Research Into Institutions that Distribute Similar Products

Open Road Films  (Source: http://www.openroadfilms.com/#about)

Open Road Films are an American independent motion picture company; a subsidiary of the more renowned companies AMC Theatres and Regal Entertainment Group. They were founded in 2011 and mainly distribute films, supporting mainstream and more niche films alike. They distributed recent crime genre films Nightcrawler (2014) and Triple 9 (2016), posters for which are shown below:

Nightcrawler follows a man named Louis Bloom, a crime journalist in L.A, who becomes obsessed with showcasing the most horrific stories, blurring the lines as he shifts from observational to taking part in making the crime appear extreme.
Triple 9 is about a gang of criminals and immoral, corrupted police officers in the US, who are working together to murder an officer in order to complete a heist.

Although Open Road have distributed these films and therefore shown an interest in crime genre films, they may be concerned only with the most mainstream productions: these two films, for instance, have a high-profile cast of stars and had a significantly large advertising campaign, suggesting a much larger budget than our small independent film, 'Illicit Obsession'. They are also an American company and so it will be even less likely that they would distribute our film.

Icon Film Distribution (Source: http://www.iconmovies.co.uk/about.html)
This company is a British independent distributor formed in 1999. Some examples of crime genre films they have distributed are: Ransom (1996), Paparazzi (2004) and Edge of Darkness (2010). They appear to be interested in distributing smaller films rather than solely mainstream, which makes them a better candidate in terms of likelihood that they might represent our film as a distribution company. Below are some posters showing the crime films listed:

Ransom is about a millionaire who's son gets kidnapped. He decides to pay the ransom fee but asks the FBI to investigate.

Edge of Darkness follows a detective who discovers his daughter's hidden life after she dies.

The styles of these films seem quite conventional in terms of the characters they feature and the plot, and so they may be interested in distributing a different kind of crime film, such as ours, that disregards conventions whilst including familiar iconography (such as props, like the gun featured on the poster for Edge of Darkness). This may be beneficial for them as our film aims to attract a wider audience of those who enjoy narratives that are outside of the norm.

Lionsgate (Source: https://www.lionsgate.com/corporate/)

Lionsgate are a well-known UK/US independent company whose films have grossed over $7 billion at the global box office in the past four years. They distribute both British and American films (although their UK site is in development). I found that the UK organisation has distributed Brotherhood (2016), a small independent crime film, as well as more mainstream films such as Filth (2013) and Now You See Me 2 (2016).

In Brotherhood, (the last in a series of films started in 2006) main protagonist Sam Peele has seemingly left behind his violent past (he was in prison for murder) - until his brother is shot and his family is threatened.
Filth is about an immoral, corrupt police officer in Scotland who is a frequent drug user and trying to manipulate his way to a promotion so he has more power. It is more unconventional than most popular crime films in terms of this narrative.

Lionsgate could be an appropriate selection for my group's distributor as it has a UK-based company and seems to have an interest in targeting more niche audiences who are open to different structures of narrative and often strange or twisted characters (such as those seen in Filth). They may be open to representing our film for this reason.

TriStar Pictures (Source: http://www.sonypictures.com/corp/divisions.html)

TriStar Pictures is a subsidiary group of Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group and have been responsible for distributing the crime films Money Monster (2016), Donnie Brasco (1997) and 88 Minutes (2007). 








Money Monster (left) is about a TV presenter who finds himself threatened by an investor of the financial show who is forcing them to give him control of the studio. 

Donnie Brasco is a more well-known film and follows an undercover agent who slowly crosses boundaries when he finds that he identifies more with a life in the mob than as an FBI agent. As this company is American and focuses on the mainstream, they would likely not be an appropriate choice, despite the fact that they have distributed crime films.



How will this research affect my ideas?

After researching these institutions that distribute similar products to my own, I believe it would be more fitting to select a company that is independent and UK-based (or at least owns some UK-based subsidiaries), but is still well-known, such as Lionsgate. This would make my group's trailer appear more professional and may encourage a wider potential reach in terms of my target audience, as they have worked with the small independent film Brotherhood (which has received a small number of reviews, including one by Empire magazine) which proves they are not only concerned with supporting high-concept mass-targeted films. Having Lionsgate as my distributor would allow it to be associated with films that are popular and have a large budget, meaning an audience who is familiar with Lionsgate's reputation already may want to take a chance on my smaller, independent film. Additionally, as they distributed Filth, a crime film with a very unusual narrative and characters, a similar audience may be attracted to my film as the trailer will display convention-breaking themes.