CASE STUDIES:A COMPARISON OF THE TWO FILMS

THE FORCE AWAKENS & SUFFRAGETTE

PRODUCTION

THE FORCE AWAKENS• Walt Disney Motion Pictures

(Conglomerate)• -Kathleen Kennedy• -JJ Abrams

• $245M

SUFFRAGETTE• Ruby Films

(Independent)• -Alison Owen• -Faye Ward

• $14M

PRODUCTION

THE FORCE AWAKENS• Kathleen Kennedy

• Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Back to the Future Part III (1990), Jurassic Park 3 (2001), War Horse (2011)

SUFFRAGETTE• Alison Owen

• Saving Mr Banks (2013), Jane Eyre (2011), The Other Boleyn Girl (2008), Shaun of the Dead (2004)

PRODUCTION: (MAIN) CAST & CREW, FILMING LOCATIONS

THE FORCE AWAKENS• JJ Abrams• Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, John

Boyega, Daisy Ridley

• England, Iceland, Abu Dhabi, Scotland, New Mexico, California

SUFFRAGETTE• Alison Owens• Carey Mulligan, Helena Bonham-

Carter, Meryl Streep, Brendan Gleeson

• England

PRODUCTION: TECHNOLOGY

THE FORCE AWAKENS• 35mm cameras • 65mm IMAX cameras• CGI

SUFFRAGETTE• 16mm cameras • Arri’s Alexa

POST-PRODUCTION

THE FORCE AWAKENS• Bad Robot Productions (Santa

Monica)

• Converted to 3D

SUFFRAGETTE• Barney Pilling (England)

MARKETING

THE FORCE AWAKENS• -Appearances on TV• -Trailer debuted live at Star Wars convention• -Hashtags and interactions with fans

through social media accounts• -(Digital) posters• Merchandising• Partnerships with companies

SUFFRAGETTE• Appearances on TV• -Star Power• -Social media• -(Digital posters)• Merchandising

MARKETING: SYNERGOUS CAMPAIGNS

THE FORCE AWAKENS• -Covergirl & Max Factor• -Facebook• -Google• -Verizon• -Duracell• -Subway• -Duracell• -Hasbro Toys

SUFFRAGETTE• -Social media• -Facebook• -Twitter• -Instagram• Hashtags were used on these

accounts to encourage their audience to interact

MARKETING: CROSS MEDIA CONVERGENCE

THE FORCE AWAKENS• -Video games• -Apps on the App Stores• -Comic books and novels• -Clothing and accessories• -Toys and collectables

SUFFRAGETTE• -Hashtags on social media• -Posters• -Clothing• -Accessories

DISTRIBUTION

THE FORCE AWAKENS• Walt Disney Motion Pictures

• Saturation

• Over 30,000 screens worldwide

SUFFRAGETTE• Pathé (UK & Ireland)• Focus Features (US & Canada)• Modified Wide/ Limited release

• -in UK, only in Vue & Cineworld• 517 screens worldwide

EXHIBITION

THE FORCE AWAKENS• Dec 18th 2015• 24 weeks• 2D, 3D, IMAX

SUFFRAGETTE• Oct 12th 2015• 12 weeks• 2D

EXHIBITION

THE FORCE AWAKENS• $2,058,662,225• $1.81BN• Global

• Download (from Disney): April 1st 2016• DVD & Blu-Ray: April 5th 2016

SUFFRAGETTE• $16,002,420• $2M• UK, US & Canada

• Download, DVD & Blu-Ray: • US & Canada: 2nd Feb 2016• UK: 29th Feb 2016

EXHIBITION

THE FORCE AWAKENS• Males, (primarily fans of the

original films) aged 18-50• ABC1

SUFFRAGETTE• Females, aged 18-35• ABC1

RECEPTION

THE FORCE AWAKENS• 49 awards & 117 nominations

• BAFTA: Best Special Effects

SUFFRAGETTE• 14 awards & 14 nominations

• Turia: Best Foreign Film

RECEPTION

THE FORCE AWAKENS• Praised for countering the

typical stereotype of a male hero in action films

• Praised for diversity

SUFFRAGETTE• Accused of erasure and

whitewashing the struggle for equal rights

OVERALL

TFA was obviously the more successful film-which is evident when seeing how it made a profit of over $1.5BN.

However, Suffragette did the best it could but due to having a smaller budget and a smaller distribution company, it was unable to have the same impact that TFA did.

The larger budget and the partnership with a large conglomerate (that was also part of an oligopoly that controlled 90% of the US film industry) is ultimately what led to TFA’s success