CBS Films

by Lisa Kitay

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History and Overview

CBS Films is a division of CBS Corporation, which is one of the original broadcast companies.[2] CBS is a mass media company that produces and allocates entertainment content that reaches the entire world.  Today it is one of the largest groups of media content companies as well as it owns the most watched Television station in the United States. The film division is just one of their many facets.[3]

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CBS Films is a baby in the large scope of the entertainment industry. It started in 2007. It has many jobs within its company, including development, financing, production and marketing of theatrical motion pictures. It projects to release four to six films of a wide variety of genres per year with budgets no more than fifty million, but has not been able to debut more that two films per year. They released their first film in the beginning of 2010. CBS films manages the global distribution with partners as well as self-distributing the films in the United States. Currently CBS Films has releases nine films: “The Back –Up Plan”, “Faster”, “The Mechanic”, “Extraordinary Measures”, “Beastly”, “The Woman in Black”, “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen”, “The Words”, and “Seven Psychopaths”.[5]

 

Fall of 2012 Happenings

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In October of 2012, CBS Films released Seven Psychopaths.  This has been their second release in 2012. Even though it opened in ninth place making $ 4.17 million[7], Seven Psychopaths earned two nominations for Independent Spirit Awards for the Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Male categories.  Writer and Director, Martin McDonagh is up for the award of Best Screenplay and Sam Rockwell for Best Supporting Male.[8] McDonagh has also written and directed “In Bruges”. In addition he has also produced many short films.[9] Rockwell has been seen on screens in many occasions and will be seen in films to come. Some of his leading roles include “Lawn Dogs”, “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind”, and “Choke”.[10]

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Even though this picture is receiving nominations, CBS was disappointed in the response from its audience. The weekend report on boxofficemojo.com said that it earned the “lowest nationwide opening ever for CBS Films”. The demographic for this film is male age twenty-five and up. It only opened in half as many theaters as its competing movies during its opening weekend, which could have contributed to its minimal box office gross. CBS Films predicted it would make forty percent more upon its release. It has not been determined the exact reason for its low outcome, but the small demographic that it appeals to is said to have an impact. [12]

According to boxofficemojo.com, Seven Psychopaths ranked 19 in the quarterly reports. It had a total gross of $14,666,353 and was released in 1,480 theaters.[13]

This film follows Colin Farrell who plays a struggling screenwriter in Los Angeles. He entangles himself in the web of the criminal underworld because Christopher Walken and Sam Rockwell decide to steal a dog.[14]

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[16]

Following their release of Seven Psychopaths, CBS Films accomplished something that has never been done before. After long negotiations, four of Hollywood’s most acclaimed actors will be seen on the big screen at once. On November 15th, CBS announced that in late 2013 “Last Vegas” will be released in theaters. With a cast consisting of Michael Douglas, Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman and Kevin Kline, this film will be the premiere of these Oscar nominated actors on screen simultaneously. This movie, which has a plot that follows the four friends around Las Vegas for the bachelor party of the last friend to walk down the aisle, has a budget of $16.6 billion. CBS is working with Good Universe to produce and distribute this film that Jon Tureltaub will direct and Dan Fogelman will write.[17]

18

Following a similar trend, CBS Films announced its plan to release another 2013 movie with major stars as its leading actors. Like “Last Vegas”, they have also connected Rachel Bilson and Andy Samberg to a movie coming out Valentines Day of 2013 called “The To Do List“.[19]

They also attempted to attach “Thor” actor, Chris Hemsworth, for the leading role in their production of “American Assassin”, a film based on the novel by Vince Flynn. He reported rejected due to scheduling time conflicts.[20]

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Even though Scott Derrickson is not a leading actor in Hollywood, in the directing world he is very highly recognized. He has previously directed projects such as “Sinister” which was released early this year, as well as the Exorcism of Emily Rose.[22] CBS Films has attached him to making the iconic video game, “Deus Ex: Human Revolution” into a screenplay.[23] He will not only direct this film but write the screenplay as well.  It will take place in the near future when major scientific advances debut focusing on human augmentation.  The main character, an ex-SWAT security specialist, must take on mechanical augmentation to be able to figure out a global conspiracy.[24]

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In addition to attaching big name industry personal to their projects in the month of November, CBS also announced that it acquired the distribution rights to The Last Exorcism Part II from studiocanal. This is the sequel of The Last Exorcism, which grossed more than $20 million its opening weekend. Ed Gass-Donnelly will direct this film, which will continue from where the last film left off. Star Ashley Bell, is found abandoned in the woods with no recollection of the previous months. As she begins to live her new life, the evil force possesses her body again stating the exorcism over again. This film is said to be released march of 2013. Scott Shooman, who is the Executive Vice President of Acquisitions and Co-Productions, collaborated with Harold van Lier of Studiocanel. [26]

