Film distribution is the process of making a completed film available to the public through various formats like cinema, DVD, Blu-Ray, and television. An important part of distribution is deciding when and how the film is released, as this can determine whether the film is successful or a flop. Standard release involves an initial cinema run followed by DVD/Blu-Ray, pay TV, and then free TV over several years to exploit different markets maximally. Simultaneous release launches a film on multiple platforms at once, allowing audiences flexibility but requiring only one advertising campaign, though it presents more risk for expensive films. The UK film industry is dominated by 8 major distributors responsible for over 50 releases each in 2013.

1. Film Distribution
Will Jordan

2. What is Film Distribution
• Film Distribution is the process of taking a made film and making it available for
viewing by a public audience. Film distributers decide when the film gets released
and in what format it gets released in this could be Cinema, DVD, Blu-Ray and
television channels
• Depending on whether the film has good or bad distribution can make the film
successful or make it a flop, this makes film distribution very important to films
and their investors.

3. Standard Release
Standard film release and distribution is the most common method of distribution
and is very much like a common business model and it allows the most amount of
money to be gained from one film as it exploits a range of markets.
How it works:
• A film will be released in a Cinema
• After around 16 weeks the film will be released in DVD, Blu-Ray to purchase.
• After another few months the film will be released for pay to view TV and after
another 2 years it’ll released as free to screen on TV.
This allows for maximum profit from each different market as people will watch the
film and then also buy the film or buy at least 2 forms of the movie.

4. Simultaneous Release
Simultaneous release is when a movie is simultaneously released on multiple media
platforms at the same time. One of the benefits of this method is that it allows for
the audience to decide what platform they want to view the film making it a more
enjoyable experience for them.
Also the film distributors only have to run one advertisement campaign instead of
multiple which saves money for the film but they do lack initial investment as it is a
new experimental. The film may not be well advertised making this a risky release
tactic for an expensive film.

5. Big Film Distributors in the UK
Most films released in the UK are released by 8 major distributors who all have 50+ films released in 2013 and as
the other graph shows other distributors don’t really compete with the top 10.