In recent news in late March 2011, Tyler Perry renews a deal with their distributor Lions Gate for a multi year deal that will cover movies and home entertainment. The companies’ partnership has been in existence since 2006 with releases like Diary of a Mad Black Woman and his latest release Medea’s Big Happy Family. Lions Gate which is a leading global entertainment company and located on the NYSE is responsible for titles such as Nurse Jackie, Saw Series and Conan the Barbarian just to name a few.
Lions Gate is considered a mini major and independent from the Big Six studio systems that controls the movie industry. The Big Six which consists of Warner Brothers, Paramount Pictures, Walt Disney, Columbia Pictures, Universal Studios and 20th Century Fox makes it quite difficult for mini majors or independent studios like MGM and Lions Gate to succeed within a competitive market. The Big Six has subsidiaries at their disposals such as New Line Cinemas, HBO Films that is part of Warner brothers whose parent company is Time Warner.
The Big Six studios controls 85.9% of the market leaving less than 15% to be divided amongst major minis and independent studios. This is an alarming number that must be taken seriously since the arts and entertainment industry, which was known for its independence and creativity, has been swallowed up by major entertainment studios whose goal is profit driven for shareholders and studio executives. Has the creative art form as we knew it been stifled by a handful of major studios in the name of profit?
This is an argument that is worth questioning since a few major minis exists and hold on to their independence as they seek to change the industry with new talents, new ideas and ideally ownership. If there remains only a small portion of market share for independent studios to capture then why be in the game? Ideally I believe the independent studios have the advantage if they create new formats and avenues for ideas to be shared and viewed by the mainstream public.
Smaller organizations are known for making great decisions and flow with the public needs such as Netflix who gained major market share from Blockbuster with its innovative ideas of utilizing the Internet for viewing and ordering movies. Netflix now has over 23 millions subscribers who can view their movies over Internet ready TV, gaming consoles and the internet. Essentially Blockbuster was late arriving to the game and it continues to cost them. This is the same advantage independent studios have if they would utilize technologies to their advantage.
