Disney Film Adaptations

Disney's attempt to create film adaptations on classic novels, tales, and stories began long ago. Today, Disney still never fails to surprise audiences with new ideas. Film adaptations of that such from the tale of Snow White(1812) was first adapted into a film in 1937. Many recreations were attempted and lately Disney created a spinoff, Maleficent, focusing on the villain's story of Snow White. Another famous fairytale known across the world is Cinderella. Cinderella is a brilliant film adaptation of a classic fairytale. The release of Cinderella in 1950 was a major success pulling Disney out of financial difficulties due to the second World War. Now 65 years later, Disney will be releasing a recreation of the animated film adaptation of Cinderella.

So will the recreation of Cinderella be a success? Given that Maleficent grossed a mere $754.8 million worldwide, there are high hopes standing. The decision to create a realistic film adaptation of Cinderella was to maintain interest towards a larger audience given that the story line is not contemporary compared to that of Frozen. I have a good feeling about the upcoming release of Cinderella and am excited to view the upcoming recreations Disney is planning to release. "Cinderella, aimed at girls and their moms, could portend a wave of Disney princesses; Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid and Mulan are in development. Jon Favreau's The Jungle Book hits theaters in April 2016, and Warners has Pan, a Peter Pan origin story, this summer."  

Whatever Disney has done to create a mega empire, they are doing it right. Film adaptations of such fairytales profited them years ago and the recreations will most likely create a positive frenzy upon audiences worldwide once again.

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McClintock, P. (2015, February 27). The Secret Formula Behind Disney's 'Cinderella'. Retrieved from 

     http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/secret-formula-behind-disneys-cinderella-777566 

Film Adapatations Stealing Box-office Midnight Records

When an audience anticipates a film so heavily, it's easy to stay up until midnight and not reach your pillow until around 3am. Sometimes it's worth it and other times it's not... But what films have the top midnight box-office records? Believe it or not the top record is the film adaptation for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows- Part 2 with a grossing of 43.5 million for midnight showings, followed by films such as The Hunger Games, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Most of the films out of the top 20 were either film adaptations of novels or comic books with a few exceptions. Not only does this tell film producers that a major income source is young audiences willing to venture to the theater late at night but also that film adaptations are highly anticipated. But why did film adaptations of novels and comic books hold the highest incomes for midnight showings? The fact that a novel has been presented to audiences before a film premieres, simply builds excitement and creates more of a frenzy towards the film. Readers of the novels or comic books have already built backgrounds on the story and have created an idea of what an ideal film would be somewhat like.

The anticipation to view the film adaptation may make audiences jittery or upset, either way, most readers and fans will want to view the film to see if it is anything similar compared to that imagined. Hollywood has reached a point where it seems to be true that film adaptations are one of the strongest routes to take. Maybe not all of the films won any Oscars but some did. Either way, the film adaptations are making a dent in filmmaking history.

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Top 20 midnight box-office records. (n.d.). Retrieved from LA Times website: http://www.latimes.com/ 

     entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-midnight-box-office-records-pictures-photogallery.html 

The article displays the top 20 midnight box-office records including numbers from midnight showings and opening day earnings.

Future of Movie Marketing and Distribution

What is in store for future marketing techniques for films? I am curious to discover how future distributors will decide to market a film. Technology advances are continual possibly creating hands on interactive promotional aspects to marketing. Distributors are on a pathway in which finding a new way to create stronger marketing skills making a film to seem more valuable, however viewers are still viewing the same material. As Steve Jobs states, studios need to embrace audiences new abilities to access films. Possibly a new way to market and distribute to audiences will be allowing viewers to view a film wherever, whenever without dealing with any illegal processing. Advances in technology are making marketing easier and distribution easier. 

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The discussion involves Steve Jobs and his take on the future for movie marketing.

Steve Jobs talking About Future of Movie Marketing. (2013, January 12). Retrieved from 

     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92N9aRKcPOA 

Anticipated Release Dates due to Marketing

As the release date of Fifty Shades of Grey approaches, I'm not sure whether people are excited for the anticipated date or annoyed of the overly marketed film. 

