Film Industry: Part 4

What are the main genres produced by the UK film industry in the last 25 years? Try and think of some recent examples from the last few years. Who do you think goes to see these types of films?

- Gritty social realist dramas (Fish Tank, Kidulthood, This is England)
- Romantic comedies (Notting Hill, Bridget Jones' Diary, Chalet Girl)
- Costume dramas (Sense and Sensibility, Jane Eyre)
- All have very different audiences, the industry has more recently been trying to capture the youth market more.

DNA Films last two productions were Dredd 3D and Never Let Me Go. What kind of films are they? How are they different from earlier films? Have they been successful at the box office?

- Dredd 3D is a heavily action based film that did very badly at the box office, making 13m (of a budget of 50m). It contains elements of action, sci-fi, and crime genres.

- Never Let Me Go is a very different film from Dredd 3D, although it did similarly badly at the box office, making 1.5m of a 15m budget. There are sci-fi elements in the film, but it is far more character based than Dredd 3D, and thus has elements of romance and drama as well.

- Earlier films such as Trainspotting and Shallow Grave are aimed at a different audience, and are far less mainstream films. This sort of film did far better at the box office than DNA's attempts to break into the mainstream.

Summarize in your own words what kind of films Momentum Pictures look to distribute and why.

- Momentum Pictures appears to be interested in distributing more mainstream, marketable films. The UK has a large horror market and both Insidious: Chapter Two and The Woman in Black (two of the most successful horror films of the last few years) were distributed by Momentum Pictures.

- British films such as Welcome to the Punch and The King's Speech have also been distributed by Momentum,which makes them a powerful figure in the UK film industry.

- Although diverse, the films that Momentum tend to distribute have all been fairly mainstream titles, including a multitude of some of the more successful British films of recent years.