‘Bruno’ to kick off next summer seasonJune 17th, 2008 at 7:50 pm
 | | Sacha Baron Cohen will join ‘Angels & Demons’ to kick off the 2009 summer blockbuster season. The comedian, famous for ‘Borat’ and ‘Ali G,’ will release his new movie ‘Bruno’ May 15, 2009.
The $42 million picture is set to become the comedy of next year, if Fox will market the movie as hard as it did with ‘Borat.’ The $18 million ‘Borat’ made $261 million worldwide in 2006, of which half in the US.
Although I’m sure the comedy will get some stiff competition from Sony’s marketing department. Like all the ‘Spider-Man’ movies and ‘The Da Vinci Code,’ ‘Angels & Demons’ will be one of the most heavily marketed movies of 2009. Jeff Blake will make sure it will.
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Tags: ali g, angels & demons, borat, bruno, budget, jeff blake, sacha baron cohen, sony, spider-man, the da vinci code Posted in Actors, News |
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2007 roundup: US down, the rest upMay 4th, 2008 at 7:05 pm
The focus is shifting. Export is becoming more and more important for the entertainment industry. And while the US might be still ahead, more and more countries are developing wealthy consumers who are ready to take over.
We saw it already with movies like ‘10,000 B.C.’ and ‘The Kingdom of Heaven.’ The last made just $47 million domestically, a flop compared to its $130 million budget. But if you take into account the $164 million it made overseas, it didn’t do that bad after all.
We see the same for 2007, looking at the totals for rental dollars from movie theaters, TV fees and VHS/DVD receipts. The US ended with a negative balance of -8%, not able to grow in any way. The international markets however, were up 9%, making up for the loss in the US.
Home video sales in the US took an even worse beating, down 17% from 2006. This, while international sales were up 5%.
If this trend continues, Hollywood has to let go of the US as its main market. Simultaneous releases into their main worldwide territories would have to become a priority. Not just for some movies, like it is now, but for all movies. We already saw how Sony locked up Jeff Blake, who’s responsible for global distribution at Sony. And I wouldn’t expect it to end there. Hollywood is getting ready to become Hollyworld.
Sony locks up Jeff Blake until 2012April 17th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
Showing how important global distribution is today, Sony extended their contract with Vice Chairman Jeff Blake until at least 2012.
“Jeff has built an unparalleled global marketing and distribution network, which is recognized as the best in the business. His leadership [...] has been critical to the success of Sony’s biggest hits. When it comes to knowing how films will play in different corners of the world, Jeff’s opinion and counsel matters — not only to us but to the filmmakers and talent, who respect and rely on his guidance.”
You got to give it to him, his track record is pretty great. Overseeing all world-wide releases he was responsible for films like Spider-man (all 50 of them), Casino Royale and The DaVinci Code. Doing respectively $1.4 billion, $426 million and $540 million outside the US.