The novel itslef reached an enormous amount of fame as stars such as, Ellen Degenerous and Kristen Stewart, performed parody readings. ABC News even created a collaboration of stars quoting scenes from the book in a recording studio. No doubt, when it was announced that a film adaptation was to be released, fans went crazy! 

So, where did this book come from that has sparked marketing strategies so strongly, people worldwide are well aware of it? Nathan Bransford writes, "This book came out of nowhere. It started asTwilight fanfiction, then was released as an e-book and POD paperback by Writers' Coffee Shop in Australia. From there it managed to attract so much word-of-mouth attention and sales it was acquired for a rumored near-million dollars by Vintage Books, part of Random House, and has gone on to aforementioned further massive success." Obviously, the novel has gained a plentiful amount of success but why was the film marketed so heavily?

Heres your answer:

The novel's fans generated to the big screen. We have a group of people that have become so obsessed with the explicit usually unrecognized concept. Remember the days when The Awakening was conveyed explicit? Times have changed. The anticipated film has already drawn in many fans before any one has even seen it with the help of the strategic trailers. The marketing recognized the success of the novel and decided to play off of it. The film was marketed to such an extreme to excited fans, target audiences, and hopefully pulls in people who weren't interested with the idea. Marc Graser writes, "The “Fifty Shades” marketing team has been crafting the strategy for nearly three years, after conducting research on what its target audience would be interested in seeing — and what attracted them to the books in the first place." It's safe to say that the target audience and fans of the novel are set but for the "not-so-fans", they may be a little annoyed. The marketing strategies has taken over, even so much as including an advertisement during Superbowl XLIX. However, I'm sure producers are not worried. The concept is new to the big screen but I hope people don't get overly anticipated resulting in disappointment. Who cares? As long as people flock to see it, right?

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Click here for source #2

Bransford, N. (2012, November 12). Why Fifty Shades of Grey is Popular. Retrieved from 

     http://blog.nathanbransford.com/2012/11/why-fifty-shades-of-grey-is-popular.html 

Graser, M. (2015, February 3). 'Fifty Shades of Grey' Marketing. Retrieved from http://variety.com/ 
     2015/biz/news/theres-more-sizzle-than-sex-in-selling-fifty-shades-of-grey-1201421989/ 

The articles discuss the target audiences for the film adaptation of Fifty Shades of Grey and the succes of the novel resulting in hopeful success for the film.

Service Deals on Film Distribution

When creating a film not only should the cost of production be considered but also the cost of distribution. Elliot Grove wrote, "Booking ad space in newspapers and magazines has become very costly. Add to that the cost of PR and social media assets the cost of a theatrical release starts to look like the budget of a small nation." Much effort must be put into the distribution works and can become very expenisve. One route filmmakers who want to maintain ownership of their films may create a service deal which is to hire a specialist who "takes over" the distribution process. A service deal can help to manage a way to gain more money than spent. Obviously this plan appeals to any filmmaker. The filmmaker should become involved as the reward could be greater and offers a great deal of flexibility. Service deals can take a great deal of stress off of a filmmaker as budgets, scheduling, and release is all planned out for them. Service deals hold an advantage in the film world, CAVU writes, "And because it's a SERVICE DEAL all of the theatrical rights are retained by the filmmaker." Clearly, the idea is to be considered for smaller budgeted productions.

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Service Deals. (n.d.). Retrieved from CAVU Pictures website: http://www.cavupictures.com/ 
     serviceDeals.html

10 Film Distribution Basics. (n.d.). Retrieved from Raindance Film Festival website: 

    http://www.raindance.org/10-film-distribution-basics/

What Makes a Good Film Adaptation?

How does one feel about film adaptations? Are you an extremely picky viewer or do you open your mind up to new ideas?

