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Figure 1 |
New line cinema LLC, is a company
founded in 1967 by Robert Shaye. It was set up as a film distribution company,
which went on to become one of the most successful independent production
companies in America. However initially it just screened films at college
campuses throughout America. The highest earning film created by New line
Cinema is the Oscar award wining; "The Lord Of The Rings: The Return of
the King" (2003 see figure one). The film had a domestic gross of $377,845,905. However
after lots of success leading up to 2008, New line Cinema films were not making
the money they once had. For example "The Golden Compass" (2008) had
a domestic gross of $70,107,728 however it had a production budget of $180
million; New line expected the film to be very successful and even thought it
would out do "The Lord of the Rings" franchise. This failure led them
to becoming a subsidiary of Warner Bros, therefore New Lines plans were controlled
by Time Warner and as of October 2014 Warner Bros Entertainment. However Even
though New Line Cinema is now owned by Warner Bros; previously it had worked
with several other companies for example HBO and Picturehouse films as together
they made independent films documentaries and foreign films; although now
working with Warner Bros since 2008 New Line Cinema has been very successful as
shown by their film "The Conjuring", which was release in 2013 and
had the biggest opening weekend of any horror movie making $41.5 million.
Before New Line Cinema was
brought by Time Warner, it was known for taking large risks with its films as,
"Producers who either work on their own or in some type of conjecture with
New Line would present this intellectual property and convince the company to
buy the rights to the property so it may be turned into a film".
(https://lpelin.expressions.syr.edu/trf235/2015/02/11/new-line-cinema-creative-development-in-film/).
However since then it has not been able to take these risks as Warner Bros,
provides all the funding for New Lines films therefore it does not need to
pitch packages to different companies. This is because it does all the
distribution itself. However this could be thought of as a disadvantage to New
Line Cinema as it has to make movies what Warner Bros. supports, therefore they
may end up making movies they are not passionate about.
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Figure 2 |
Time Warner dictates New Lines
Cinemas plans however even if their films do not do well at the box office they
are paid their salaries no matter how the film performs. Whereas before 2008
there was at serious concern over losing money; because in some cases a movie
would take more to make than it would take from distribution. Am example of
this is "The Golden Compass" (2007 see figure 2). Therefore it works out
considerably better for the employees of New Line to be a branch of Warner Bros
as "In a sense, when Time Warner acquired New Line, the people who
remained working at New Line traded their independence for secure work and
pay"
(https://lpelin.expressions.syr.edu/trf235/2015/02/11/new-line-cinema-creative-development-in-film/)
Godsick, C. [Interview]. (2015, January 25). Also if a New Line Cinema Film
ends up becoming very successful, the executives at New Line will receive bonus
pay form Warner Bros.
The main competition for New line
cinema are, Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. Lions Gate Entertainment Inc and
Twentieth Centaury Fox Film Corporation. These are competitors of New Line
Cinema as they make similar films to the company. For example Lionsgate made
the film "Saw" (2003) a horror film and New Line cinema has made
multiple horror films for example "Freddy v Jason" (2003) and "The Evil Dead"
(1981). However because two of the companies horror films were made in the same
year that meant they were competitors at the box office. Sony Pictures
entertainment Inc. can be seen as one of New Lines main competitors also; as it
creates similar films as its creates comedies for example "Grown Ups 2"
(2013) which rivalled New Lines "We're the Millers" (2013). Another
main competitor of New Line Cinema is Twentieth Centaury Fox Film Corporation
as its film "Devils Due" (2014) rivalled New Line Cinemas
"Annabelle" (2014), which made $256.9 million at the box office
compared to "Devil's Due" which made only $36.4 million. These are
New Line Cinemas competitors as they make very similar grosses at the box
office, for example Twentieth Century Foxes children's film "Home"
(2015) grossed $177,397,510 and New Line Cinemas children's film Elf (2003)
made $173,398,518. Therefore they can be
seen, as on the same level in business as there net worth's are very similar
New Line cinemas overall total
gross of all of its films is $7,385,981,314 as shown by the picture below (http://www.boxofficemojo.com/studio/chart/?studio=newline.htm), with its parent company Warner
Bros having a total gross of $37,520,690,336 and being the third most
successful distribution company from January 1st to October 11th 2015. Warner
Bros also has a market share of 16.3%. In contrast to one of it competitors Sony
Pictures has a gross of $32,294,671,106 and a market share of 6.6%. Also
compared to another of its competitors Twentieth Centaury Fox has a total gross
of $29,053,079,926 and a market share of 11.2%. Finally Lionsgate has a total
gross value of $328.7 with a share of 3.8%. Therefore New Line Cinema has a top
marketing position, as with its total gross and Warner Bros it is much higher
than its fellow competitors.
Georgia Banks