CBS Films

Posted on October 5, 2014 by rkraiche

 by Rebecca Raichek

11800 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles CA 90025

Company Overview

CBS Films is a film company that is owned by CBS Corporation and produces, distributes, and acquires feature films. Created in 2007, CBS Films is a small production company who release about four to six films every year that consist of various different genres [1]. CBS Films are always on the lookout for new quality films regardless of genre, and generally focus on the production of smaller films since they are more agile and adapt to the market place says Vice President of Communications Grey Munford [2]. CBS Films looks to make good movies that are able to find an audience. Showtime and CBS help with the financing of the films, and the showcasing and syndication as well. Because CBS is good at putting premium content out, CBS films are able to reach their intended audience. They gain viewers through less of a traditional promotional and advertising way, but are still equally as successful as the big studios [2].

Key Executives

Terry Press: President

Terry Press source: cbsfilms.com/about

Reid Sullivan: Chief Financial Officer

Reid Sullivan source: cbsfilms.com/about

Scott Shooman: Executive Vice President Acquisitions and Co-Productions

Scott Shooman source: cbsfilms.com/about

Steven Friedlander: Executive Vice President Theatrical Distributions

Steven Friedlander source: cbsfilms.com/about

Financials

Since CBS Films was established in 2007, they have released 17 movies that have earned a total gross income of $321,882,427 [3]. The top earning movie was Last Vegas with $63,914,167, followed by The Woman in Black with $54,333,290. In the first quarter of 2014, the Entertainment sector of CBS Corporation which includes CBS Films earned $457 million which was a decrease for the first quarter in 2013 which was $480 million [4]. In the third quarter of 2014 which is the most recent, the Entertainment sector of CBS corporation earned $335 million which was a decrease from $431 million in 2013 [4].

Upcoming/Current Projects

Currently, CBS Films has one film in theaters and one that is coming out in February. In July 2014 CBS Films acquired the U.S rights to the British film Pride after it debuted at the Cannes film festival. Pride is a film about the true story of a gay and lesbian activist group in London supporting the national union of mineworkers strike. It stars Bill Nighy, Imelda Staunton, Dominic West, Paddy Considine, and is directed by Matthew Warchus. The film was distributed by Pathe and the acquisition deal was made by Scott Shooman who negotiated with Cameron McCracken and Pierre du Plessis [5]. Pride was a small film with a limited release of only 124 theaters in the U.S and has a total gross of $1,446,634 [6]. Critics gave the film great reviews and was given 94% rating on Rotten Tomatoes [7]. To advertise the film, CBS Films relied heavily on the use of social media and personal interactions through the audiences via Twitter. CBS Films retweeted audience reviews of Pride on their page instead of self-promoting the movie themselves. According to Vice President of Communications Grey Munford, “ the best thing you can do is retweet the good things other people are saying. People trust it more with reviews coming from other people.” He also stressed that “Pride was a social first movie- in the digital space social media is most important,” [2]. Pride will be available on Blue-Ray on December 23rd, 2014.

Promotional poster for Pride source: geekedoutnation.com

Another upcoming project for CBS Films is the release of The DUFF in February 2015. The trailer for The DUFF had it’s world release during the premiere of The Hunger Games as part of a strategy by CBS to target the demographic of Women Under 25 [2]. According to Munford, the trailer was strategically released during The Hunger Games because it was the single biggest movie released between November and February that would reach the target demographic [2]. The DUFF is about a high school girl who finds out she is the
“DUFF” of her friend group- the designated ugly fat friend, and she desperately tries to change her image. This film has also used social media to advertise, and actors Bella Thorne and Robbie Amell have tweeted a link to the trailer encouraging their fans and followers to watch it and see the movie when it is released.

Promotional poster for The DUFF source: collider.com

Starting in 2015, Lionsgate Entertainment will take over CBS Film’s distribution operations as a multiyear agreement. The deal also includes Lionsgate taking control over all international sales for CBS films. CBS will still produce and acquire their own films, but Lionsgate will have total control of distribution both in theaters and in home entertainment [8]. This deal comes after CBS Films has made a move to become a more significant studio in acquiring films, especially after they acquired Inside Llewyn Davis, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, and most recently Pride [8].

Another upcoming project for CBS Films is the production of Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark which will be an adaptation of the books written by Alvin Schwartz. The films will be adapted by John August, and will be produced by Sean Daniel, Jason Brown, and Elizabeth Grave [9].

source: deadline.com

CBS Films is also adapting the Broadway musical 13 to film which will be written by Bert V. Royal, and produced by Laurence Mark [10].

