The Major Hollywood Studios in the 2000s
Recall that during the “Golden Age of Hollywood” in the 1930s the industry was dominated by the following studios: MGM, PARAMOUNT, WARNER BROTHERS, FOX, and RKO
The Hollywood studio system during the 2000s was dominated by six global entertainment companies or conglomerates, which made about 90% of the North American films:
- Time Warner(formerly Warner Bros.)
- 20th Century Fox
- Viacom (formerly Paramount)
- Sony (formerly Columbia Pictures)
- Walt Disney(joined with Pixar)
- NBC Universal
These six companies generally farmed out the production of their films to literally dozens of other independents and in-house pseudo-indie subsidiaries.
The first major business deal of the 20th century was the America Online (AOL) purchase of Time Warner, Inc. for an estimated $182 billion –largest corporate acquisition and the most expensive buyout on record in the country’s history, created a global media and entertainment conglomerate– reflected the growing dominance of the Internet in areas such as publishing, music, film, and broadcasting. However, by the end of the decade (2009), the merger of the decade ended — Time Warner announced that it would spin off AOL as a separate independent company.
In 2005, Viacom’s Paramount Pictures acquired DreamWorks. The stand-alone studio’s demise marked the end of a Hollywood era.
In late 2009, Walt Disney Co. purchased comic book and action hero company Marvel Entertainment for about $4 billion.
Using Social Media Networking to Market Films
In the latter half of the decade, Hollywood studios realized that they could leverage the popularity of social networking sites (such as Facebook and Twitter) to market films, encourage positive word-of-mouth, raise awareness, and stimulate ticket sales, by grassroots Internet campaigns and promotions. Millions of Facebook fans signed on to be followers of the romantic vampire Twilight sequel, The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009), and its official Twitter page.
WATCH CLIP: Jacob & Bella and ‘imprinting’ from ECLIPSE
The best example came from the low-budget, breakout, independent horror film Paranormal Activity (2009). Filmed in 2007 in only ten days, it was budgeted at only $15,000. San Diego filmmaker Oren Peli’s film first gained a cult following after being screened at the 2008 Slamdance Film Festival. Then, it was shown – in limited release – in college towns throughout the country at midnight shows. The studio launched a campaign with the Eventful feature developed by a San Diego company known for promoting concerts. With its Internet feature called “Demand It,” Paramount asked users — fans and would-be watchers, to help determine the film’s fate and see if it warranted a potential wide-release in additional markets. When one million frenzied fans demanded to see it, the film was expanded to 160 screens, and grossed $7.9 million in box-office revenue, breaking the record for highest grossing weekend ever for a film playing in less than 200 theaters. It went on to become a surprise box office hit, due in part to a grassroots Internet campaign that included a “Tweet Your Scream” promotion using the social networking site Twitter. It eventually made estimated earnings of $107.9 million (to date), an almost 720K% return on investment.
Paranormal Activity audience reaction trailer: