The Hobbit Battle of the Five Armies

1.    The issues raised by media ownership and contemporary media practice

The company that makes a certain film will have a massive influence on what the film is and what type of genre the film is also. The larger companies like New Line Cinema are likely to make the bigger and more successful films. To make a film successful like these large companies do, they follow rules that Mark Kermode said wold make it impossible to lose money on. The rules are, a news worthy budget, not a comedy, spectacular visuals and include an ‘A’ list star. Obviously the big film companies are able to put these rules into place and also have lots of money spare so they can add things that will make the film even more successful and therefore make lots of money.

An example of a big movie company is Marvel. Marvel has created memorable films such as Avengers Assemble and many super hero films like ‘Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Hulk etc.’ as well as old classics like the original ‘Spiderman’ that everyone remembers. Marvel is associated with always producing top class superhero films so that whenever they release a new film, people want to pay to watch it as they hope it is as good as the previous ones. As well as their budget being very high so they can constantly add to their films with top quality effects and visuals.

The Avengers Assemble had a budget of $220 million and made $1.5 billion at the box office so it made over 6 times more than it cost to make. It included ‘A’ list stars such as Robert Downey Jr, Scarlett Johansson and Samuel L Jackson. It also contained fantastic visuals and special effects and it wasn’t a comedy, it was an action movie which means it fit all 4 of Mark Kermode’s criteria so it was guaranteed to not lose money and obviously it didn’t. 

Another example is Warner Brothers. These are arguably one of the biggest movie companies, creating many films such as Harry Potter, Star Wars, and Superman etc. These films are massive films all over the world and will always be remembered and continued to be watched for many years to come. Warner Bros also has a good reputation so when they release a new film, everyone knows that it’s going to be good and worth paying the money to go and watch.

The Harry Potter series were all successful. The first of the 8 films (Sorceres Stone) had a budget of $130 million and made $380 million at the box office so made almost 3 times as much. The latest and last Harry Potter to be released was Harry Potter and the Dealthy Hallows pt 2 which had a budget of $250 million and made all together $380 million. In all 8 of the films they had ‘A’ list stars such as Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson. It was also not a comedy and had fantastic visuals and special effects so it also fit into the criteria of Mark Kermodes rules so it was guaranteed to make money and lots of it.

An example of a smaller film company is DNA films. They have produced films such as Ex Machina, Dredd, 28 days later etc. Sometimes smaller films may do extremely well for example Ex Machina did well but many films that they produce will not. Dredd had a budget of $45 million and only made $40 million at the box office. This film did not fit the criteria of Mark Kermode’s rules which is the reason why that it overall lost money. The main stars in the film were Karl Urban, Domhnall Gleeson and Olivia Thurlby. These are not classed as ‘A’ list stars and also with a low budget, it did not catch headlines and as people have not heard of DNA films as much, they did not know what to expect and therefore didn’t bother seeing it.

The Hobbit Battle of the Five Armies was produced by New Line Cinema and distributed by Warner Bros. It had a budget of $250 million which classes it as a high budget film and it made a total of $955 million on the worldwide box office so it made almost 4 times more than it cost to make. Lots of people wanted to watch this film as it was the end to a sequel and was advertised greatly before the film was released. This meant that lots of people wanted to see the film as they may have been a fan of these films and are familiar with New Line Cinema’s productions before.

2.    The importance of cross media convergence and synergy in production, distribution and marketing

The Hobbit Battle of the Five Armies is an American made action film, made by New Line Cinema’s and distributed by Warner Bros. It is the third instalment of the Hobbit trilogy and a spin off from the three part Lord of the Rings trilogy.

The Hobbit was always going to be a film, ever since the books were published and even when Lord of the Rings was released. The Hobbit benefited from Lord of the Rings as it was a spin off and all fans of Lord of the Rings were always going to want to see The Hobbit as it’s the same genre. J. R R Tolkien always had the plan of releasing the Hobbit after the Lord of the Rings. Martin Freeman was brought in to play the leading role in the films and as he is a big name, many fans of his wanted to see how he performed in this big name film. During the Lord of the Rings films, many references were made to the Hobbit and to the time before it was set. This left mystery about what happened and the plan was to always make a set of films to reveal all the questions.

The audience of The Hobbit was mainly made for people who were also interested in the Lord of the Rings so for people who like fantasy movies and old action style. It is a 12+ in the UK so it attracts teenagers and young adults. Martin Freeman appeals to many middle age people, Sir Ian McKellan appeals to older people and Orlando Bloom who will appeal to younger people and maybe teenagers.