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Money, Money, Money

As a corporation as a whole, CBS has had a 5.4% profit increase from 2010 to 2011 reaching $1,276 billion revenue in just movies, TV production, and video games alone.[28] In 2012, at the end of September, the entertainment segment of CBS had total revenue of $ 1,680 million; compared to the previous year it had $ 1,632 million.[29] Even though there is no concrete source to confirm this, from the comparison between 2011 and 2012, I can assume that CBS’s profit slightly increased from numbers in 2011. And although the third quarter results released by CBS Corporate did not include CBS Films specifically in their entertainment segment with their individual earnings, they are included in the total number given.

The most recent release, “Seven Psychopaths”, ranked sixth making a total gross of $ 14,676,509. CBS Films in total has profited $219,338,027[30] from their entire collection of movies since they opened their doors in 2007.[31]

Rank Movie Title (click to view) Studio

Total Gross / Theaters Opening / Theaters Open Close
19 Seven Psychopaths CBS $14,787,728 1,480 $4,174,915 1,480 10/12
Chart Courtesy of boxofficemojo.com [32]

Important People

Five specific individuals keep CBS Films active. Wolfgang Hammer[33], who has also been the COO of CBS Films, oversees business, finance, legal affairs and acquisitions. Joining the company in April, Terry Press is head of the creative distribution, marketing and the physical production.[34]  On December 5th, 2012 she was ranked number 71 in The Hollywood Reporter’s Women in Entertainment: Power 100.[35] Steven Friedlander, the Executive Vice President of Theatrical Distribution is in charge of the domestic theatrical acquisitions and distributions.[36] Rik Toulon who has been recognized as a leading attorney for media and entertainment in California and noted in Best Lawyers in America, is the Executive Vice President and General Counsel. As this title he oversees all the legal activities and is involved with the company’s distribution, finance, acquisition, key vendor and strategic alliance arrangements.[37] Lastly, Maria Faillace holds her second job at CBS films as Executive Vice President of Production. There is she in control the production for the division’s homegrown titles.[38]

Coming up in 2013

CBS Films has yet to reach its quota of releasing six films a year, but 2013 will be different. “Last Vegas” is in production now and has a projected release date of Christmas of 2013. “Gambit” is complete and is also to be released in December 2013. “7500” and “Get a Job” are both in post-production now. ” The To Do List” and the “Last Exorcism Part II” are also on the horizon to come to theaters this year.[39]

 

Sources:

[6] Billboard image from http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2012/08/31/seven-psychopaths-red-band-trailer/

[16] Official Trailer- http://youtu.be/Jbq4nGObfqA

[17] http://www.cbsfilms.com/news/last_vegas_begins_production_in_las_vegas

[18] Image Courtesy of http://www.moviefanatic.com/2012/11/last-vegas-cast-introduced-in-new-still-michael-douglas-bachelor/

[21] Courtesy of http://www.deadline.com/tag/chris-hemsworth/

[22] http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0220600/

[25] Courtesy of Google images

[26] http://www.cbsfilms.com/news/cbs_films_acquires_the_last_exorcism_part_ii

[27] Courtesy of http://anythinghorror.com/2012/08/14/big-casting-news-for-the-last-exorcism-2/

[31]http://boxofficemojo.com/quarterly/?view=releasedate&yr=2012&quarter=Q4&sort=gross&order=DESC&studio=cbsfilms.htm

[32] http://boxofficemojo.com/quarterly/?view=releasedate&yr=2012&quarter=Q4&sort=gross&order=DESC&studio=cbsfilms.htm

 

CBS Films

by Christopher Langsdorf

courtesy of aroundthenetworks.com

A Brief History

Created in 2007 CBS FIlms has released nine films to date. The studio handles the development, financing, production and marketing of films. The company has global partnerships in addition to the fact they distribute their own films in the United States. The studio has  released nine films and is expected to release anywhere from four to six films per year. [1]

Key FIgures

Wolfgang Hammer 

courtesy of www.hollywoodreporter.com

Hammer is currently one half of the Co-Presidents of CBS FIlms. Hammer is the former Executive Vice President for Lionsgate Motion Picture Group. He oversees business, finance, acquisitions and legal affairs for CBS Films. [1]

Terry Press

courtesy of www.cbsfilms.com

Press is the second half of CBS Films Co-Presidents. She oversees creative, marketing, distribution and physical production for the company. Press is the former head of marketing for Dreamworks SKG and was recently honored by THR’s Power 100 rankings for Women in Entertainment. Press came in as number 71 on the list. [1]

