Tag: entertainmentattorney

Box Office Sees a Victory for Pixar

Pixar will certainly be happy with their latest box office results, as they see their biggest opening in almost a decade for one of their originals. To catch us up, we have Brandon Blake,  the entertainment lawyer Los Angeles with Blake & Wang P.A.

Brandon Blake- Entertainment lawyer
Brandon Blake

Welcome Record for Pixar

Hoppers was also the main success at the box office for the weekend, bringing in $46M, with a total haul of $88M globally over a nicely synergistic 88 markets. That was finally enough to topple their release of Coco in 2017, which has been the best-performing original title for them to date.

It will be welcome news to Pixar itself, which has slipped from the animation world’s darling to a much harder sell in recent years. Other than their franchise offerings, like Inside Out 2, we’ve seen a spate of lackluster theatrical releases from them of late.

Scream Beats Out the Bride

Blake & Wang Attorneys
In another surprising result, while The Bride! Didn’t see the theatrical success it was expected to on its debut weekend, bringing in only $7.3M domestically for a total of $13M, Scream 7 is finding a warmer on-screen welcome than you would think from critical feedback. Although there was a notable falloff for its second weekend, it still successfully brought in another $15.6M, bringing its cume globally to just short of $150M.

Hoppers may have been the only title in the top 3 to really make a splash this weekend, but it was certainly the best kind of splash to make. There are a few things that have contributed to its success so far, including a deal to run the film on IMAX screens for daytime viewing. Interestingly, there was a large percentage of teens, younger adults, and even older adults going to see the film as well, so it has successfully escaped being branded a family-only title. Perhaps the Pixar magic is, once again, on its way up.

Japanese-Based Indie Film Financier Wins New State Support

The Japanese film industry to date has been characterized as conservative, partly held back by a dated film financing system. However, with the news that The Development Bank of Japan has made investment into K2 pictures, one of their most notable indie film financiers, that could be set to change. Blake & Wang P.A. entertainment attorney Los Angeles, USA, Brandon Blake, looks at what this could mean for Japanese indies.
Brandon Blake- Entertainment lawyer
Brandon Blake

New Film Production Fund

Tokyo-based K2 Pictures is looking to launch a new production fund. So far, so regular business. What’s new, however, is the interest from The Development Bank of Japan, or DBJ. It seems there’s growing institutional confidence not only in K2 itself, but also the chances of shaking up Japan’s rather stagnant film financing framework.

DBJ will be investing 500 million yen, about $3.3M, in the new fund. Locally, it’s been called an “unprecedented show of support” for local independent film, especially with a strong list of blue-chip companies adding even modest amounts to the fund.

A Shift in Thinking

It seems that Japan’s most conservative sector of all- finance- is starting to see K2’s support of independent filmmaking as a viable approach. It’s an interesting development, given local cinema is dominated by careful franchises and the odd anime blockbuster. This leads to co-financing models headed by full studio consortia, with an added dash of broadcasters and publishers.

In short, something that not only makes it difficult for smaller filmmakers to compete but is also widely believed to stifle creative autonomy. K2 instead uses a profit-sharing model. This helps to lower the middlemen fees considerably, in turn making financing and production incentives (slightly) easier to access.

From its inception, announced at the 2024 Cannes, K2 has also managed to attract some of Japan’s most influential filmmakers, with names even the West will easily recognize, and also onboarded one of the country’s anime powerhouses. This will be one for independent filmmakers to watch.