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Friday, September 26, 2003 |
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Industry brief: Movies 7 International market That trend has a downside. It has long been known that clever, well-written movies tend to do less well in export as big broad films with lots of guns or lots of gross or very broad humor. In fact, some films that are neither critically acclaimed nor very popular in the U.S, do far better abroad: 102 Dalmatians, the generally panned live sequel to the animated 101 Dalmatians took in a total of around $181 million, almost 2/3 of which came from engagements abroad. Some other all-too-American films like The Grinch who Stole Christmas (with its very American view of the holiday), The Waterboy (American football), and Waiting to Exhale (black American romance) all did less than 25% of their business abroad. While these films did well domestically, they suffered in comparison with other big movies because they bombed abroad, All this means a two-way street. American culture is influencing people across the globe, clearly. But also clearly, Hollywood moviemakers are more and more attuned to what will sell in Copenhagen, Calcutta, and Caracas. The foreign market represents billions per year to the studios, and it's growing fast. It fact, it can be argued that the American market is where you break even; the international market is where you make the big money. This is no new phenomenon. The global market has long fueled the production of big action films with marquee names including Schwarzenegger, Stallone, Norris, and Willis. As these are fading due the aging of the stars, they are replaced by lesser stars (Leonardo DiCaprio, Brendan Fraser, Will Smith, Ben Affleck) in action vehicles with bounteous special effects: Armageddon, The Mummy series, Titanic, Pearl Harbor, theTomb Raider series. Todd Gitlin, sociology professor at New York University, said: "Insofar as American-based studios are making stuff for the global market, the stuff is dumbed down." Of the international megahit Titanic, he notes "The relative crudity of the language is far from an impediment to exports. It's a benefit." More and more films are financed outside the studios by selling foreign distribution rights in advance. Casting is then based heavily on how stars do internationally -- some are hot (mostly white males) some are not (many female stars and black males). While some foreign investments can also help keep some more thoughtful movies going (Woody Allen is financed from abroad, for example), in general, it's squealing tires, space monsters, and explosions that fill the theatres in every culture. The importance of the International market is only going to build. There are currently around 70,000 screens in the rest of the world, as opposed to the around 35,000 in the U.S. But megaplexes have only recently started popping up throughout Europe. The Asian markets are just starting to be tapped, and new consumers in China and India are clamoring to see big studio movies. Meanwhile Hollywood has essentially wiped out international markets for other countries. True, China, India, and France still have active film industries, with films that are popular domestically (in combination with Hollywood films). Many other countries (Denmark, Russia, Spain, Iran) produce at least a few feature films, but with few exceptions, those films do not make it to the United States, and few end up making an impact in other countries. Success in the U.S. is the ticket to major worldwide release. Note what has happened to British films. The Full Monty excepted, many films set and shot in Britain now sport American stars to grab mind space in the important U.S. market. That's why Gwyneth Paltrow got to pretend to be English in Emma and Shakespeare in Love, London's Bridget Jones was American Renee Zellweger, Mel Gibson's voice was featured prominently in the animated Chicken Run, and why Hugh Grant had to romance Julia Roberts (in Notting Hill) and Andie McDowell (in Four Weddings and a Funeral). In fact, if the author (J. K. Rowling) did not reserve rights of refusal, Harry Potter would likely have been played by an American kid star. Those popular films are, however, financed and masterminded by Hollywood studios, not British ones. All-time ten top grossing films per country (up to in Sept, 2003)
Source: www.boxofficemojo.com 9:32:16 PM 
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Last update: 9/4/2007; 8:55:11 PM .