Maria Faillace

Image courtesy of www.cbsfilms.com

Faillace responsibilities fall on overseeing the production of the companies original home grown titles. Previously Faillace served as CBS FIlms Senior Vice President of Production as well as spending eight years as a member of Fox 2000, where she eventually became the Vice President of Production. [1]

Scott Shooman

courtesy of www.hollywoodreporter.com

Shooman is the Executive VIce President of Acquisitions and Co-Productions for CBS Films. He recently negotiated the deal in which CBS Films acquired the sequel to the movie The Exorcism. Shooman spent ten years as a member of Sony Pictures. [2]

The Quarterly Report

 CBS Corporation recently released their third quarter financial reports as well as their financial earnings for the year to date. Their entertainment division (which CBS FIlms is part of) saw an increase in revenue as it increased to $1.68 billion compared to $1.63 for the same quarter last year. The OIBDA for the entertainment division saw a slight drop off as it was only $384 million vs. $405 million for the quarter last year. However, the Entertainment OIBDA saw an increase for the nine month period to $1.21 billion when compared to $1.11 billion for the first nine months of last year. [3]

In The News

Seven Psychopaths

courtesy of www.royleonard.com

CBS Films most recent release is the film Seven Psychopaths starring Colin FarrellWoody Harrelson and Christopher Walken. The movie opened on October 12th and tells the story of a struggling writer who gets roped into the criminal world of dog kidnapping by a few of his friends. During its opening week the film made $5.8 million and around $4 million the week after.The overall budget for the film was $15 million and the film has made about $14 million to date.  Despite its somewhat quiet opening week earnings the film has been very well received and garnered a large number of positive reviews. [4] [5]

In addition to the movie’s cult like popularity it was also recognized by Film Independent, a non profit art organizations which produces the Film Independent Spirit Awards every year since its inception in 1986. Film Independent announced the nominees for each category this past November and Seven Psychopaths received two nominations in two different categories. The first nomination went to Sam Rockwell for Best Supporting Actor and the second nomination was awarded to Martin McDonagh for the “Best Screenplay” category. [4] [6] [7]

The marketing strategy for the film was quite original. Shortly before the movie came out posters started appearing in Hollywood, California for Woody Harrelson’s missing dog.

courtesy of mockingjay.net

This was of course a take off on the dog that is stolen from his character in the movie. In addition to the posters a Twitter account for his movie character Charlie Costello, was created. [8]

Seven Psychopaths received the Toronto Film Festival’s Midnight Madness People’s Choice Award. This was the first time a movie released by CBS Films won any type of award. Seven Psychopaths is the second and final release by the company this year. [9}

 The Words 

the films stars Bradley Cooper as a struggling writier. courtesy of veryaware.com

The Words was the first film released on September 7th, 2012 and was the first movie released by CBS Films this year. The Words had the third worst opening weekend of the year for any film as it made just $4.75 million (only Seeking a Friend for the End of the World and People Like Us had worse opening weekends at $3.8 million and $4.3 million respectively). [10] [11]

CBS Films purchased the distribution rights to The Words for $2 million, after the film debuted at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. [16]

CBS Films did their best to market the film in an attractive way. However, there was backlash as some felt the commercials and trailers for the film were too vague and did not provide enough of an idea as to what the film was about. [10]

CBS Films created a rather original marketing tactic when they encouraged fans of their Facebook page to help write a short story that had the possibility of appearing in the film. They selected the story ideas of 20 finalist who helped complete a short story entitled “No Promises” and each received a free kindle as a prize for their part of the story being selected for the final manuscript. The object of the contest was to create an interactive marketing campaign for the film. Box Office Mojo cited several possible reasons for the films disappointing opening weekend including the fact that for many it was the back to school time of the year which could have had a harsh impact on the film because of it’s PG-13 rating, meaning it was aimed more towards young adults as well as those in their early to mid twenties. [10][12]

The words was produced independently for about $6 million and the film has made $11.4 million domestically and $350,000 oversees to date. [11] 

Deus Ex: The Movie

November 15th, 2012 marked a busy day for CBS Films as the company made big news in the film industry on two different fronts. The first story to surface was the announcement that CBS Films will be releasing a movie adaptation of the highly acclaimed video game Deus Ex: Human Revolution. The game launched in 2011 and received critical appraise from the majority of reviewers. [13]

CBS Films has announced they have signed Scott Derrickson to both direct and wirte the screenplay for the film. Derrickson recently directed the financially successful horror film Sinister, which opened last October and has made over $50 million on a budget of just $3 million. [14] [15]

the protagonist of the video game: Adam Jensen courtesy of thegamefanatics.com

The production of the film will be overseen by Maria Faillace and CBS Films Creative Executive Alex Ginno. The news of CBS’s film adaptation of the video game was met with generally positive reaction. The game collected over 100 awards including a nomination for overall game of the year for 2011 and is expected to translate well to film due to its strong narrative. [15] [17] [18] 

