CANS 406 Lecture Notes - Lecture 19: Limited Release
22 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
MGCR 423
Thursday March 22nd
Group project updates (see announcement on MyCourses)
• On 29th: presentations on Canada Goose, Adidas, Tesla
Midterm:
• Wednesday, Thursday, Friday: reviewing session
o Exact timing will be on MyCourses
• Grades have been uploaded
• Average is 73%
Question
What is Disney Studios' tentpole or blockbuster strategy?
• Tentpole: production budget ranging from $150 and $250 million
o Other companies (Dreamworks) also use this strategy, to maximize profits
o But Disney is a bit more aggressive
• Most of the revenues come from movies with the biggest costs
o Allocate resources to movies they feel will mostly likely be successful
• 8 big-budget films: in 2016, 4 had budget of 200m and 4 with 150m.
o Each of five studios are expected to produced at least one tentpole a year
• Live action made 3 movies
• Animation : 1
• Pixar : 1
• Marvel: 2
• Lucas: 1
• + 3-4 small movies
• Small movies: not a big source of revenues
• Mix o new and existing properties: Disney tries to find balance between pursuing films based on
known properties (sequels) and new ones
o Don't have to advertise as much because characters/universe is known
• No co-financing: Disney finance 100% o production budget and marketing for all films
o Increases both risk and possible reward
How does it fit in Disney's organization and brand?
• Pioneer in animation: first ever full-length animated feature film (Snow White)
• "speak to family audience", "covenant with the audience"
• Acquired marvel, Pixar, Lucasfilm
o All have a strong brand
• Common link in all of the studio labels "great stories, great characters, and great content
producers"
• Large entertainment conglomerate
Economics of making movies
• Small budgets films can always become big budget (if the idea is good?)
• Still make money
• Less risky
• Reflect the values of Disney
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