To what extent is digital distribution vital to the media area you have studied?
Film consumption has changed dramatically in recent decades. Movie viewing has grown exponentially in domestic and mobile spheres, driven by increasingly flexible access to content and the diversity of screens this material can now be delivered to an individual's cellular device within minutes. As of 2018, 54 percent of U.S.-based respondents stated that their favorite moving watching location was at home.Only around 13 percent of respondents stated that they preferred to watch movies in a theatre, while 22 percent stated that they like the theatre and home options equally. The digital distribution has become a vital part of the film industry.
An extensive viral marketing campaign was created in order to promote Ridley Scott's Prometheus, and the film became a massive success due to this contributing factor. Any major film studio is going to have a marketing campaign which includes some kind of online element, perhaps a trailer and a few film clips, but only few reach a major, viral victory, and Prometheus was amongst those that had, due to very generous investment from 20th Century Fox. Everything was distributed digitally to the public via the internet - on the 'Prometheus' website and the 'Prometheus' channel on YouTube - or through television (trailers shown during advert breaks), which allowed for a good number of people to become aware of the film and created a lot of hype surrounding it. The film had a budget of $130 million and with the help of digital technology the film was able to produce nearly $404.5 million in the box office. In terms of consumption, Prometheus was released in over 15 markets during cinema exhibition, both in 2D and 3D, which was an experience that could not be topped by digital distribution, but was then sold to online distributors such as LOVEFiLM and Netflix, having been released on DVD and Blu-ray in over 50 countries prior to this, so as to reach an extremely wide audience.
The franchise Fast and Furious has taken a similar approach to Prometheus in terms of using digital distribution to their advantage. The franchise used a website created for Furious 7 called www.furious7.com where there are contests, pictures, videos, information, and more. Their advertisement was distributed digitally to the public via the internet. The big exception to this is the sygenry Universal Studios used to promote the movie. Adding the Fast and Furious ride was another way that the company promoted the film. The company has been resisting releasing them with online distributors like Netflix and Hulu. While the film made $1.5 billion in the box office striking a deal with an online distributor could increase their revenue significantly.
The film Trolls World Tour made nearly $100 million in the past three weeks through digital sales, according to The Wall Street Journal, reportedly bringing in more revenue for Universal than the original Trolls’ entire domestic theatrical haul. Due to the pandemic the increase in digital sales may have just proved that using other means of distribution can be just as successful if not more than solely relying on theater releases.
Another film which relied heavily on digital distribution during the marketing stages was The Inbetweeners Movie, although this was not quite the case during the consumption of the film. The film became the third fastest-selling British home media release of 2011 after the two final Harry Potter instalments, after selling approximately 575,000 copies on the first day of its release. The film grossed just over a staggering $88 million dollars during the cinema exhibition, which was unbelievable since its budget had been only $4.375 million dollars. The Inbetweeners which was a tv series before a film gain so much revenue because people who have not considered watching the film if not for the tv series. They used trailers shown during tv breaks to keep the hype surrounding the film.
Overall, digital distribution affects the marketing and consumption of films quite significantly, as the internet is becoming increasingly popular as the years go on and a cinema experience is becoming less of a must due to the continuing development of technology.
