FEATURE
The new European studios F
or the UK’s Momentum Pictures, it was an easy decision. The company boarded The King’s Speech at an early stage through its first-look deal with produc-
ers See-Saw. The period drama was always likely to have box-office traction in the UK. But Momentum’s Spanish sister company, Aurum Films, passed on the opportunity to acquire the title. “When we looked at the project, our Span- ish team didn’t see it. On paper, it’s not an obvi- ous movie for Spain,” says Xavier Marchand, president of worldwide distribution at Alliance Films and managing director of the UK’s Momentum Pictures. As he points out, Aurum’s footprint is differ-
ent to that of Momentum. Both are wholly owned subsidiaries of Canada’s Alliance, but the Spanish distributor is focused on “very broad multiplex movies”. Aurum’s decision highlights one of the big-
gest challenges inherent in a multi-territory buying partnership: different countries have different tastes. “The philosophy at PolyGram, which was not
the US studio philosophy, was that you have to let your local teams have a big say; they know their market better than the centralised office,” says Marchand, who worked at PolyGram Filmed Entertainment (PFE) in the late 1990s as presi- dent of international distribution.
PolyGram-lite In the 12 years since the demise of PFE, the potency of the PolyGram dream is as strong as ever. There are frequent attempts to establish pan-regional distribution models with the muscle and reach of the US majors — usually with an overt reference to the PolyGram paradigm. But what many companies are now pursuing
is a kind of ‘PolyGram-lite’: a buying partner- ship in a number of key territories combined with first-look deals with producers — not nec- essarily a full-blown studio model. “The economics of the business have
changed,” says Marchand of the difference between PolyGram’s heyday and now. “The margins are lower than they were because the DVD business has been eroded and piracy is very strong. It would make more sense for a Lionsgate or a Summit eventually to expand in Europe. You need the product.” StudioCanal has the product. And through its
ownership of Optimum in the UK and Kinowelt in Germany (which are both ramping up their local production activities), it has immense buy- ing power, market access for its 5,000 library titles, and the ability to finance and produce films on a major scale (it invested around $215m in production in 2010). The French powerhouse partnered with GK Films and Spyglass on The Tourist (a remake of a StudioCanal library title) last year and has fully financed Working Title’s $30m spy thrillerTinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.
StudioCanal’s impressive product pipeline includes Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy “With these three territories, we cover 60% of
Europe,” explains Rodolphe Buet, StudioCanal’s executive vice-president, international distribu- tion and new business. “Then we are in a posi- tion to set up partnerships with additional distributors such as Medusa in Italy on some movies or Alliance. “The fact we operate on a three-territory basis
allows us to really develop a European market- ing strategy, to create the right marketing mate- rials and to discuss at the right level with the studio in the US the potential of the StudioCanal territories on the global box office of the film.” Similarly, Wild Bunch distributes both its
own titles and pick-ups to all media in France (Wild Bunch Distribution and Wild Side), Italy (Bim Distribuzione), Germany (Wild Bunch Germany/Central Film Verleih) and Benelux (Wild Bunch Benelux). It has a library of more than 1,000 titles and is also active in electronic distribution through Filmo TV, its VoD/SVoD platform. There has long been speculation that Wild Bunch intends to expand into the UK, and earlier this year it teamed up with UK festival organiser FrightFest to theatrically distribute horror films in the territory via Entertainment One (E1) to “test the waters”, according to Vin- cent Grimond, Wild Bunch’s chief executive. Grimond says Poland is a territory in which the distributor is interested. “Poland is a sig-
n 30 Screen International at the Cannes Film Festival May 15, 2011
nificant buyer. It’s got one of the fastest-grow- ing economies in Europe and we can definitely relate to its people.” However, the resources needed to create an
‘The economics of the business have changed. Margins are lower because DVD has been eroded and piracy is very
strong’ Xavier Marchand, Alliance Films and Momentum Pictures
actual mini-studio are extraordinary. Canadian powerhouse E1 has film-distribution arms in Benelux (where it acquired local outfit RCV in 2008), in the UK (where it acquired the Con- tender Entertainment Group in 2007), in Aus- tralia (where it recently bought Hopscotch) and a US video-releasing arm. “I’ve never produced my own movies,” says
Toronto-based Patrice Theroux, E1’s president of filmed entertainment. “It has always been through acquisition. There are very, very compe- tent people producing movies out there.” Since 2008, would-be empire builders have
had to cauterise their ambitions, for very pre- dictable reasons. “In the current economy, it doesn’t make any
sense to invest in additional territories,” says StudioCanal’s Buet, who highlights the com- plexity of working in some of the other strong European markets. “Spain has a problem with DVD piracy and a very difficult TV situation. Italy is a specific market and I’m not sure it makes sense to invest [there]. There are the majors [in Italy] and very strong independent companies linked to TV broadcasters. The Nordic countries and Benelux are [also] very
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What has happened to the dream of a European studio? Geoffrey Macnab looks at the new model for pan- regional buying partnerships and discovers the challenges in releasing indie films across multiple territories
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