Film groups

The studio as a factory for the production of content that's retailed through its chain of cinemas (or video shops) may be dead but as centres for aggregating the skills and capital needed to create and distrube entertainment they've never looked better. The dominant feature of the media environment last decade was the growth of entertainment conglomerates such as AOL Time Warner, News, Vivendi and Viacom based on film/television.

     Statistics

[under development]

     Structure

During the 'golden age of Hollywood' the big money was made operating cinemas rather than getting images onto emulsion. That's reflected in the history of Australia's three cinema chains - Village, Greater Union (GU) and Hoyts (now part of the Packer empire). It's consistent with life in 2001, where much production is subcontracted - majors such as AOL Time Warner and Viacom run their 'studios' as theme parks - and majors reap rewards from financing, distribution deals, video and spin-offs such as toys, clothing or games. To use the lingo, they've got the franchise.

Current film and video majors featured in this profile include -

Vivendi - Universal Studios, Polygram, Brillstein-Grey

Viacom - Paramount, Spelling, Republic, Nickelodeon

Sony - Columbia Pictures, Tri-Star

Disney - Disney, Touchstone, Miramax

News - 20th Century Fox

AOL Time Warner - Warner Bros

Minors include -

Carlton

Kirch

Bonnier - Svensk Filmindustri

RTL - Pearson TV, UFA, Grundy

In addition to production arms, some of the majors have substantial exhibition/retail operations. Viacom for example controls Blockbuster video rentals (around stores across the globe), Canadian cinema chain Famous Players (around 860 screens in 107 locations), Paramount Theaters and United Cinemas International (UCI) - an 868 screen cinema joint venture with Vivendi. Sony has a stake in Sony/Loews Theaters (with around 2 960 screens in North America).

     Perspectives

The separate Revolutions profile highlights writing about the film and television production/distribution industry and their impact. We recommend the following works for insights into the moving image business. Particular studies are included in accounts of specific media groups.

The International Market in Film & Television Programs (Norwood: Ablex 93) edited by Eli Noam & Joel Millonzi and and Global Television & Film: An Introduction to the Economics of the Business (Oxford: Clarendon Press 98) by Stuart McFadyen, Colin Hoskins & Adam Finn

Michael Wolf's The Entertainment Economy (New York: Times 00), the more substantial Media Economics: Theory and Practice (Mahwah: Erlbaum 98) edited by Alison Alexander, James Owers & Rodney Carveth and Janet Wasco's Movies & Money: Financing the American Film Industry (Norwood: Ablex 82)

Harold Vogel's Entertainment Industry Economics: A Guide for Financial Analysis (Cambridge, Cambridge Uni Press 96) and An Economic History of Cinema (Paris: editions L'Harmattan 97) edited by Christian Delage

The American Film Industry (Madison: Uni of Wisconsin Press 85) edited by Tino Balio, The American Movie Industry: The Business of Motion Pictures (Carbondale: Southern Illinois Uni Press 82) edited by Gorham Kindem and Entertainment Blockbusters (London: Routledge 02) edited by Julian Springer

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