3.    The technologies that have been released in recent years in the levels of production, distribution, marketing and exchange

3D- At cinemas, there is an option watch films in 3D to enhance the experience and make it feel like you’re in the film and makes it more enjoyable.  3D glasses have to be worn for it to work. 3D was introduced in 1915 but only in the 21^st century has become a massive hit and is now used all over the world.

Blu Ray- Blu Ray DVD’s have been introduced. It is able to show movies at a much better quality than normal DVD’s. They have been introduced over the past 10 years and are making a huge impact.

Internet streaming- Internet streaming is becoming more commonly used and a person can chose to play a certain media file before it is even downloaded.

Downloadable content- Various downloadable content is available such as video games or soundtracks.

All these types of media distribution had large impact on how well The Hobbit BotFA did overall. It meant that people were able to watch the film in different ways, and still it generated money.

4.    The importance of cross media convergence and synergy in production, distribution and marketing

The Hobbit Battle of the Five Armies was one of the biggest films of 2014. It was distributed by what is classed as one of the ‘big six’ in Warner Bros. Because of this we could tell that it was going to be a big hit. Its budget was $250 million and generated just short of $1 billion and its gross profit was around $700 million.

New Line Cinemas and Warner Bros worked together to produce and distribute the Hobbit. This also helps to gather in lots of ‘A’ list stars as they can see that the film is a good project as big companies are involved in the production and distribution. This shows how much power big companies like this have as they can spend lots of money and almost get who they want for their films.

Smaller companies may have been involved some way in the production but they aren’t deemed big enough to be advertised with the bigger companies. This shows how little power small companies have as they may have played a large part in e.g. the marketing but don’t get any credit for it. It also shows that smaller companies may be working with the larger ones to help distribute a film or maybe even produce it.

Overall we can see that cross media convergence is a massive factor as they can help big companies to generate a film but still get no/little credit.

5.    The significance of proliferation in hardware and content for institutions and audiences.

Going to the cinema will be the most expensive out of all of these methods so some families or people who don’t want to spend that much money going to the cinema can always stream, rent or buy the DVD. The Hobbit BotFA was released in cinemas in 2D and 3D and then 6 months later released on DVD and Blu Ray. As it was a high budget film, it was not available on things like Netflix. It may be released on these sites once the money being made on it starts to slow down, as it is a good way to keep making money even long after the film was made.

6.    The issues raised in the targeting of national and local audiences by international or global institutions

In the making of a film, things like advertising campaigns, press releases, merchandising, media and interviews with key people involved in the film. Film studios will invest in massive marketing campaigns to make sure the film generates the maximum revenue of its potential.

The Hobbit was actually advertised slightly during the Lord of the Rings as references were made constantly throughout. A very short teaser trailer was released on the 28^th July 2014, getting many Hobbit fans excited for the movie to be released on the last month of 2014.

To promote the film's release, Wellington-based association football club, Wellington Phoenix, wore a special designed jersey to commemorate the opening of The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies. The custom, film-themed jersey was worn only once, on 13 December 2014. In the film's Japanese release on 13 December, Warner Bros. collaborated with mobile gaming company A-Lim to bring Bilbo, Gandalf, and Legolas into the game Brave Frontier at the end of December as Vortex Dungeon units. The campaign ran until February 2015.

Smaug (The Dragon) made a guest appearance, animated by WETA and voiced again by Cumberbatch, on the satire show The Colbert Report on December 12, 2014 to promote the film

I think that the influence that big companies have on the type of film made is huge. New Line Cinemas produced films similar to the Hobbit so they had experience in making this type of film. The Hobbit Battle of the Five Armies was released in December 2014 but advertising for it began when the Lord of the Rings was released in December 2001. Everyone knew that the Hobbit films were coming after the LOTR as many hints were left and the people were even told about it. This created lots of excitement as people were wondering who was going to play the main part and who was going to play what part. All of this contributed to the fact that the Hobbit BotFA generated just short of $1 billion at the box office. A big advantage that contributed to the success is the fact that they have the ability to spend big. Smaller companies cannot do this but big companies just have to follow Mark Kermodes 4 rules (A list star, newsworthy budget, fantastic visuals and not a comedy) which they supposedly do and they are always successful which is shown through the Hobbit making around $700 million.

In my opinion going to the cinema is the best way to enjoy movies. This is also because of the option for 3D. Many people don’t have 3D TV’s in their house so it is better to enjoy it in cinematic conditions where you can get the best experience. The Hobbit BotFA was also very quick to release the film on DVD, only taking 4/5 months to be released compared to some films that can take up to a year.