By Brooke Katz

Corporate Headquarters

11800 Wilshire Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA 90025

History

CBS Films was founded in March of 2007, which was convenient timing due to all the changes that were occurring for film businesses. The reconstruction of studios such as MiraMax Films along with the failure of others including Warner Independent Pictures promoted a speedy launch for CBS Films due to their lack of competition. However, their first few releases did not produce very promising results. In 2012, new executives took over and CBS was able to finally be considered mini-major studio. With their 2013 academy award nominated release Inside Llewyn Davis producing a total gross of $13,235,319, the company was headed for an upward trend [2]. They aim to release four to six movies a year and are in charge of handling development, financing, production, and marketing processes [3].

Key Executives

Click here for more information about key executives

Financials

CBS Films is a significant source of revenue for their parent company CBS Corporation. Based on the 2015 quarterly earnings, CBS’s entertainment revenues grew 9% in a year from $2.26 billion to $2.46 billion [4]. Their entertainment segment in comparison to the other divisions which include cable networks, publishing, local broadcasting, and eliminations is easily the number one source of income. However, being that there are multiple aspects under the entertainment segment the specific contributions of CBS’s Films are unclear.

In 2014, the company released 3 films that all brought undesirable results for the box office. Although the company got off to a rough start in 2007, these films brought CBS Films to an all time low. Afflicted, a 2014 horror film, brought in a total gross of just $121,179, which is the company’s worst outcome out of their 17 total releases [5]. Nonetheless, these results were definitely not what was expected based on the company’s history. Their 2013 comedy hit Last Vegas generated a total gross of $63,914,167, which is still a groundbreaking record for the company.

Although 2014 was an ineffective year for CBS Films, they demonstrated a steady comeback in 2015. The company carefully dealt with the prior issues by only releasing 2 films last year instead of the usual 4 to 6 [6]. It can be inferred that their new strategy is quality over quantity. In particular, they are not going to finance a movie that they deem will be unsuccessful.

News

In 2014, it was announced that CBS Films and Lionsgate would be forming a partnership together in which Lionsgate would take over the company’s distribution functions. This became active with CBS’s 2015 release The Duff and will continue for many years to come. The executives shared their enthusiasm for working with one and other and emphasized their strong relationship. Not only is Lionsgate in charge of CBS Films distribution functions, but they now also control exclusive international sales for the company’s releases. Terry Press, president of CBS Films, is confident in Lionsgate’s ability to successfully distribute their films across the many different forms in media [7].

Recent Releases

Get a Job

Just last month, on March 25th 2016, CBS Films released their new movie Get A Job. This comedy tells the story about two recent college graduates who struggle to find jobs and make it in the real world. They go through many adventures together in order to realize that things happen when you least expect them. Unfortunately, this movie turned out to be a huge failure. With a 5% rating on Rotten Romatoes, 5.2/10 on IMDb, and 2/5 on The Guardian it is obvious that very little revenue was generated. Although the information about this movie’s financial outcome is not yet available, the ratings tell enough. It is clear that the majority of audiences felt the same way after seeing this film. Many people found the overall concept of this movie to be tacky and unrealistic. According to critics, acting performances were not problem here. Instead, the main criticism was actually about the weak dialogue in each scene [8].

Flight 7500

On April 12th 2016, CBS released another movie called Flight 7500. This is a horror and mystery film about a supernatural force that flight members must deal with on their way to Tokyo. While Flight 7500 has only been out for a total of just two weekends, it is difficult to evaluate the success of this film. Thus far, the total gross is $2,871,035, which is not a very promising result [9]. Although it will be in theaters for a few more weeks, critics are saying that this film was almost comical. While comedic value would normally be a positive aspect, this is not the reaction that the filmmakers were going for. They hoped that this would scare audiences, not make them laugh. Overall, many audiences are saying that this movie was unmemorable and confusing [10].

Coming Soon

Middle School

CBS Films is currently working on a film called Middle School. The release date is October 7th, 2016. Steve Carr is in charge of directing this film which is based on Jame Patterson’s bestselling Middle School book series. Middle School tells the compelling story of a teenage boy who deals with various obstacles that most are faced with at this age. It displays the value of friendship and presents real-life such as bullying. With this series selling seven million copies worldwide, many audiences are looking forward to seeing Middle School come to life. This will also be a challenge for Steve Carr because of the high expectations that audiences will have when going into the theater [11].

Future for CBS Films

The future of CBS Films is headed in the right direction. CBS Films have received lots of positive press after announcing their upcoming film Patriots Day. This film is supposed to be extremely touching and powerful as it tells the story about the Boston Marathon bombings. In order to make this happen, Mark Wahlberg and CBS Films have purchased the rights to the film Boston Strong, another film about the  bombings which was distributed by 20th Century Fox. Essentially, CBS Films did this so that they could combine the storyline of these two movies [12]. Additionally, CBS Films is planning to do a project with its sibling division 60 Minutes who will handle production and advertising processes for the film. Patriots Day will benefit from this partnership as producers will learn about the research done for the memorable 60 Minutes segment that aired after the bombings [13].

Sources

[1] CBS Films Logo. CBS Films, Retrieved. April 21st 2016

[2] Inside Llewyn Davis. Box Office Mojo, Retrieved. April 23rd 2016

[3] CBS Films- About. CBS Films, Retrieved. April 21st 2016

CBS Films Explained. Everything Explained, Retrieved. April 23rd 2016

[4] Q4 2015 CBS Corporation Earnings Release. CBS Corporation. Retrieved: April 23rd 2016

[5] CBS Films. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved: April 23rd 2016

[6] Film Library. CBS Films. Retrieved: April 23rd 2016

[7] Deadline Team (November 13, 2014) Lionsgate Takes Over CBS Films’ Distribution & Global Sales. Deadline Hollywood Entertainment Breaking News. Retrieved: April 24th 2016

Get A Job. IMDb. Retrieved: April 23rd 2016

Get A Job. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved: April 23rd 2016

Get A Job Review. The Guardian. Retrieved: April 23rd 2016

[8] Frosch, Jon (March 21st 2016) ‘Get a Job’: Film Review. Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved: April 24th 2016

Get A Job Cover. CBS Films. Retrieved: April 24th 2016

Flight 7500. IMDb. Retrieved: April 24th 2016

[9] Flight 7500. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved: April 24th 2016

[10] Mintzer, Jordan (October 27th 2014) ‘7500’: Film Review. Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved: April 24th 2016

Middle School. CBS Films. Retrieved: April 24th 2016

[11] Ford, Rebecca (August 4th 2015) CBS Films Enrolls in ‘Middle School’ Based on James Patterson Book Series. Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved: April 24th 2016

Middle School Trailer. Youtube. Retrieved: April 24th 2016

[12] Juul, Matt (November 16th 2015) Mark Wahlberg’s Patriot’s Day Combining with Boston Strong. Boston Magazine. Retrieved: April 24th 2016

[13] Hipes, Patrick (February 25th 2016) J.K. Simmons Joins Boston Marathon Bombing Pic ‘Patriots Day’. Deadline Hollywood Entertainment Breaking News. Retrieved: April 24th 2016