Social Media

Because CBS Films is a smaller film company, they rely heavily on social media in order to advertise and promote their films. They have a Facebook account where they constantly post about their current and upcoming projects and provide behind the scenes pictures for the 5,700 people who like the page. Vice President of Communications for CBS Films Grey Munford, explained how social media has helped their films successfully compete with big budget movies at the box office. Their film The Woman In Black, starring Daniel Radcliffe, opened up within 2-3 million dollars of Fox’s big budget film Chronicle. [2]. The film used social media and built an online fan base to successfully advertise and also emphasized on the stardom of Daniel Radcliffe to persuade his current fans to see the movie.

source: gettypress.co.uk

CBS Films also used Radcliffe as an advertising tool to promote their Romantic- Comedy What If which he starred in as well. The film had a social media campaign through the new app We Heart It which is an image-sharing social network, and gained 22,000 followers [11].

source: gophoto.us

References

[1]. About CBS Films, cbsfilms.com/about, RT 11/27/14

[2]. G.Munford, Personal Communication, October 29 2014.

[3]. CBS Films All Time Box Office Results, boxofficemojo.com, RT 11/27/14

[4].CBS Corporation Investor Relations, investors.cbscorporation.com, RT 11/28/14

[5].“Pride Acquired by CBS Films”, variety.com, RT 11/27/14

[6].Pride (2014), boxofficemojo.com, RT 11/27/14

[7] Rotten Tomatoes, rottentomatoes.com, RT 11/29/14

[8]. “Lionsgate Takes Over CBS Films’ Distribution & Global Sales, deadline.com, RT 11/28/14

[9].“John August To Pen ‘Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark’ For CBS Films, deadline.com, RT 11/28/14

[10].“CBS Films Bringing Musical ’13’ to Big Screen, hollywoodreporter.com, RT 11/28/14

[11].“Young-adult movie campaigns mine social media” usatoday.com, RT 11/28/14

Additional References

Buenavista/Disney Pictures

Posted on October 5, 2014 by iclynch

by Izzy Lynch

Photo Courtesy of [1] www.waltdisneystudios.com

Contact

Address: 500 S. Buena Vista Street, Burbank, CA. 91506

Phone: (818) 560-1000

Twitter: @DisneyPictures

History and Properties

Snow White Original Vintage Film Poster. Photo Courtesy of www.animationartstudio.com

The Walt Disney Studios is the world-renowned film division of the film-turned-lifestyle corporation, The Walt Disney Company (NASDAQ: DIS) [2]. Founded in 1923 under the name The Disney Brothers Studios by brothers Walter E. Disney and Roy O. Disney, the company gained recognition for Walt’s impressive art in second dimension animation and the rich character portrayals [3]. The company has become the most successful animation brand in the world, crafting iconic characters such as Mickey Mouse, and producing timeless features such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Mary Poppins (1964), Lion King (1994) and many more. Since the studios’ inception, the company has grown to host multiple lucrative businesses, including resorts, theme parks, and merchandise, all utilizing the characters created through the company’s television and film productions. The studios have expanded their reach to include The Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, The Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar Animation Studios (2006), Lucasfilm Limited LLC (2012), Marvel Studios (2009), Touchstone Pictures, Disneynature, and Disneytoon Studios. Films produced by these subsidiaries are distributed through The Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, formerly known as Buena Vista Pictures [3].

CEO and Chairman of The Walt Disney Company, Robert A. Iger. Photo Courtesy of www.waltdisneystudios.com

CEO and Chairman of The Walt Disney Company, Robert A. Iger. Photo Courtesy of [4] www.waltdisneystudios.com

Management

As of 2005, Robert A. Iger has headed The Walt Disney Company, serving as both Chief Executive Officer and Chairman [4]. Iger reinstated the company’s relationship with the previously affiliated Pixar Animation Studios in 2006, which led to the hiring of Pixar Chief Executive Officer John Lasseter and Pixar President Edwin Catmull to head the then floundering Disney Animation sector of the studios. Since incorporating the two as Chief Creative Officer and President of the Walt Disney Animation Studios respectively in 2008, the company has seen an incredible improvement in the quality of content, producing blockbuster hits including Wreck It Ralph (2012), Frozen (2013), and Big Hero 6 (2014) [5].

