Evaluate the impact of media
ownership on the media texts which get produced
In the world of film media ownership and
status is very important. When looking at some of the most successful films
that have been created, we see a clear pattern. Most of the movies that do the
best have been distributed by high status/ well known companies, often the same
ones. When it comes to film and distribution there are many companies, but two
companies that have done the best is Walt Disney Pictures as well as Universal
Studios.
When a person hears Walt Disney or Universal
many different successful movies come to mind, some of these being “Beauty and
The Beast” and “Guardians of the Galaxy VOL.2” from Walt Disney Pictures and
movies like “Furious 7” and “Jurassic World” by Universal Studios. Disney is in
fact the largest media conglomerate in the world and made a total revenue of $38
billion back in 2010. Since these companies are already well known and expected
to produce great movies, every time they come out with a new release more and
more people will go out and see it to see if it’s as good as the rest. Both
Universal and Disney have come out with many films and have been able to
observe and adapt to what people like to see and what often ends up being
successful. They have the opportunity, unlike many other companies, to
experiment with what movies are popular and even if it ends up being a fail,
they still have a high status and will get viewers for their next films. These
companies having high status and ownership over the media text which is being
produced because they have gained the audience trust in them making a movie,
they like which makes them grow even more.
All this makes it hard for other companies
to compete. Since these well-known companies basically rule the film industry,
it makes it hard for other smaller companies to grow. Smaller companies must
try and make movies that are similar to the ones that are successful, based on
research within companies like Disney and Universal, but also have to make sure
it’s not too alike because then there would be no point in viewing their movie
if someone with higher status and budgets already made the same one. And being
too diverse will not be beneficial either because it could push away the
general audience who have grown to like what these higher-ranking companies put
out. Smaller companies need to do a lot of work and research before attempting
to compete with these more popular distribution companies in order to make it
big.
The success of a distribution company can be
clearly seen when looking at the revenue they make. As stated before, Walt
Disney created both “Beauty and The Beast” and “Guardians of the Galaxy VOL.2”
which are two very successful movies. After Beauty and The Beast was released
it made $1,263,521,126 (1.3 billion) worldwide. And Guardians of the Galaxy
VOL.2 made $863,756,051 worldwide after its release. Due to them being
distributed by the trusted and well-known company, Disney, it gave them the
potential to grow and ended up being huge successes making millions and
billions of dollars for the company and inspired for new movies. Universal has
experienced the same success through different movies. Furious 7 made $384
million within the first opening week and Jurassic World made over 1 billion
dollars in total. These successes also led to a series of movies related to its
original made by the same company, like Jurassic World by Universal. There are
several distribution companies that have made it big around the world and part
of this is because each of the companies create different types of films and
all reach different types of audiences. Since there are major distribution
companies covering all genres it makes it difficult for new or smaller
companies to either start a trend in films or make it big themselves.
The large companies that were bring
discussed have worked incredibly hard and all been unique in their way of
working their way to the top. Now that they are known for releasing popular
films, they have gained the audiences trust and no matter what the film may be
like, they will have someone watch it to see if they like it or not based on
who released it. They have much ownership over what is being put out and seen
which can benefit themselves with their future projects as well as making sure
they are staying on top.
