Hollywood Studios 2013 Box Office Performance Review

Hollywood studios are reviewing their 2013 performance via the Cinema channel. For the first time ever, Warner Brothers surpassed $3 billion for international box office revenue.

With total revenues at $5.04 billion — $3.14 billion from international sales and $1.90 billion from domestic — Warner topped the list of Hollywood studios —  and a total of 19 new releases during 2013.

via Screen Digest

Transmedia: More Start-ups will Apply Digital Storytelling in 2014

Raptor Consumer Partners, a private equity company, is betting that Hollywood marketers can help boost the profile of its start-ups — partly by adopting a technique known as commercial transmedia marketing.

Transmedia storytelling develops brands across platforms by creating an internal narrative universe and consistent but independent characters.

via IBTimes

Explore Digital Cinema Movie Distribution in the 21st Century

The North American satellite delivery network for movies and other content has gone live, heralding the beginning of a true digital cinema environment both for projection and distribution.

Digital Cinema Distribution Coalition (DCDC) has launched to 17,000 screens in 1,200 sites across the continent. The essence of the system is a ‘smart pipe’, bringing content into the cinema by satellite, broadband or even hard drive if necessary.

via Screen Digest

Blockbusters Stabilize the Retail Video Entertainment Market

Total DVD and Blu-ray disc video net revenue from the Q1 2013 new-release features was up by 9 percent — as a 13.1 percent drop in rental revenue partially offset a very strong 15.3 percent gain at retail.

That’s a sign of some stabilization of the retail video entertainment market, but should be noted that it was performance driven by a box office slate 28 percent stronger than Q1 2012.

via Screen Digest

Upside for the $18.5 Billion U.S. Video Entertainment Market

The filmed entertainment divisions of the U.S. studios have seen their revenue and operating profit go sideways over the past five years, their continuing growth in TV-show licensing revenue being wiped out by declines on the movie side.

With a 4 percent gain in overall home entertainment spending in 2012, and just modest declines so far in 2013, there’s some indication that home entertainment revenues are stabilizing.

via Screen Digest

How Los Angeles Silicon Beach Sprang Up from MySpace

Almost every member of Myspace’s founding team has begun a new venture, and several are among the leaders of the Los Angeles blossoming start-up industry, now known as ‘Silicon Beach.’

That community is growing for a number of reasons — an influx of capital, lots of young programming talent, a convenient nexus with Hollywood celebrity.

via NYTimes

Kevin Spacey Lecture – “It’s the Creative, Stupid”

Kevin Spacey claims TV has entered a ‘third golden age’ — with the small screen now home to high-quality drama including Mad Men, Game of Thrones, Homeland and Breaking Bad.

But the Academy Award-winning actor also predicts the end of the traditional TV episode and a world in which every film is released in cinemas and on-demand at the same time.

via Guardian

How Dramas Created the Golden Age of Scripted Television

A revival in drama production is one of the trends emerging from the recent MIPTV event in Cannes, France.

IHS estimates that pay-TV channels in the U.S. spent $6.4 billion on originating programs (of all types, excluding sport) last year — that’s an increase of $2 billion from 2007.

via ScreenDigest

Ongoing Decline of U.S. DVD and Blu-ray Disc Releases

The total number of home video titles released to the U.S. domestic market has been in decline since 2006.

Figures published by the DVD & Blu-ray Release Report show a six percent year-on-year decline in the number of DVD titles released for purchase in 2012 — 11,207 titles released compared to 11,950 in 2011.

Current title release numbers indicate that growth in the number of titles issued on Blu-ray Disc has begun to falter.

via ScreenDigest

Transmedia: Why Warner Bros. Created a New Games Studio

Game publishers are cutting back on their staff as console sales drop and digital sales gradually grow.

But the larger entertainment industry sees gaming as a big piece of transmedia, or entertainment that crosses various media.

That’s one reason why Warner Bros. is moving into digital games, opening a new game studio in San Francisco.

via GamesBeat