Financial Information

The Walt Disney Company, which became a publicly traded entity in 1940 [6], released its Q4 and 2014 financial reports on November 6th, 2014 to reveal record-breaking numbers for the fourth year in a row. Along with impressive numbers from the overall company, Studio Entertainment revenues soared 22% from last year, earning nearly $7.3 billion out of the nearly $49 billion company revenue total, garnering the largest increase in revenue of the Company’s other business ventures [7].

The Walt Disney Company’s 52 Week Stock Price Chart. Photo Courtesy of Businessweek.com

Recently, the company experienced an impressive increase in their current trading price with the release of their eighty-eight second Star Wars: The Force Awakens teaser. Trading prices for the company rose to a share price of $92.96 on Friday, November 28th [8], which has proven to be not only a 52-week high, but also an all time high for the company [9]. While stock prices represent the entire Walt Disney Company, it is important to note that the characters from the film productions are an integral part of what keeps the company relevant and popular, which has a significant impact on the stock price.

Current Projects

The Walt Disney Studios operates their production of films in the format of larger tent-pole franchises supporting the lower budget features. The company tends to produce films that fulfill the requirements of the four quadrants of moviegoers: both male and female, over and under 25 years of age.

After Disney’s overwhelming domestic and international success of 2013’s animated hit Frozen, the company has continued to produce high quality and exceptionally profitable films throughout its current slate [10], which includes both live action and animated features. Towards the closing of a strong summer for the company, with releases such as Maleficent and Planes: Fire and Rescue, Marvel Studios released the tent-pole live action film Guardians of the Galaxy [10], which has garnered the title of being the top grossing film of 2014 with a total earning of $331.1 million at the global box office; a considerable achievement for its $170 million budget [11]. Starring Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, and Bradley Cooper, the film explores the uniting of a motley crew attempting to save the galaxy at the hands of an evil villain [12]. The film premiered on August 1st, 2014, and was highly praised by critics and audiences alike, scoring a 90% critic approval rating from Rotten Tomatoes [13].

Big Hero 6 Promotional Poster. Photo Courtesy of www.marvel.wikia.com

Guardians of the Galaxy served as the ideal primer for the November 7th release of Big Hero 6, a collaboration of the Walt Disney Animation Studios and Marvel Studios. Big Hero 6, with its $165 million production budget [14], incorporated characters from Marvel’s 5,000-character bank into the Animation Studios’ computer generated imagery format [15]. The result was a success; the film garnering a $50 million domestic box office in its opening weekend, as well as gaining the top spot of the weekend box office ahead of highly anticipated films, such as Warner Brothers’ Interstellar [16]. The film has netted $224.1 million in the worldwide box office to date [16].

Future Projects

The Walt Disney Studios have many high profile projects planned for release through 2019, having announced multiple films from each of its accompanying brands. Many of these films include live-action reboots of past Disney classics, continuations of prior franchises, or new franchise launches.

The most highly anticipated upcoming releases include the reboots of the Star Wars franchise. Star Wars: The Force Awakens, directed by the talented J.J. Abrams, utilizes the Lucasfilm-constructed universe to continue the saga and is scheduled for release in December, 2015. The film, which takes place in a time after Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983), starring Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, and others from the first installment of the series, has generated great interest. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger has announced that his contract has been extended from terminating in March 2015 to June 2018 to oversee the release of two of the three upcoming Star Wars films [17].

Walt Disney Studios has also announced the continuation of the wildly popular Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, with a new film scheduled to be released in the summer of 2017. The film will be titled Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales [18].

Marvel plans to continue the producing widely profitable Avengers, Thor, Captain America, and Guardian of the Galaxy franchises, scheduling to release sequels to the films through 2018. Marvel has multiple other first-appearance films set to premier as well [19].

Pixar Animation Studios has announced the production of Toy Story 4, which came as a shock to many after the seemingly neat conclusion of the franchise with the release of Toy Story 3 (2010) [20]. Pixar has also announced plans to revive The Incredibles and Finding Nemo films with sequels, including the anticipated release of the film Finding Dory in 2016 [21]. Pixar is anticipating the release of their next film, Inside Out, a story told through a child’s emotions, in June of 2015 [21].

