1. • Working Titles is a British film company created by Tim Bevan and
Sarah Radclyffe in 1983. Universal Studios owns this company.
• Working Title has made over 100 films that have grossed nearly $6
billion worldwide.
• It has won 10 academy awards, one was awarded for the film ‘les
miserables’.
• The company has ongoing collaborations with certain actors and
directors who have a reputation in the film world which brings in
more views meaning more money.
• From since this company was founded their films have
evolved, based on how we as a british audience consume films
compared to how american audiences do. The type and majority
target audience has changed thus changing how the films are
2. • My beautiful Laundrette
• How much it cost to make:
How much it made in the UK: $2,451,545
How much it made in the US: $0
Was it a success?
• This film was only shown in the UK, it
wouldn’t have been successful overseas
because of the films context, it was about
outsiders in London such as the
Pakistani boy who is the main character ‘Omar’.
Americans love the typical ‘British’ stereotype as
it seems sophisticated and cultured, which these
characters do not fit so the American audience
wouldn’t digest it well enough to enjoy and
understand the films content.
3. • Four Weddings and a Funeral
• How much it cost to make: $4.4Million
How much it made: $245 Million
Was it a success?
• Four Weddings and a Funeral was released in 1994
and soon became the most successful film in British
film history of that time. This success was somewhat
unexpected.
• A film like this wouldn’t have been successful without
backing from a big studio, because of the risk it takes
being British cinema, it
would’ve had to have been distributed exceptionally
well overseas to be
successful, which would not have been possible if it
was made by a small
budget independent film company.
4. • Hugh Grant starred in many of Richard Curtis’
films, which helped with the success of the
films, people loved Hugh Grant so would want
to go see the films he was in regardless of the
storyline. This also advanced Grant’s career.
• The film also stars American actors which
makes the American audience want to watch
the film also.
• This reflects how using a celebrity aids film
distribution as it helps sell the film, some
people tend to go and see a film just
because a certain celeb is in it, regardless
of the films storyline or genre.
5. • The film’s storyline has that typical
‘British-ness’ about it, looking at the
quirky
life of a middle class British man. This
sells exceptionally well with the
American audience as they can digest it
well as the differences to their
own culture appeal greatly too them.
• What happens in the film also appeals
to the American audience, the essence
of British romance appeals to Americans
more than watching a film about a
ordinary guy working in a factory for
example, as it’s exciting and thrilling.
7. • Worlds End
• How much it cost to make: Budget of $20
million
Current Box Office earnings: $46,089,287
Was it a success?
• This film was a success as it is the 3rd of the
‘cornetto trilogy’ to ‘Shaun of the Dead’
and ‘Hot Fuzz’. It started off with ‘Shaun of
the Dead’ being made for a British
Audience, but the fact it had the ‘typical
British-ness’ shown in the characters made
it a hit in the US. Therefore the other two
of the trilogy have been successful also.
• The film was printed in D Cinema which
was cheaper so the film could use it’s
money on more different things such as
special effects, which were used far more
than they were in the previous two films.
8. • Simon Pegg one of the star actors who also
wrote the films has made himself very
successful by appearing in American
productions such as ‘star trek’. Therefore
getting himself known in the US with a
high commercial status so when his films
come out more people will want to see
them as they recognise who he is. Also like
the rest of the ‘cornetto trilogy’ the cast
are all similar actors, who are also
childhood friends, so by the third film
people have begun to recognise the faces
of the stars.
• This made film distribution easy due to the
star persona, and the selling-point of the
British-ness. It helped out director Edgar
Wright had built up a reputation since
‘Shaun of the Dead’ Lots of the films
promotion was done online through
Facebook pages and YouTube.
9. • The film was shown in all UK
cinemas as it was in high demand
as predicted. The premier 9 days
before release date was very
successful.
• It mainstream success was
helped by Edgar Wrights fan-
base. Many critics rated it high,
with the guardian rating it 80 out
100.
11. • Warp films is an independent film company based in Sheffield and London.
• The founders are Rob Mitchell and Steve Beckett, with financial help from NESTA, National Endowment
for Science, Technology and the Arts.
• Their first film ‘My Wrongs’ won the 2003 Best Short film award at the BAFTAS.
• When Rob Mitchell died in 2001, Beckett joined forces with friend Mark Herbert, who just produced the
successful series ‘Pheonix Nights’
• Herbert met Shane Medows and they came up with the idea for a short film, Mark Herbert raised the
funding, the film was shot over 22 days on a low budget and won many awards proving to be a good
start for Warp Films.