The Last Exorcism Part 2

The second bit of news to break on November 15th was CBS Films announcing they acquired the distribution rights to the sequel of the extremely popular horror movie The Last Exorcism Part 2 from Studiocanal. The film is scheduled to be released March 2013 and will be directed by Ed Glass-Donnelly. Ashley Bell will return to reprise her role as the film’s protagonist. [19] [20]

courtesy of screenrant.com

Scott Shooman negotiated the deal with Studiocanal, which gives CBS Films the rights to distribution but allows Studiocanal to retain distribution rights in France, Germany and the United Kingdom. The previous film surpassed expectations and earned $20 million, while the sequel has been entirely financed by Studiocanal. [19] [21]

Last Vegas

courtesy of examiner.com

November 5th, 2012 marked one of the company’s biggest announcements to date. The announcement concerned the filming and 2013 release of the movie Last Vegas which will star Morgan Freeman, Robert De Niro, Kevin Kilne and Michael Douglass. The film will be directed by John Turteltaub, while Adam Brooks and Dan Fogelman write the screenplay. [4]

The movie will follow the story of four men in their late sixties who decide to throw a bachelor party for the only one of them who is still single.This film will mark the first time in history that these four men will appear on the same screen together. Between the four men they have collected six Oscar wins and a total of fourteen nominations. [22]

 CBS Films Future

In October it was reported by The Hollywood Reporter that Sony Pictures has struggled in both 2011 and 2012 suffering revenue losses from the films they’ve released. Rumors have been circulating that the division of Sony may soon hit the open market and be available for purchase,. something Sony President Kaz Hirai has denied stating that “There is no reason to sell these industry-leading businesses, and no consideration is being given to the idea.. In a recent interview, head of CBS Corporation Leslie Moonves was asked about his interest in Sony Pictures should it become available for purchase. Moonves said he would highly consider making the purchase should the opportunity arise. “We love our current portfolio, but as a content company, we would want to look at them,” [23] [24]

Sources

[1] CBS Films http://www.cbsfilms.com/about_us/

[2] Scott Shooman http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/acquisitions-exec-scott-shooman-moves-216581

[3] CBS Entertainment 3rd Quarter http://investors.cbscorporation.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=99462&p=irol-newsArticle&id=1755755

[4] Actor, Director and Writer biographies http://www.imdb.com/

[5] Seven Psychopaths Financial Information http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=sevenpsychopaths.htm

[6] Film Independent Spirit Awards http://www.spiritawards.com/

[7] Seven Psychopaths Award Nominations http://www.cbsfilms.com/news/seven_psychopaths_nominated_for_two_independent_spirit_awards

[8] Seven Psychopaths Marketing Campaign http://mockingjay.net/2012/09/11/woody-harrelson-featured-seven-psychopaths-viral-marketing/

[9] Seven Psychopaths People’s Choice Award http://www.hitfix.com/awards-campaign/silver-linings-playbook-beats-argo-for-toronto-film-festival-peoples-choice-award

[10] The Words Opening Weekend http://boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=3522&p=.htm

[11] The Words Financial Information http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=words2012.htm

[12] CBS Films Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/CBS-Films/86622447300

[13] Deus Ex Movie Announced http://www.gamesgreed.com/blog/deus-ex-movie-in-the-works/

[14] Sinister Financial Information http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=sinister.htm

[15] Deus Ex Director http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/729505/deus-ex-movie-confirmed-sinister-director-takes-the-helm/

[16] CBS Films buys The Words http://www.indiewire.com/article/cbs-films-buys-sundance-closing-night-film-the-words

[17] Deus Ex video game awards http://www.xbox360achievements.org/news-2476-Game-of-the-Year-Awards-2011—The-Nominees.html

[18] Deus Ex Game of the year nomination http://www.xbox360achievements.org/news-2476-Game-of-the-Year-Awards-2011—The-Nominees.html

[19] Last Exorcism Sequel Information www.cbsfilms.com

[20] Last Exorcism Sequel Information last-exorcism-2-release-date-images

[21] Last Exorcism Sequel Acquisition ?ref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.deadline.com%2F2012%2F11%2Fcbs-films-lands-u-s-distribution-rights-to-last-exorcism-ii%2F

[22] Lat Vegas Information las-vegas-stars-michael-douglas-robert-de-niro-morgan-freeman-kevin-kline

[23] Sony Pictures for Sale sony-chief-kaz-hirai-film-384605

[24] Les Moonves comments on Sony Pictures les-moonves-cbs-would-consider-380187