Saturday, September 18, 2010

Money Out, Money In

A.K. Madhavan, Chief Executive of Crest Animation, explains funding for Alpha and Omega:

... [W]e had a distributor with a studio called Lionsgate where we did a three-picture deal. They have put in half of the money in the production, which is unheard of in the Indian production space. We also have a large technology fund called DE Shaw, which is a $30 billion fund who have also put in money ...

Let me give you a guideline in terms of how the animation genre performs in the industry. Animation as a movie feature revenues not only at the box office, it is also at the merchandise toys. ... [I]f box office is $100 million, I am just giving you a number, then almost 1:1 comes from merchandise toys, licensing DVDs and so on and so forth. So typically 40% of the revenues are box office and 60% comes in from other streams ...

It's doubtful that A O will hit the century mark domestically, but the feature will probably climb to $20-$35 million. I don't know what the production and marketing budgets are, but the movie should have enough of a theatrical platform to help the DVD rollout. Then, of course, there are the plush toys and the tie-ins and the rest of the world market.

The picture should make Crest a bit of money.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Then, of course, there are the plush toys and the tie-ins

Unfortunately, there isn't any Alpha and Omega merchandise currently on the market, outside of a Nintendo DS game and a couple juvenile book tie-ins.

Lionsgate was seeking merchandising partners, but apparently didn't get many takers:

http://www.licensingexpo.com/index.php/toys-apparel-sought-for-lionsgates-alpha-and-omega/

Anonymous said...

^Well, he could always apply at Disney. He fits the corporate profile to make a great CEO.

(yes, that was sarcasm)

Anonymous said...

...but oh so true...

Anonymous said...

"almost 1:1 comes from merchandise toys, licensing DVDs and so on and so forth. So typically 40% of the revenues are box office and 60% comes in from other streams"

This may be true...but only if the film has enough of an audience connection to make people want to buy the merchandise. A $9 million opening weekend for an animated film is firmly in flop territory, so I doubt many families are going to be flocking to the mall to buy wolf stuff. They better hope the DVD sells well.

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