Mini Pitch

Mini Pitch

Profile

Our ideal typical audience member would be:

• From the age range of 15-24
• The last film they would have seen would have been Taken 3 (Megaton 2014) or The Gambler (Wyatt 2014) since they have recently been released into the cinema
• They would usually wear up to date casual fashion from Asos or Topman, also they would most likely be in an education from high school to university so they would have a lot of spare time to watch films
• They would listen to a variety of music from indie rock to rap to house and drum 'n' bass
• In their spare time they would go out with friends, listen to music and watch films to kill time

My Thriller opening pitch

Thriller Opening - Focus Group

In our focus group we showed our participants the opening few minutes to the hit thriller, 'The Maze Runner' and asked them a series of questions relating to their opinions of the opening and their idea about different thriller opening conventions. 

What did we learn?

• Music was considered the convention that they liked the most which suggests that music must be a key component in the making of a thriller opening
• In this case it demonstrated how the build up of music and sudden sounds (what the audience hears) is extremely useful in creating suspense and tension in a film opening and subsequently making the audience want to see more of the film
• Also visual elements where also useful in the creation of suspense, for example our focus group found it suspenseful when it was dark in the beginning of the opening as it was likely that it made them think about where the scene was taking place, who Was the boy shouting? Was he in an elevator? and where was it taking him?

FDA - Film Distributors Association

Which thrillers are on release/ have been released/ are due to be released?

Taken 3 (Megaton 2014)
On release:
Budget: $48,000,000 (estimated)
Opening Weekend:$39,201,657 (USA) (9 January 2015)
Gross: $66,969,880 (USA) (20 January 2015)

Successful: i believe that Taken 3 was very successful for audiences since it brought in around $19 million in profit which tells us that audience wanted to go see the last film of the taken trilogy. Because it has already made a profit in the USA alone, we can see that once it hits worldwide, more of a profit will be dragged into from audiences. they set the last film at a rating of 12A which bring more teenagers to watch the film and gives a wider range of opportunities to bring in money from different age groups.  

Escape Plan (Håfström 2013)

Have been released:
Budget: $50,000,000 (estimated)
Opening Weekend: $9,885,732 (USA) (18 October 2013)

$9,800,000 (USA) (20 October 2013) (2,883 Screens)
£961,470 (UK) (20 October 2013) (362 Screens)
Gross: $25,121,291 (USA) (10 January 2014)
Worldwide Gross: $137.3 million 

Successful: i believe that on a worldwide gross it was successful as it produced almost triple the amount of money that the budget. it was rated in the UK as a 15 which tells audiences that its more graphic and more violent which would increase its appearance to a action thriller audience. it did not though make even 20% of the budget on the opening weekend which tells us as an audience that it didn't strike out to many people as their type of film to go watch. 

Project Almanac (Israelite 2015)
Are due to release: 
Released on the: 30th January in the USA and the 20th of February in the UK
Production:Insurge Pictures, MTV Films, Paramount Pictures

Successful: the film is rated 12A which i believe is an appropriate age to rate this film as it is a film about teenagers social lives which would target specifically age range of people 20 and under. the trailer shows it being presented as a documentary by the teenagers with a free lowing camera which would drag audiences who also like how Cloverfeild (Reeves 2008) and Chronicle (Trank 2012) 

Audience Research: IMDb Thrillers

Box office Figures:

Divergent (2014)

Opening Weekend $54,607,747 (USA) (21 March 2014)

Gross: $150,832,203 (USA) (4 July 2014)

Maze Runner (2014)

Opening Weekend: $32,512,804 (USA) (19 September 2014)

Gross: $102,333,052 (USA) (9 January 2015)

Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

Opening Weekend $95,023,721 (USA) (4 April 2014)

Gross: $259,746,958 (USA) (15 August 2014)

Lucy (2014)

Opening Weekend: $43,899,340 (USA) (25 July 2014)

Gross: $126,546,825 (USA) (31 October 2014)

Gone Girl

Opening Weekend: $37,513,109 (USA) (3 October 2014)

Gross: $167,122,875 (USA) (9 January 2015)

Nightcrawler

Opening Weekend: $10,441,000 (USA) (31 October 2014)

Gross: $32,098,401 (USA) (9 January 2015)

What have I learnt?: 

• Major 'Hollywood blockbuster' films such as these require a very large budget
• They almost always have huge worldwide releases which allows them to have much bigger platform for a very widespread audience, far more than a UK independent film for example.
• This therefore means that they have much higher grossing factors than smaller releases
• However even without big worldwide releases, it is still possible for smaller scale, independent film to achieve success (e.g. 'The King's Speech') therefore its still possible for an independent film such as our own to be successful
• In addition to this, these are prime examples as they demonstrate the importance of the opening weekend of major films as it sets the tone for the level of success (financially) that a film will achieve in the coming weeks.