The document compares two major film studios, 20th Century Fox and Momentum Pictures/FilmDistrict. 20th Century Fox is one of the largest and oldest studios, known for blockbusters like Avatar and classics like The Sound of Music. Momentum Pictures and FilmDistrict are much smaller, younger studios. While they have found success with lower budget films like Insidious, they have not achieved the same level of recognition as 20th Century Fox and have since been acquired by larger companies. The document analyzes differences in budgets, box office returns, film genres, target audiences, and overall success between larger and smaller film studios.

1. Institutions Task
OLIVIA SEYMOUR

2. Main Institutions for High and Low Budget Films
 Avatar was released in 2009 and was distributed by
20th Century Fox.
 Insidious was released in 2010 and was distributed
by FilmDistrict and Momentum Pictures.

3. How much money was spent and made?
AVATAR INSIDIOUS
BUDGET $237 million $1.5 million
BOX OFFICE $2.7 billion $97 million
This shows that even though the budget was a lot higher for Avatar than
insidious, it made a lot more money overall.

4. How well known are the production companies?
20th Century Fox
- One of the ‘big six’ institutions.
- Has made many worldwide famous films.
Momentum Pictures/ FilmDistrict
- Both companies are relatively new (1996 and 2010)
and also both now taken over by bigger institutions.
- FilmDistrict made some popular films such as Safe
Haven.

5. Differences Between the Institutions
20th Century Fox MomentumPictures/ FilmDistrict
20th Century Fox was founded on May
31st 1935 which means it is extremely
old and classical.
Momentum Pictures founded in 2006
and FilmDistrict founded in 2010.
More well known, made many classical
films such as The Sound of Music
As they are newer institutions, their
films would not be called ‘classics’.
Makes higher budget films Typically wouldn’t make the
‘blockbusters’.
As it is one of the ‘big six’, it would have
access to the A-List Celebrities.
These smaller institutions wouldn’t be
able to have an A-List celebrity class as
such.

6. Similarities
 Both have made good successful films that people
have heard of.
 Both have made films that have made a huge amount
of money in comparison to the amount spent.
 Both have made films that have been released in the
cinema.

7. 20th Century Fox films
The Sound of Music (1965)
- Had a budget of $8.2 million and made $286 million
Taken (2009)
- Budget of $25 million and made $226 million
- Both films above made much more than their
budgets and were extremely successful. As Avatar is
newer than both these films it is hard to tell which is
more successful.

8. Momentum Pictures films
Ps: I Love You (2007)
- This film was made with Momentum Pictures and
Warner Bros
- It had a budget of $30 million and made $156
million.
- In a way this is more successful than Insidious and
this is because they joined with one of the Big Six
(Warner Bros) to make the film, they also had a
much higher budget.

9. FilmDistrict films
That Awkward Moment (2014)
- This film had a budget of $8 million and made $40.5
million.
- This means this film was not as successful as their
previous film, Insidious. This is probably because it
is the kind of film that would only appeal to people of
a specific age, whereas many people enjoy horrors.

10. Genres
20th Century Fox
- This institution doesn’t usually stick to a specific genre, as it says on the website ‘From thrilling
animated features, to visual effects that make superheroes leap and fly of the screen’. This
shows how 20th Century Fox produces a wide range of genres.
Momentum Pictures
- Most of their films seem to be romance based, with the exception of the insidious films, such as
Safe Haven and Ps: I Love You. They definitely do not specialise in superhero films.
FilmDistrict
- This company also doesn’t seem to stick to a specific genre as it has made horrors, romances
and comedies. Similarly to Momentum Pictures, it doesn’t produce Superhero films; this is
probably because they require a much higher budget which the companies simply couldn’t
afford.
- I think it is extremely important to look at what genre an institution specialises in
when looking to produce a film as they will have more experience and therefore
the film should be better. Also the company would be known to make this type of
film and that will attract all the regular people who watch the institutions films.

11. Audience Appeal
 20th Century Fox would appeal to a broader audience
than the other two institutions as they make a much
wider variety of films, they would appeal to the older
generation with films such as the Sound of Music
and to the younger generation with films such as
Avatar.
 Momentum Pictures and FilmDistrict would appeal
more to the teenage/young adult audience as their
films are usually romance related or comedies. They
definitely wouldn’t appeal to the average elderly
person which is a contrast to 20th Century Fox.

12. Success?
 Overall 20th Century Fox is the most successful
institution as the other two are not around anymore
because they were taken over by bigger companies.
Although the smaller institutions still made
successful films, they didn’t manage to make enough
of them to keep going. 20th Century Fox have been
going for 79 years and are still producing
blockbusters which shows how they are consistent in
their success.