Some people become overly attached and upset when a film doesn't exactly follow the course of a novel leading added characters and skipping chapters. But why can't one open their mind to a new perception? A Film is not a novel. Not every film adaptation will follow the rules of the novel. A characters hair may be blonde instead of a brunette. Get over it! Films must be marketed to attract larger audiences and express creativity just as a novel does. Alex Kerr, the film critic for the Conway Daily Sun states, it is important that a film adaptation honor the same tone and send the same "core essence" to the audiences. As long as a tone honors the idea of the novel then one should be able to honor the film adaptation.

Click Here to view Alex Kerrs' opinion on what makes a good film adaptation

Reel Thoughts: What makes a good film adaptation? (2013, May 13). Retrieved from 

     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRaOGBHz05I 

Marketing of 2015 Film Adaptations

2015 is predicted to be a successful year regarding film adaptations all thanks to social media.

Authors like John Green and El James have taken their works to the big screens either once again or for the first time. Introducing Paper Towns and Fifty Shades of Grey.

John Green's Paper Towns holds a phenomenal cast including the well known world model, Cara Delevingne and former John Green star in The Fault in our Stars, Nat Wolff. The well known cast has marketed the film and novel themselves through social media. Cara sports a mere 9 million followers on Instagram and 2 million followers on Twitter. Her postings while filming the movie riled up John Green fans who read the novel and fans of her own creating a double market. Although the film holds a release date of June 5, 2015, fans are already going crazy. While filming Green also created a vlog on YouTube creating an intimate relationship with those curious about the film. He spoke of personal situations and interviewed cast and crew driving readers to wonder if the film will be anything expected and calling attention to those who have never even heard of the novel. The cast and crew have begun marketing the film adaptation since before filming even began and will continue to promote it through the release date.

El James Fifty Shades of Grey, has been discussed everywhere for as long as one can remember. News sites such as E!, have been continuously informing fans of updates on casting or news on what has been incorporated in the film. The novel itself was targeted mainly toward women between the ages of 20-30. However, almost every single girl and women between ages 16 and up read the novel due to facebook posts and fan sites everyone died to uncover what was hiding betweent h epages of the novel. Girls in high school and retired women, the novel became a hit drawing women into the trilogy and the character of Christian Grey. The film adaptation has been sporting rumors of casting for over a year now, allowing fans to wonder who will play what. "Due to the recasting of the main character, the film's release date was pushed from this summer to the day before Valentine's Day of next year." The continuous news inflaming social media and sites such as E!, drew more attention to the film. The recasting and continuous news updates has helped the film with marketing. Since the release date was pushed back to February, fans with loved ones, fans without loved ones, and fans with no plans on Valentine's Day will now have something to do.

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Click here to view John Green's vlog

-The article discusses new upcoming film adaptations to look out for in the upcoming year.
-John Green's vlog allows viewers to see inside his world and relationships with people he works with.

Most Anticipated Book To Film Adaptations Premiering In 2015. (2014, August 13). Retrieved from 

     http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marcus-sakey/2015-book-adaptations_b_5669418.html 

Vlogbrothers. (2015, January 5). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/user/vlogbrothers

Stephen King Adaptations

Click here to view a number of King's film adaptations

The source allows one to get an understanding of Stephen King's films adaptations through short clips and explanations of several films. One will understand and grasp his target audience.

Top 1o Stephen King Film Adaptations. (2013, October 6). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/ 

     watch?v=jkz_ruOx_TU 

It is a bit obvious that Hollywood has a "crush" on Stephen King's works. Over fifty films have been adapted from his novels creating a large spectrum of diverse horror concepts on screen. King's novels travel through dynamic and passive horrifying story lines relating to a number of audiences who prefer horror films. Whether it's the relatable plot of Carrie impacting any high school teenager or The Shining, which basically decides for one to never travel to a secluded area for a long period of time. Stephen King has been writing terrifying short stories since he was young and lucky for Hollywood, began writing novels perfect for film adaptations.

If one has not seen a Stephen King film- choose wisely. Of course there are some excellent films, however some have very poor plots unable to grab a viewers attention for more than ten minutes. Yet, there are the other films that have one sitting at the edge of the seat holding onto the nearest stranger until the end.