Film Industry Gets Creatively Social To Survive [Infographic]

As popular movies become available on an ever-expanding range of devices, fans who might have dropped a fistful of dollars for a theater ticket and some over-buttered popcorn in decades past are instead streaming their favorites to their tablet, PC, or smartphone. Even though Hollywood might have lost its lofty place as the premier destination for entertainment, don’t count the movie industry out just yet. Since 2002, annual ticket sales have declined almost every year. Yet somehow the movie industry has doubled its gross annual revenue. Allmand Law reveals the new-fangled movie magic that the film industry is using to keep the silver screen in the black in this infographic titled “How is the Film Industry Avoiding Bankruptcy?”

Simple tricks like cloud computing have created such a revolution that studios are in a battle to get rid of traditional film completely. Using the cloud saves on actual film industry costs and the transportation of copies from studios to theaters, distributors, and advertisers. With technology comes different ways to monetize a film. Television, steaming, and overseas rights bring in big revenues along with the standard tie-in products like video games, food products, and toys.

And then there are social media campaigns. Paranormal Activity received over one million social media requests for a nationwide release – which it subsequently scored. Hot Tub Time Machine used a similar ploy with an application that allowed fans to request the film at their home theaters. Twilight became a worldwide phenomenon as the first film to ever hit one million followers on Twitter. In an effort to deter piracy, the seventh season of Doctor Who was released online mere hours after its season premiere in the UK. For the U.S., the new major network shows premiered early online in the fall of 2012 with an aim toward both generating buzz and thwarting would-be pirates.