Sources

[1] “The Walt Disney Studios >> Walt Disney Studios Home” The Walt Disney Studios Retrieved 28 November 2014

[2] “DIS-NASDAQ.com” NASDAQ.com Retrieved 30 November 2014

[3] “Disney History” The Walt Disney Company Retrieved 29 November 2014

[4] “Rober A. Iger – The Walt Disney Company” The Walt Disney Company Retrieved 29 November 2014

[5] “Big Hero 6 Proves it: Pixar’s Gurus Have Brought the Magic back to Disney” Wired.com Retrieved 29 November 2014

[6] “Chronology of The Walt Disney Company” Chronology of The Walt Disney Company Retrieved 26 November 2014

[7] “Disney Fiscal Report 2014” The Walt Disney Company Retrieved 22 November 2014

[8] “DIS: Stock Information” Businessweek.com Retrieved 28 November November 2014

[9] “‘Star Wars’ Trailer Awakens Walt Disney Stock” TheGuardian.com Retrieved 30 November 2014

[10] “The Walt Disney Studios Current Slate The Walt Disney Studios Retrieved 28 November 2014

[11] “2014 Top Grossing Films” BoxOfficeMojo.com Retrieved 1 December 2014

[12] “Guardians of the Galaxy – IMDB” IMDB.com Retrieved 1 December 2014

[13] “Guardians of the Galaxy Review – Rotten Tomatoes” RottenTomatoes.com Retrieved 28 November 2014

[14] “Big Hero 6 Box Office” BoxOfficeMojo.com Retrieved 30 November 2014

[15] “Disney Buys Marvel Entertainment” TheGuardian.com Retrieved 26 November 2014

[16] “Nov. 7th 2014 Weekend Results” BoxOfficeMojo.com Retrieved 30 November 2014

[17] “Bob Iger to Remain Disney Chief through 2018” Variety.com Retrieved 26 November 2014

[18] “‘Pirates of the Caribbean 5’ Set for Summer 2017” The Hollywood Reporter Retrieved 23 November 2014

[19] “Marvel Studios Announcements” The Slate Retrieved 27 November 2014

[20] “Pixar’s ‘Toy Story 4’ Set to Play in Theaters in 2017” Variety.com 07 November 2014

[21] “Pixar Animation Studios Official Slate” Pixar Retrieved 30 November

Pandora Radio

Posted on October 5, 2014 by htfergus

by Ally Thibault

[8]

Music has always been a uniting force across the entirety of the human race. It brings people together, projects ideas and opinions across generations, and encapsulates emotions that simply cannot be preserved otherwise. It is a timeless source of comfort and entertainment. While traditional radio has always been a reliable outlet to access music, citizens of the digital age tend to crave more than just what is given to them. People want to hear the music they like. Seeing this trend in listener niche preferences, Pandora Radio founder Tim Westergren channeled his passion and knowledge of music and created one of the most successful personalized online radio platforms to date.

Pandora Radio is an online radio station and application that allows users to search songs, artists, and albums and creates customized stations featuring music similar to the choice of the user. The creative and analytical muscle behind Pandora comes from the Music Genome Project [3], which is known as “the most comprehensive analysis of music ever undertaken”. The project has collected hundreds of details about virtually every song ever recorded, which allows Pandora to sort songs into all kinds of diverse categories. The main purpose of Pandora is not only to provide a steady stream of music to listeners, but also to introduce them to new and current music akin to their already established tastes. Their overall aims are summed up most succinctly in their mission statement: “To play only music you’ll love”. [1]

[9]

Pandora Media, Inc. was originally founded in January 2000 in Oakland, California, where it is now headquartered. Founder Tim Westergren developed the Music Genome Project with the intention of creating playlists tailored to the interests of music listeners. He initially considered licensing the music recommendation service to other major companies, but this proved to flop in terms of generated profit, receiving only a $20,000 fee from Barnes & Noble.com for further development. After pitching the idea to countless venture capitalists, he finally settled on the idea of an internet radio website powered by the genome. In the early years following its launch in 2005, Pandora encountered multiple close brushes with bankruptcy as the company experimented with different business models and faced steep increases in music royalty fees. It started quite modestly, used initially by friends and family of Westergren and his colleagues. Since then Pandora has caught fire — in January of 2012, Pandora surpassed the milestone of 125 million registered users. [2]

[10]

Now commandeered by CEO Brian McAndrews, Pandora’s business model has improved in sustainability: centered around generating revenue primarily through online advertisements and, on a lesser scale, subscription fees, and paying royalties to the artists whose music it features. Their third quarter earnings results yielded an increase of $0.07 per share with an overall quarterly revenue of $180 million (positive surprise of +1.02%), with analysts predicting a continued increase on both fronts into the fourth quarter. [4] Over the course of the months following March of 2014, Pandora’s market share increased from 9.11% to 9.13%. In addition, their listener hours have grown 28% year over year in May 2014. Overall, Pandora’s profitability has improved despite royalty price hikes as they have fine-tuned their ad-targeting strategies. [5]

