QUESTION: Discuss the impact of funding on media products.
Anyone can make a movie but not every movie will be great. The impact on media funding is huge. Either with promoting your movie or even just creating it. Companies need to have the resources to make and edit these films or the movie will not end up happening. So yes, funding does have a major impact while filming.
Black Panther. A huge blockbuster film distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, the film made about $361 million in its first weekend alone! Walt Disney Motion Pictures is a huge and well known studio so it’s not surprising the movie made that much in one weekend. But as of May 22nd, 2018, the movie grossed about 1.344 billion. According to the web, Black panther is the highest grossing superhero movie yet. This would not be possible without the many resources they had while filming the movie. The movie took $200 million dollars to make not even including marketing costs which were $37 million for National TV ads. They made posters, keychains, kids toys, T-shirts, and much more. The film would not be what it is without the money they received to make this film. A great movie is nothing without marketing. Another Walt Disney Studios known as, Guardians of the Galaxy is also a huge blockbuster distributed by Walt Disney Studios. This movie used cross production to get their movie seen. Their campaign parents include Hasbro, Lego, GEICO, Ford Motor Company, Dairy Queen, and many more. The company Dairy Queen printed the movie on the cups and even had their own flavor created for the film. All Dairy Queen customers see the movie every time the go to take a bit of ice-cream. This creates major buzz for the upcoming movie. That’s just for marketing, it cost $150 million just to market. The movie itself cost $200 million to make. It ended up grossing 772.8 million.
Beauty and the Beast, a modern twist on the classic Disney movie. This movie came out in 2017 and grossed about $1.264 billion dollars! The original only made $315 million. I believe it is because of the marketing and funding increases that the remake made so much more than the original. The remake film had many cross-production opportunities like a special edition on ‘The Bachelor’ to promote the movie. Their budget while making this movie was $254 million. Unlike the remake the original films budget was as little as $20 million! The difference is crazy! The funding defiantly played a role in how much these films ended up making and even the amount, of viewers that saw it the first week they both came out. Next movie is the Lego Movie, unlike the previous movies this is a computer- animated film so the company used many voice actors instead of actual on-screen actors. The budget for this movie was $99 million, slightly less than the previous movies I’ve mentioned which is surprising. According to the web, “A live action film without any CG willprobably cost less to make than an animation film.” So, I would assume the budget would be significantly higher. Marketing cost about around $20 million. This movie had a lot of cross production while marketing like the Florida Resort, Lego Land! The perfect place to advertise a Lego movie. Merchandise also included, Lego Building Sets. The movie ended up grossing $192.3 million, very good for the budget they we’re given.
In conclusion, the impact of funding on media projects is significant and cannot be “short-cutted” in the slightest. Films with bigger funding usually end up grossing more in theaters and films with less of a budget make significantly less. The sad truth is, it’s just the way the movie business works! If you don’t get your movie seen and advertised it will fail and theres nothing you can do about it.
