Hollywood Vs Britain

Film making is a very popular yet hard industry to get into but one of the most successful jobs once in the industry making a lot of money for films. Many different countries such as America, England, France, Australia and Italy all make films and everyone knows that Hollywood is known for its massive budgets, special effects and star filled blockbusters but is this the best system of making films?

Hollywood production companies consist of Twentieth Century-Fox, Universal Studios, DreamWorks Animation, Marvel Studios, Lions Gate Entertainment, Warner Bros, Sony and Walt Disney Company. These companies all make millions and keep getting bigger and bigger. For example The Walt Disney Company is a conglomerate which means it’s a big company which also owns many subsidiaries which are smaller companies. Disney are known for creating family films and that is their specific audience. However in 2009 Disney horizontally intergraded with Marvel Entertainment itself, for 4 billion dollars, which then brought in a wider audience and allowed them to extend their shops and merchandise even further. Disney did this as they knew that superhero films were a very big trend at the time and were making much money individually so they could then expand this even further and also to buy out the competition as Marvel were doing well planning ideas for future films. This then means that Disney are constantly making money as they have so many different aspects of the company not just films. They also have theme parks which are situated in different parts of the world and rumours have been said that they will soon also be introducing the Marvel characters to these rides. Disney animation films such as Frozen, The Little Mermaid, The Lion King and The Jungle Book, as well as being successful and popular with younger children, all also have recognisable music which every time a song or album is bought Disney are then still making money.

Many Marvel and DC films have been remade. An example of this is Spiderman who is owned by Sony which has been remade with different actors and the same back story. The reason this has happened is because for Sony to have the rights of Spiderman they need to make a film using the character in a certain amount of time or they will lose it. It has also been rumoured that Spiderman will appear in the new Avengers movie which will then appeal to a wider audience who love the character. Not every superhero is owned by Marvel, 20th Century Fox, Universal Pictures, Lionsgate Entertainment and Sony all own certain characters.

Hollywood is known for being the film industry with the most money due to these conglomerates. The main one being Universal Studios who own many subsidiaries including Working Title Films which is the UK’s main production company. This means that the money that the films make at Working Title Films, such as The Theory of Everything, Hot Fuzz and Les Misérables, end up back at Universal Studios in the USA anyway. As USA then have a lot more money to spend on films they can buy the best equipment and big studios to create the best films. However the UK then don’t have as much of the equipment, such as the Red cameras, and studios due to the lack of money to be able to create films as big as the USA can. They then have to pay extra to use studios or the area in the USA which then means they are again getting more of an income. Because of this major blockbuster films such as Titanic, directed by James Cameron, have come from Hollywood. This film had a budget of $200,000,000 yet had a gross of $2,185,372,302 worldwide comparing this to a popular film made in the UK such as Shaun of the Dead which had a budget of £4,000,000 and had a worldwide gross of $30,039,392 it was a lot more successful.

Another big Hollywood conglomerate is News Corporation owned by Rupert Murdoch. This company has many subsidiaries such as 21st Century Fox, BSkyB, MySpace, Fox Network and New York Post. 21st Century Fox are another successful American film company. They have produced films such as Fantastic Four which had a budget of $100,000,000 and a worldwide gross of $330,120,875. This film had actor Chris Evans in who wasn’t very well known at the time but became popular after it. He then got a starring role in Captain America and became known for doing action/superhero films. As Captain America he then got a role in Avengers Assemble which was produced by Marvel Entertainment and was very successful worldwide having a gross of $1,518,594,910 and he’s now soon to be in Avengers: Age of Ultron. The first Avengers did well due to the popular trend in superhero movies at the time and the actors that starred in it. Many audiences will go and watch a film if their favourite actor or character is in it and this film has a variety of characters and actors to have a wider audience attracted to it. 21st Century Fox decided to reboot Fantastic Four to be released later this year as the superhero films are one of the main film trends at the moment. They know that the film should be successful because of this and will allow them to make money, they have also already scheduled to make Fantastic Four 2 in 2017.

Although Hollywood has the facilities and equipment to create the best films, many production companies come to the UK to film as they don’t charge taxes on making films. This is then an advantage for the UK as they are then hiring out their studios and special effect companies, receiving more money. Although a disadvantage of this is that many production companies want to film in the UK, as they won’t get charged for the taxes, and as their isn’t many studios they are then booked up for many years for Hollywood films. This means that the UK then have to wait until their studios are free until they can then film. Films such as the new Star Wars, Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens, has had many parts filmed in the UK in Pinewood Studios.

Overall for the UK money is the main reason they don’t create films which are as big as the films made in Hollywood. BBC Films is another production company situated in the UK. They are mainly known for producing dramas such as Becoming Jane, Testament of Youth and Philomena. This appeals to an older audience which means they are then not as successful as the films made in the USA which appeal to a wider audience. However BBC Films produce these dramas and period dramas due to the budget and the fact that they are a lot easier to make.

As the UK don’t have big production companies and very many of them it’s hard to get a film noticed and then created. No film can be pitched to Working Title Films, BBC Films or Film 4 without having the money behind it, this is where The National Lottery funding comes into place. The British Film Institute (BFI) awards National Lottery funding to support UK film production by using Lottery money to help people create projects that will improve the UK film and television industry. Also in 2000 there was another company created called The UK Film Council (UKFC) which was a private company funded by the National Lottery to develop and promote the film industry in the UK. However after 10 years of running the BFI stated that this company should be shut down as it would take over all their companies funding and goods. UKFC was then canceled by the government and all the funding’s then went to the BFI. This then meant that BFI could extend their company but also meant that there was then one less route for filmmaking in the UK.

As well as funding from the National Lottery and not having to pay taxes on the films created, the UK also have many film festivals created throughout the year. This is the only other way to get a film noticed by top production companies and agencies. These festivals include Sundance Film Festival which a film can be entered into and then seen by the top producers. However, it’s hard to get films into the festival and they may not be picked up by anyone there.

Hollywood then have many production companies and producers who are always looking for new films. As the top companies are in the USA it then all comes down to them having the most money, this means that they will be willing to try most films at the chance of it being successful just because they can with the amount of money which they have. They can then increase this money with merchandise and if the film doesn’t take off then they’ll still be earning money from the other films and merchandise they have for it.

Therefore Hollywood makes it easier for someone to have the opportunity to make a film. They also create the most money from having the biggest companies which means they have the biggest studios and equipment. This means they then make the best and most successful films making it the best system of film making.