The Old is New Again
It's called
GlobalGate and its purpose is to foster international box-office revenues by re-booting old movies.
Led by
Lions Gate Entertainment and eight other small, independent movie studios the goal is to compete against Hollywood blockbusters by joining forces to remake each other's most successful films for the growing overseas markets.
Late year the international box-office totaled $27.2 billion, a 21% increase. The domestic box-office totaled $11.1 billion, a 9% increase but slowing. So, for all studios, the big growth is overseas.
Based in Los Angeles, participating distributors in
GlobalGate will share completed movies, screenplays, and other old movie materials with each other directly and on-line. Participants can then choose projects to remake in their countries, with adapted versions of the scripts and new casts and crew. The scheme is that by drawing from a larger pool of source material, they'll be able to produce movies with higher box-office attendance.
The major studios are making more and more big-budget films with global audience appeal but they are also producing local-language movies for foreign countries which will never have an American release. Most of these are re-boots of U.S. box-office hits.
GlobalGate is a way for the smaller studios to get in on the foreign market action.
GlobalGate plans on producing 30 're-make' movies over the next three years with budgets in the $2 - 12 million range.
"It would be too expensive for us without GlobalGate co-producing these re-makes" says Partick Vandenbosch, CEO of Belgian's
Belga Films.
Many of the foreign producers are interested in remaking comedies, as humor can be tweaked to appeal to audiences in different cultures.
"Drama is the same, but comedy is different in very country" said Fernando Perez Gavilan, CEO of Mexican distributor
VideoCine
As of today,
GlobalGate has participants in France, Germany, South Korea, and Japan. China, the big nut, has yet to be cracked. Negotiations are on-going in Russia, Brazil, Argentina, and even Vietnam.
It's All About The 'Experience'
Your cinema must be the most convivial of entertainment-related venues in the community. Running shows each day and making sure they are performance-time-convenient for your patrons. For example, it is a proven fact that a very good market exists for early screenings, particularly with older patrons and it is a myth that older moviegoers don't buy concession (you just need to price the early shows and snacks aggressively).
Business doesn't come easy, it takes a lot of hard work, good marketing, and a firm hold on overheads. For all cinemas, big or small, city or rural, it's all about the experience - atmosphere and presentation. From lobby and concession stand, to on-screen image and sound.
Serving the 'under-served'. The retiree/senior have both time and money so cater to them. Early shows and discounted admission and concession. They will come out for good value.
Projection Tips
- When ingesting content, always remember to close down any other programs on your server. This will greatly improve the content-transfer time.
- When switching between HDMI and DCP formats remember to select the correct format before trying to playback. If you don't, you'll get "security handshake failure", and won't be able to playback the DCP if you equipment is searching for content on the HDMI format.
- Whenever a custom graphic is needed for a holding slide, remember that most digital projectors will accept a static graphic as a test-pattern, and that this allows you to upload a custom graphic and then to recall it whenever needed. In fact, this creates the opportunity to show local ads but without all the heavy processing-power needed to convert it to a DCP to playback off your server.
- Remember not to use the same play-line template year-in and year-out as you will forget how to set up a play-line.
-Lastly, always reboot the whole system first, before panicking and reaching for the phone!
Tips courtesy of James Tremayne and Jim Wright.
Best
Seymour
A jury has found that Cinemark was not liable in the 2012 shooting at its theater in Aurora, CO. where 12 people were killed and over 70 wounded when James Holmes opened fire in a crowded auditorium.
