In terms of historical and annual box office market share, there are only six major film companies in Hollywood, including Warner Bros., Paramount, 20th Century Fox, Sony/Columbia, Buena Vista and Universal. As for MGM, New Line, Paramount Advantage and other film companies familiar to fans, there are also acquisitions. For example, Sony acquired MGM in 2005 and Warner acquired New Line in 2008. Some of them are subsidiaries of big companies that specialize in distributing small movies, such as Paramount Advantage, Fox Searchlight, Focus Pictures (Universal) and so on. Lionsgate Film and Summit Entertainment are independent film companies with distinctive features. They are small in scale, but they all have their own survival secrets. For example, Lionsgate Film Company has occupied a certain market share by releasing small horror movies (such as Saw series) every year, while Summit Entertainment Company has recently sprung up through Twilight. As for Vainstain Film, which has released Inglourious Basterds and other films, it was originally owned by Disney, but Vainstain Film Company was successfully redeemed in 2005, and now it has become an independent film company. This is the most active film company in Hollywood at present. Although each company has its own characteristics, on the whole, most of the income of the film industry is harvested by the top six film companies every year. This pattern has never changed since the new millennium.

Warner Bros. is the strongest.

However, the operating conditions of the six major film companies are actually different. In the nine years from 2000 to now, Warner Bros. Pictures is the most dominant in the box office market. At the end of each year, when the major companies count the box office records of that year, Warner Bros. almost all ranked in the top three (except the fourth place in 2006). In 20001,2003, 2006 and 2008, Warner Bros. was the owner of the largest box office share in the United States, and generally seized the box office market of that year 15%-655%. Among the performances of major film companies in the nine months of this year, Warner's performance is still the most eye-catching, with the actual box office accounting for 20.6%, which is 3.4 percentage points higher than the second-ranked Paramount Pictures. Not surprisingly, this year's box office champion is still Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Pictures can dominate the box office market in the new century because they own the Harry Potter series.

But Warner doesn't just rely on Potter's old books. The success of The Dark Knight last year may make the Batman series a box office weapon for Warner in the next decade. At present, Warner is facing the severe test that Disney Pictures will merge Pixar, Marvel Comics and other box office manufacturers into its own. At the same time, it has taken effective measures to develop the DC comic film department (DC comic superheroes include Batman, Green Lantern, Superman, etc.) to avoid the market share being completely occupied by Marvel comic superhero films, such as X-Men and Spider-Man. In addition, Warner has a lot of experience in the distribution of low-budget films. This summer, they released a comedy "The Hangover" with a cost of only $35 million, which has taken back $274 million at the box office in the United States alone. Do a good job in sequels to blockbusters, successfully develop new blockbusters, and at the same time take into account low-cost movies, making Warner Bros. one of the six largest film companies in the United States the most profitable company.

Disney looked at it twice and then again.

Disney's achievements in the past decade may only belong to ordinary students. Except for 2000 and 2003, Disney's performance in the other eight years was very unstable. In 2002 and 2006, it was the second box office, in 2004 and 2007, it was the third box office, and it was not in the top three at other times. Judging from the company's operating conditions, Disney used to rely more on pirates of the Caribbean series and Pixar cartoons. Yes, both of them are box office tools, but the fatal disadvantage is that the output is not high. Without these films, Disney did not find other films to compete with major film companies, which eventually led to unstable performance.

However, in the future, Disney is expected to become a top student. There are two reasons. The first is the acquisition of Marvel Comics. At present, all the superhero copyrights of Marvel comics are still scattered in the hands of other companies, but it is clear that Disney will start to set foot in the superhero blockbuster industry that it has never set foot in. Secondly, Pixar has made it clear that it will increase the production of movies after it is submitted to Disney. However, judging from the films such as Kawara Tsutomu the Robot and Travels around the Flying House in recent years (see more film reviews), the policy of increasing production does not mean that the quality of the films will be sacrificed. In addition, Pixar also helped Disney develop its own 3D animation, such as Lightning Dog, and strongly supported Disney's old-fashioned products, traditional 2D animation. If The Princess and the Frog succeeds next, Disney's 2D animation revitalization plan is expected to fully recover.

Sony pictures has been weak in succession.

Sony Pictures performed well in the past, winning the box office in 2002, 2004 and 2006, but most of them were supported by the Spider-Man series, and the rest of the time was in a slump. Sony Pictures has considered developing a new box office weapon. Unfortunately, after the Da Vinci Code, the box office of Angels and Demons collapsed, and dan brown's novels should not be a sharp weapon to make money. Last year's Superman for All grossed $227 million in the United States, but the film cost $65.438 +0.5 billion, and its reputation was poor. At present, Sony Pictures is seeking a new way out. Recently, MGM, a subsidiary of MGM, is facing bankruptcy crisis again. Sony, the owner of MGM, has no intention of helping it solve the problem. At least MGM owns the copyright of 007 movies. I wonder if Sony gave up MGM because Sony had no spare money to keep?

Paramount has risen.

Paramount Pictures began to exert its strength in recent years. In 2007, due to the success of Shrek 3 and Transformers, it became the box office champion. In the past ten years, Paramount has tasted the champion for the first time. Next, Paramount's trend is getting more and more fierce. For example, last year, Iron Man, raiders of the lost ark and The Kingdom of Crystal Skull were released in one breath, and this year, there are also box office blockbusters such as Transformed king kong 2 and Star Trek, all of which are "renewable resources". Next, it will be very difficult for Paramount to make sequels and prequels without making money. In addition, Paramount, which has the highest box office movie Titanic in history, is in full swing to release the 3D version of Titanic, which will definitely make Paramount a fortune.

Fox and Universal continue to be at the bottom.

In the 20th century, Fox Film Company and Universal Film Company were the weak among the six major film companies. Neither company has won the box office championship in the past ten years. Relatively speaking, Fox Film has a better record. It became a hit with the Star Wars series in the early days, but with george lucas's Vacation, Fox also lost half of the box office market. However, one thing that can be expected is that the film copyright of the X-Men is in their hands, and the museum fright night series they developed is also in a good trend. This year, Fox successfully brought Ice Age 3 to the market and made a new breakthrough in the field of 3D animation. All these prove that Fox still maintains certain advantages in the box office competition.

As for Universal Pictures, it is at a disadvantage for the time being. In the past ten years, Universal Pictures has released blockbusters, including Meet My Father-in-Law, False God, Bourne ultimatum series and King Kong. Except for the Bourne ultimatum series (see professional film reviews), all other films are short-lived and the sequels are not satisfactory. The movie "King Kong" only earned a reputation for Universal Pictures, with a cost of $207 million and a total box office of $2180,000 in the United States. In addition, Universal Pictures has made a series of failed decisions in recent years. For example, the comedy "False God 2" with the theme of small and medium-sized stories actually cost $6,543.8+75 billion, and finally the total box office in the United States was only $6,543.8 +0 billion. This year, Universal Pictures performed even worse. None of the top ten films in the first three quarters were from Universal Pictures. So far this year, Fast and Furious 4, the most popular movie of Universal Pictures, has earned $654.38+55 million at the box office in the United States, with an investment of $85 million. However, the film can sell well, which may have nothing to do with the decision of Universal Pictures. Pure luck. Who would have thought that this declining series would suddenly succeed without warning this year? Next, if Universal Pictures wants to make achievements in the box office war, it must not rely solely on luck.