production Company – ‘ A company
that essentially creates the film
doing everything from budgeting,
scheduling, scripting to filming and
editing the final piece, taking the
film from the initial idea to a point of
completion.’
3. Production Company Examples
• DreamWorks Animation – (Shrek, Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda) – California, USA
• 20th Century Fox – (Alien, Star Wars, X-Men) – California, USA
• Blue Sky Studios – (Ice Age, Rio) – Connecticut, USA
• Eon Production – (James Bond Series) – London, UK
• Fox Searchlight Pictures – (One Hour Photo, 12 Years a Slave, Birdman) – California, USA
• Orion Pictures Corporation – (The Silence of the Lambs, Dances with Wolves) – California, USA
• Universal Studios – (Jaws, The Mummy, ET, Schindler’s List) – California, USA
• Focus Features – (Lost in Translation, Being John Malkovich, Traffic) – California, USA
• Working Title Films – (Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead, Love Actually) – London, UK
• Paramount Pictures – (Forest Gump, Friday the 13th, Transformers) – California, USA
• Columbia Pictures – (Ghostbusters, The Karate Kid, Men in Black) – California, USA
• Sony Pictures – (Bad Education, Midnight in Paris) – California, USA
• Warner Bros Pictures – (A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, Harry Potter) – California, USA
• New Line Cinema – (Se7en, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Final Destination) – New York, USA
• Walt Disney Pictures – (Saving Mr. Banks, Mary Poppins, The Muppets) - California, USA
• Rogue Pictures – (The Strangers, Doomsday, Seed of Chucky) – California, USA
• Dimension Films – (Scream, Scary Movie, Halloween) – New York, USA
4. New Line Cinema
• Founded in 1967 (Owned by Warner Bros. Entertainment)
• New York, USA
Although New Line Cinema is known as an all round production company
that is not genre specific, it has archive of renowned and very successful
horror/thriller films, such as Se7en, Final Destination (franchise), A
Nightmare on Elm Street and the more recent Annabelle and The
Conjuring. All of these films were hugely successful generating the
following worldwide gross intakes:
• Seven - $327,311,859 – ($33,000,000 budget)
• Final Destination (1) - $112,880,294 – ($23,000,000 budget)
• A Nightmare on Elm Street - $115,664,037 ($27,000,000 budget)
• The Conjuring - $318,000,141 ($20,000,000 budget)
• I would choose this production company to create my
film due to its excellent track record. The company always generate
fantastic profits and have created some of my current favourite films.
5. Dimension Films
• Founded 1992 (Owned by The Weinstein Company)
• New York, USA
Dimension Films is a production company formerly owned by The Walt
Disney Studios and now The Weinstein Company. The company
specialises in horror films, but also creates films of comedy and action
genres. Some examples of successful horror productions from
Dimension Films are: Scream, Halloween and Hellraiser. Each of these
films have generated a revenue far exceeding the films budgets,
showing their success.
• Scream - $173,046,663 ($15,000,000 Budget)
• Halloween: Resurrection - $37,664,855 ($15,000,000 Budget)
• Wolf Creek – $27,762,640 ($1,000,000 Budget)
6. Rogue Pictures
• Founded March 2004
• California, USA
Compared to many other major American movie label, Rogue pictures
would probably not be considered particularly well established, as it has
only been active for around 10 years. However, the production company
has been very successful and has been known to produce some extremely
popular films such as Seed of Chucky, House at the End of the Street, The
Strangers and The Hitcher.
• Seed of Chucky - $24,741,977 ($12,000,000 budget)
• House at the End of the Street - $40,494,035 ($6,900,000 budget)
• The Hitcher - $25,393,046 ($10,000,000 budget)
8. Lions Gate Entertainment
• Founded 1997
• California, America
Lions gate are a company that distribute as well as produce
films. The main genre that they work with is horror, being
responsible for the distribution of films such as The Last
Exorcism and The Cabin in The Woods. As of November 2013, it
is the most commercially successful mini major film and
television distribution company in North America and the
seventh most profitable movie studio.
9. Hammer Films
• Founded 1934
• United Kingdom
Similarly to Lions Gate, Hammer Films also distribute as well as
produce films, however they are based in Britain. The company is best
known for its traditional Gothic Horror films, however now it is one of
the leading distribution companies – producing and distributing films
such as Dracula, Frankenstein and Let Me In. I would choose this
company to distribute my film mainly because it is UK based, meaning
that it is more likely to reach my target audience as my film will be
made with British actors etc. Not only this, but Hammer films is
extremely well established and has distributed and produced some
very successful films.
10. Film Exhibition – ‘Exhibition is the retail
branch of the film industry. It involves not
the production or the distribution of motion
pictures, but their public screening, usually
for paying customers in a site devoted to
such screenings, the movie theater. What
the exhibitor sells is the experience of a film’
