The profitability of animated movies, more bad news for Sony and reports that ‘The Hunger Games’ director Garry Ross has quit the franchise’s sequel are amongst the international stories in today’s Daily Bite.
Animation was ‘decade’s most profitable movie format’… Deadline are reporting that animated movies proved more financially profitable than any other genre over the decade from 2002 to 2011. The report details a study by research firm SNL Kagan who base their figures on a film being clearly profitable if the revenues it can estimate from all sources are at least 75 per cent higher than the costs it can calculate. The best investments overall were animated films that had a budget of between $90m and $100m with the five movies in that category boasting a margin a 292 per cent. Sci-fi/ Fantasy was the second most profitable genre, according to the SNL Kagan analysis.
Sony to make record €4.9bn net loss… Variety are reporting that Sony expects to make a record net loss of 520 billion yen (€4.9billion) for the financial year up to March 31 last. The huge loss is more than double the figure the firm had forecast as recently as February. The news follows Sony’s announcement yesterday that it plans to slash 10,000 jobs.
‘Hunger Games’ director quits sequel… ‘The Hunger Games’ director Gary Ross will not take the helm for its sequel because of the tight production schedule, according to The Guardian. Producers Lionsgate want to build on the original’s success and hope to begin shooting follow-up, ‘Catching Fire’, later this year for a November 2013 release. In a statement, Ross said: “As a writer and a director, I simply don't have the time I need to write and prep the movie I would have wanted to make because of the fixed and tight production schedule.”
If you watch one trailer today… Simon Pegg’s new comedy ‘A Fantastic Fear of Everything’ is about a terrified writer haunted by a hedgehog. Written and directed by former Kula Shaker frontman Crispian Mills, it will be released in Ireland on June 8.
