Motion Picture Markets

Although the theatrical release of a picture generates sales in all other markets, theaters are no longer where movies make their money.  

In 2003, theatrical releases accounted for only 18% of worldwide revenues.  Movie companies now make the bulk of their revenues from "intellectual properties" -- licensing their filmed entertainment for home viewing on DVDs, videotapes, broadcast and cable television programs, and selling spin-offs such as dolls, games, books and the like.  New formats, such as the iPod, cell phones and the Internet, will offer additional means of income in the immediate future.

Edward Jay Epstein reports in his 2005 book, The Big Picture: The New Logic of Money and Power in Hollywood, "The main task of today's studio is to collect fees for the use of the intellectual properties they control in one form or another and then to allocate those fees among the parties -- including themselves -- who create, develop, and finance the properties.  It is now essentially a service organization, a dream clearinghouse rather than a dream factory."

Revenues from Independent Films