As the online radio industry has seen a surge in popularity over the past couple of years, many competing companies like Spotify have entered the market space to take a gander at the boundless range of music-loving consumers. As a result, Pandora has been pressed into making creative changes and additions to their market appeal strategy in order to distinguish themselves from their competition. The ability to provide their customers with something different and enticing is crucial in maintaining their relevance in the internet radio sphere. With this is mind, Pandora initiated a series of live concerts available for free exclusively for their listeners this past September. They partnered with Lexus to sponsor the pop-up concerts, which took place in Southern California. The performing artists included popular, current acts like MAGIC!, Kongos, and Nico & Vinz. The strategy of distributing the invitations to the concerts was intended to reward Pandora listeners for their loyalty. Pandora determined which users had created unique stations specifically for the artists who would be performing and extended invitations to those who showed a particularly strong interest in the musicians. This allowed Pandora listeners to truly connect with the artists they love, based on how they interacted with them through the online radio platform. Tommy Page, Head of Music Partnerships at Pandora, explained that the concert series demonstrated their “ability to leverage [their] data to create personalized experiences with the fans, as well as…the inroads [they’ve] made with the music industry”. This live concert experience option was unique to Pandora listeners and part of the initiative to differentiate them from their competitors. [6]

Pandora’s “thumbs up” button also brought artists to life for listeners in other ways. On September 5th, a few lucky listeners who clicked the button during a song by classically trained violinist Lindsey Stirling were suddenly prompted by an invitation to video chat with the artist herself. If they accepted, they were treated to a private conversation and performance from Ms. Stirling from her studio in LA. Since then, Pandora’s #ThumbMoments campaign has brought musicians to life for many of their listeners. These “thumb gifts” will continue to reward listeners for choosing Pandora by granting them access to totally unique experiences that can’t be found anywhere else. Pandora’s Chief Marketing Officer Simon Fleming-Wood explained that the experience aims to hyperbolize that feeling you get when the “perfect song” comes on your Pandora station, and the result is truly emotional. [7]

This fall, Pandora has made great strides in branching out to bring artists closer to listeners. They have begun to focus more of their marketing muscle towards interactive experiences with the music they feature in an attempt to set themselves apart from their competition. Pandora continues to evolve as the industry changes and is certainly a company to keep an eye on in the months to come.

Sources

[1] About Pandora Media. (n.d.). Retrieved November 29, 2014, from http://www.pandora.com/about

[2] Clifford, S. (2007, October 1). Pandora’s Long Strange Trip. Retrieved November 29, 2014, from http://www.inc.com/magazine/20071001/pandoras-long-strange-trip_pagen_2.html

[3] Pegoraro, R. (2014, May 24). Pandora’s “Music Genome Project” explores the cold hard facts of how we interact with music. Retrieved November 29, 2014, from http://boingboing.net/2014/05/24/pandoras-music-genome-proj.html

[4] Earnings & Estimates Summary – PANDORA MEDIA INC (P). (2014, November 28). Retrieved November 29, 2014, from http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/earnings/earnings.asp?ticker=P

[5] Team, T. (2014, July 22). Pandora Earnings Preview: Growing Market Share and Improving Monetization in Focus. Retrieved November 29, 2014, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2014/07/22/pandora-earnings-preview-growing-market-share-and-improving-monetization-in-focus/

[6] Castillo, M. (2014, September 17). How Pandora Mined Data to Create Lexus-Backed Concert Series. Retrieved November 29, 2014, from http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/pandora-mines-data-create-lexus-backed-concert-series-160177

[7] Newman, A. (2014, September 21). A Thumbs-Up Brings Favorite Artists to Life For Pandora Listeners. Retrieved November 29, 2014, from http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/22/business/media/a-thumbs-up-brings-musicians-to-life-for-pandora-listeners-.html?_r=0

8] Pandora Radio Logo Banner. Digital image. SoulBridging. N.p., n.d. Web. <http://soulbridging.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/pandora-banner.jpg>.

9] Sprague, Jonathan. Tim Westergren. Digital image. My Ford Magazine. N.p., n.d. Web. <http://www.myfordmag.com/faces/tim-westergren-sync>.

10] McDermid, Brendan. Brian McAndrews. Digital image. Reuters. N.p., n.d. Web. <http://s1.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20130911&t=2&i=793057292&w=580&fh=&fw=&ll=&pl=&r=CBRE98A1PNM00>.