The British Film Industry and 'Dredd'
Who did what in the British Film Industry?
BBFC - An independent, non-governmental body which classifies and censors film, video as well as computer and console-based games released in the UK.
BFI - Promotes understanding and appreciation of Britain's rich film and television heritage and culture.
UK Film Council - Government backed lead agency for film in the UK ensuring that the economic, cultural and educational aspects of the film are effectively represented at home and abroad.
British Academy of Film And Television Arts (BAFTA) - Aims to support, develop and promote the art forms of moving image.
British Council - The official UK agency for international cultural relations. It's Film Department promotes new British films (features and shorts), internationally principally through festivals and showcases. Portal site britfilms.com
Main British Production Companies
Film 4 has created: 127 Hours, A Room with a View, Attack the Block, East Is East, Four Lions, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Slumdog Millionaire, Submarine, The Lovely Bones, The Inbetweeners Movie and This Is England.
Momentum Pictures has created: Dear John, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Chalet Girl, Insidious, Limitless, The King's Speech, The Woman in Black, Insidious Chapter 2 and Snitch.
Working Title has created: The World's End, Les Miserables, Johnny English Reborn, Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang, Paul, Mr. Beans Holiday, Hot Fuzz, Nanny McPhee, Pride and Prejudice, Bridget Jones, Shaun of the Dead, Thunderbirds, Love Actually, Johnny English, About A Boy, Billy Elliott and Four Weddings and a Funeral.
Pathe has created: 127 Hours, Adulthood, Austin Powers, Chicken Run, A Christmas Carol, The Crucible, Oliver Twist and Slumdog Millionaire.
BBC Film Network has created: Billy Elliott, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Nativity!, StreetDance 3D and Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa.
The USA dominate the UK film industry.
British v American
- 'Dredd' qualifies as a British film because the director (Pete Travis) is an English Director.
- 'Dredd' qualifies as a British film because the producers (Alex Garland, Andrew MacDonald and Allon Reich) are British.
- 'Dredd' is not qualified as a british film because the cast is not predominantly a British cast due to most of the actors/actress' being from different countries (Karl Urban is from New Zealand, Olivia Thirlby is an American actress and Wood Harris is an American actor).
- 'Dredd' is qualified as a British film because it's production company involves DNA Films which is British.
- 'Dredd' is not qualified as a British film because it does not include any themes or objects etc. to do with Britain, such as Sherlock Holmes. Sherlock is very British because it involves a British cast with British accent's and other features such as clothing and setting etc.
Overall, 'Dredd' does not really classify as a British film because it does not relate to any Britishness at all. A British film should contain British features, such as a British cast or British settings etc. And this film did not contain any.
British films attract audiences because they all contain something British For example, 'The Duchess' is based around the English Aristocracy, 'Slumdog Millionaire' involves many cultural characters, therefore this film applies to everyone, 'Lesbian Vampire Killers' because Smithy is a typical English stereotype therefore people can relate to him, and finally 'Bridget Jones' because it's a typical love story and involves a British cast.
British films are different from Hollywood Blockbusters due to their use of features and cast. The cast are surprisingly different because Blockbusters use a list actors. A list actors are significantly different to other actors/actress' because they are more well known, popular and more likeable. For example, using Brad Pitt in 'World War Z' would've made the film more successful than not using him in it because he's a popular and well-known character. Their use of features are sometimes different too. Most Blockbuster's use CGI (advanced computer graphics) to make their films look more expensive and spectacular. A lot of British films do not use this because they have a smaller budget and cannot afford it.
Audience Types
I would class 'Dredd' as a mainstream plus type. This is because it has a lack of creativity and the reviews i came across were pretty much all the same, discussing it's unimaginative story line and how it's gruesome.
A top critic on 'Rotten Tomatoes' wrote a review saying 'My notes are as follows: *shoots bad guy* *shoots bad guy* *shoots bad guy*'. I think what this critic is trying to say is that 'Dredd' has a rubbish story line.
Another top critic on 'Rotten Tomatoes' said 'Mostly a bunch of flatly staged bits of action shot against anonymous backgrounds' suggesting the film didn't really have much creativity to it.
'Dredd' earned $23,153,028 from international markets (meaning that the money didn't just come from the UK) and $13,414,714 from North America (no surprise here because it did come across as a rubbish blockbuster), for a total of $36,567,742. These statistics highlight that although Dredd was a UK superhero, he has been heard of before, or, other audiences thought this film could perhaps be similar to a blockbuster, and were 'blown away' by the spectacular graphics, which drew them to watching it.
Box Office Results
The box office results tell us that in order for films to be successful in the cinema business, they need to have a trustworthy and popular distributor, and a wealthy country (in some cases). The majority of films which were successful on the list include the distributors 'Disney', 'Universal', 'Warner Bros' and '20th Century Fox'. All of these distributors are well known for many films and to their audience's. We can always identify their logo's and the techniques they use in the film, for example, Disney mainly focus on animated films. Also the films which did well mainly came from either the US or the UK. This is because they are trustworthy and are successful in business, so they should know the in's and out's of how to make sure a film is successful. Most of these films made over £10 million of a total gross to date.
Dredd
- The 2012 film Dredd was directed by Pete Travis and produced by Alex Garland, Andrew MacDonald and Allon Reich.
- Dredd was given the green light in December 2008.
- The budget of the film was $45 million (which is very low).
- The box office had a gross of $36.5 million. (which again, is very low).
- Actors in the film include Karl Urban, Olivia Thirlby, Wood Harris and Lena Headey.
- The film was marketed via critic websites such as 'Rotten Tomatoes', trailers and posters.
- The critical reception of the film varied. There was positive results such as 'Dredd 3D constantly impresses on a visual level, with a gritty style more akin to cult hits like District 9 or 28 Days Later than to standard Hollywood comic-book blockbusters' and negative ones like 'Every so often there's a suggestion that a police state may actually be a lousy idea, but this thought dies even faster than the disposable characters'.
- Dredd's reason for it's lack of success include wasting money on 3D. They spent all of their money on 3D because they assumed it was the next best thing, when actually, everybody get's really irritated by it. They did not look into what people thought. Also, there film got rated as an 18. This means it could not appeal to a wider audience because they had to be over 18 to watch it, and this is seen as a problem because most superhero films are aimed at a wider age range. Lastly, there lack of creativity. Dredd used a typical urban setting for most of the film. This is typical and unintelligent.
- Dredd won two awards. One from 'Empire Awards' in the UK for 'Best 3D' and the other from 'Golden Trailer Awards' for 'Best Thriller TV Shot'.
- Dredd used 3D and CGI.
- The tie ins the films/character has are comics, toys and games.
Personal Opinion
Overall I don't think Dredd was as successful as it couldve been. This is because it went down all of the wrong paths including using 3D as there selling point, and having a high audience range to appeal to. The film is average and typical. The effects used are good but it wasn't very creative to say the least.
