Film distribution is the competitive business of marketing and releasing films. Distributors are responsible for deciding release dates and theaters, advertising campaigns, and negotiating deals for home video and television releases. They aim to maximize revenue from theatrical showings, home video sales and rentals, pay-per-view, and television licenses. United International Pictures distributes films from major studios like Universal and Paramount internationally outside of North America.

1. Film Distribution

2. What is film distribution?
• Distribution is the highly competitive business of
launching and sustaining films in the market place.
• It's vital to the health of the film industry as a whole.
• Films don't become well known, or find their place in
the world, by accident.
• The distributor's challenge is to bring each one to
market, starting from scratch (except for a sequel)
and realising its potential.

3. Tony Angellotti (Distributor)
• If you break it down and look at it as a business then
the audience has the greatest power. It's the
audience that tells you what they like.
• So if the audience likes a particular superstar, then
Hollywood is forced to use the superstar and that
star then becomes extremely powerful.

4. Toby Miller (Theortist)
• In a world where money spent on the budget of a film often
sees 50 % going on promotion as opposed to what you
actually see on screen, the idea that we have a world where
the consumer can exercise authority is absurd.
• This industry is like any other. Of course it has to sell things,
but it doesn't rely on waiting, listening, responding to what
audiences want and then delivering that to them.

5. Films– audience driven?
• They can't both be right and you therefore need to
come to an informed judgement on this dynamic.
• In the case of film marketing, it is a complex issue.
• Q. Did millions of people go to see Pirates of the Caribbean 2
in the first week of release because it is such a great film, or
because it is so well marketed? Or both?
• It took $135,634,554 in its opening weekend in the US alone,
32% of its final total gross.
•

6. Definition of a distributor
• A distributor is the link between the film-makers and
the public, and allows a film to reach the public via
the cinemas, DVD/video and on television.
• There are a number of distribution companies in the
UK, all with different styles, funding structures, aims
and marketing plans, all trying to sell their films in an
incredibly competitive environment.

7. Responsibilities include:
• deciding on a release date;
• deciding how many prints to produce and in which cinemas to
screen them;
• advertising campaigns;
• designing art work for adverts, posters, flyers and billboards;
• organising premieres and talker screenings;
• booking talent (i.e. the stars or director) for press interviews
and personal appearances.

8. Distribution
• Distributors are also responsible for negotiating deals
regarding the film's release on video and DVD, and showings
on television, cable and satellite channels.
• A film could come to the distributor in a range of ways
– films produced by the main American studios will be
distributed through their own companies, so Warner Bros.
will distribute their own films as will 20th Century Fox and
Buena Vista International will distribute Disney films as it
is the Disney distribution 'arm'.

9. Some Background Facts and
Statistics
• Worldwide spend on films is around $65 billion a year, of
which the distributors' share is about $35 billion.
• Total revenues are split almost equally between the North
American market and the Rest of the World.
• The industry has doubled in size in the last since 2000 – an
annual growth rate of almost 10%.
• Few, if any, major businesses can boast such continued
growth over this period.
• DVD has contributed significantly to the growth levels. DVD
sales have seen a tenfold rise in the last 3 years.

10. More stats
• The average cost for an American studio film is now
more than $50m with a further $30m spent on
marketing.
• Theatrical (i.e. cinema) revenues only account for
about 25% of the total profit, with DVD taking about
40%; television screening accounting for 28% and
ancillary revenues the final 7%.

11. Revenue Streams
• The main revenue streams for filmed entertainment
are:
1. Theatrical (cinema) exhibition
2. DVD/Blu-ray rental
3. DVD/Blu-ray retail (or sell-through)
4. Pay per View Television
5. Subscription or Pay Television
6. Free to air Television

12. Value chain
• The industry maximises revenues at each stage of the value chain and
avoids any clashes in the marketplace.
• Release windows are starting to close up as the non-theatrical streams
start to eclipse the original release in terms of revenue generation
Release windows
• Theatrical: 0 - 6 Months
• DVD/Blu-ray: 6 - 15 Months
• Pay Per View: 15 - 18 Months
• Pay TV: 18 - 30 Months
• Free TV: 30 + Months

13. Release windows
• The spectacular success of the home DVD market has led to
increased pressure on the DVD rental window with some of the
major distributors keen to put their product into the retail market
place as soon as possible.
• In the immediate future more films will be released simultaneously
into the rental and sell-through DVD/video windows.
• The rental window, which currently lasts for about six months
before titles go into retail outlets, may be closed altogether before
too long.
• This may also lead to the Pay per View window moving forwards
with titles reaching television screens within 9 to 12 months of their
theatrical release.

14. • The share of Box Office paid over to distributors varies between
territories.
• The typical exhibitor's share in the US is 45 to 55% and in the Rest of the
World 55 to 65%.

15. Types of UK distributors
• In the UK, distributors are divided into the majors and the independents.
• The majors are those affiliated to the biggest Hollywood companies and
are:
• Warner Bros.;
• 20th Century Fox;
• Columbia Tri-Star;
• Buena Vista International (BVI, owned by the Disney Corporation);
• United International Pictures (UIP, who release films from Universal and
MGM studios).

16. Majors
• The films released by the majors tend to be
mainstream - Hollywood blockbusters as well as UK/
USA co productions such as Bridget Jones's Diary,
Love Actually and Calendar Girls.
• Some companies have an 'indie' arm such as Fox
Searchlight or Focus Features (Universal) that will
take risks on films that are not such commercial
blockbusters.

17. The Independents
• These are companies who release a much wider range of films, and
include Artificial Eye, Pattie, Metro Tartan, Metrodome,
Momentum and Contemporary.
• Titles will include foreign language films, documentaries, re-
releases and non-mainstream Hollywood/UK titles picked up at film
festivals across the world.
• Entertainment Distribution is an unusual case in that it is a UK
independent that has a long standing relationship with US studio
New Line Cinema (a unit of the Time Warner Corporation).
• Entertainment release their titles in the UK, therefore getting such
films as Lord Of the Rings.

18. Releasing a film
• Hollywood distributors will consider their release strategies
from (at least) four perspectives:
– Global: where will the film work?
– Regional: how will we make it work in (say) Europe?
– National: how should we release it in each country?
– Local: are there any particular local conditions that need
to be taken into account within each country?

19. Release strategy
• Many things have to be taken into consideration when
distributors choose a release date for a movie. School
holidays in Easter, half term, summer and Christmas tend to
be the time when big family movies are set for release.
• Big national sporting events, particularly when England are
taking part, such as the European Championships and the
World Cup can affect audiences, so care is taken about
releasing male-orientated, action-type movies at that time.

20. Box Office
• A film's performance in the cinema is judged on the box-office
figures.
• US box-office figures will give a rough indication of how
successful a film might be in the UK.
• For most films, almost 40% of total Box Office will be taken in
the first week, with the majority of that arriving in the first
weekend.
• Takings tend to fall to about 5% of the total by the sixth week
of release (if the film has lasted that long).

21. United International Pictures
(UIP)
• UIP is jointly owned by two of Hollywood biggest studios,
Paramount and Universal. They channel the films they
produce through UIP, which is responsible for distributing
them to cinemas in the international marketplace outside
North America.
• UIP also handles films from their non-mainstream divisions,
Paramount Classics and Universal Focus.
• Stephen Spielberg's studio Dreamworks also distributes its
films around the world through UIP. Furthermore, UIP will
acquire and distribute films made by independent producers
in local and international markets.