• They went on the produce ‘Rubber Johnny’ a short experimental that still shocks audiences to this day.
• Next came the all famous ‘This is England’ a film about a boy who was adopted by a skinhead family.
• In 2004 Warp made a big expansion in it’s capacity. A bid for low budget films put out by Film4 and UK
Film council. Warp was set up in 2005 as a low budget digital ‘studio’ to develop and produce films with
focus on new talent and commercial potential.
• Warp Films 2010 television production for Channel 4, This is England ‘86 was a continuation from the
2006 film. It aired over four weekly episodes and received numerous plaudits, including a BAFTA award
for leading actress Vicky McClure. It achieved record viewing figures for Channel 4.
• As all the films produced by warp are made if the company think they have commercial potential, it
shows they are aimed at UK viewers, because the films deal with British culture that goes against the
stereotype and looks more into regional identity which wouldn’t be successful overseas as Americans for
example typically don’t understand Northern humour. So the films are produced and marketed for the
UK only.
12. This is England
• Budget £1.5 Million
• Opening Weekend Gross
• $18,430 (USA) (29 July 2007) (1 Screen)
£207,676 (UK) (29 April 2007) (62 Screens)
Increased popularity lead to it being shown in more and more theatres.
• The film was created by Shane Meadows.
• It made a foreign total of $7,847,165 making $1,408,593 in France and
$1,375,066 in Sweden.
• The film received funding of $668,000 help from the film council which
helped exceptionally.
• It was printed in the film format 35mm which gave it the vintage effect, this
film reel is also cheap to use.
• The story is based on young skinheads in England in 1983. The film shows
how their subculture, which has its roots in 1960s West Indian
culture, especially soul, reggae and ska music, became adopted by white
nationalists. The film's is a reference to experiences the director Shane
Meadows experienced in his younger life.
13. • On 5 January 2008, the reviewer Rotten Tomatoes reported
that 93% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on
82 reviews.
• This is England is a perfect example of a ‘realism’ film. The
film fits into the category of ‘social realist’ films, which
presents events drawn from everyday social life which adopt
a camera, sound and editing style which draws attention to
the authenticity of the events. This contrasts with the
dominant Hollywood style of film making where the fictional
world is recognisable in representation, but the actors are
‘larger than life’ and we must suspend our disbelief to make
the film enjoyable with the element of escapism.
• Usually the Hollywood style would out do the film style of
‘This is England’, but because of its controversial topic it
became very successful.
• The film addresses social concerns and a representation of
real Britain, which would have been a shock to the American
audience.
14. • This is England opened in 62 cinemas nationwide
first. It was aided by strong word of mouth publicity.
• By the 4th week the film expanded to 150 cinemas.
• The film was released in competition with
Spiderman 3, a large blockbuster. The film still did
very well and grossed £1.8 Million and over £2.5
Million at the international box office. Which is very
successful for a UK independent film.
• The independent distributer had huge success. The
American distributer was an independent
distributer IFC Films based in New York. This is
England was the first movie to be digitally released
through the D-PLATFORM initiative.
15.
16. Four Lions
• How much it cost to make: $4 Million
Total Gross: $3,705,570
• Was it a success?
• It won 1 BAFTA Film Award.
• The film was a great eye opener for many as it tackled the taboo subject of
terrorism. It used comedy in an unusual light known as dark comedy. Terrorism is
not a laughing matter, but by using comedy the film showed that the lads in the
film were just like any other, so using comedy ‘humanized’ them, taking them out
of the light we only ever see young Muslim’s in social media which is negative.
• It was first shown at a film festival and word of mouth spread from there. Word of
mouth was the biggest form of distribution for this film. Because it was so
controversial it struck up big conversations and debates between many types of
people.
17. • It started off in 8 Screens but with it’s popular demand the number of
screens it was shown in increased.
• The foreign grossing rankings show it to be mostly successful in
Germany with $1,082,532 made.
19. Rubber Johnny
• Rubber Johnny is a short 6 minute film made by
Chris Cunningham about a boy with the strange
power to contort his body, which scares his family
members resulting in him being locked in the
basement. This film is extremely low budget
using one actor and a dog, the rest was animation
and prosthetic-based special effects.
• The film was meant to be a 30second advert for
‘Aphex Twin’s music which is used in the film, but
Cunningham liked the idea behind it and wanted
to expand.
