Why So Many Production Companies?

One thing that has bugged me forever:

I go see a movie and I've found, over the years, that's there's about a 90% chance that the production company credits (at the beginning) will include a totally new, totally unheard of production company (or more) with a totally detailed, often animated, logo.

Are these all actual companies? They must all go out of business pretty quickly given the sheer volume of them and so few ever show up again in another film.

What's the deal?

Just part of the market... all business has a pecking order and a heirarchy and has winners and losers...

Yoda will probably be able to tell you more on the matter though.

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Everybody who makes a first film starts a new production company or two.

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Yeah, increasingly individuals are starting production companies; lots of highly successful actors, for example.

From what I hear, the industry is trending towards risk diversification, too, which means more examples of production companies combining their resources to fund things. This means less profit when they succeed, of course, but fewer losses when something fails.

So, I'd imagine those two things--more companies, and more diversification--probably explain most of it.

Thanks.

Half of them are distribution companies.

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But the point remains, why are they almost entirely new with each new movie? In other words, do they put out one movie and go out of business? I almost never see the same ones twice.

Look at actors or even directors, most of them have their own production companies: JJ Abrams has Bad Robot, Clooney has Smokehouse Pictures and Drew Barrymore has Flower Films.

It depends on how successful the film is really. Small production companies are usually bought out by bigger ones. For example: Twisted Pictures is a small production company within Evolution Entertainment. They had a hit with the SAW films, so they signed a deal with Lionsgate, which was the distribution company.

Now Lionsgate is one of the most successful independent production companies around, so they have some subsidiaries: Summit Entertainment (Twilight Saga), Roadside Attractions (Margin Call, Everything Must Go, Winter's Bone, etc), Mandate Pictures (Harold & Kumar, Strangers Than Fiction, 50/50, etc) just to name a few. Now those companies can do co-producing of a film, which adds another company in the mix. This is just an independent film company, I don't even want to start thinking about WB or Paramount.


Hey....would you look at that...I mentioned Drew Barrymore's production company Flower Films...which produced the film Whip It. Another studio who co-produced it was Mandate Pictures, which is a subsidiary of Lionsgate. The film was distributed by Fox Searchlight Pictures, which is a subsidiary of 20th Century Fox..........

IT'S ALL ONE BIG CIRCLE I TELL YOU!!!!

Here is the trailer for Whip It.



Here is the same one....but with a different company attached.




Basically....anyone and everyone who has their hands on a film wants their company to be presented at the beginning.

Its actually a problem. There are so many companies fighting for contracts that they all drive themselves into unprofitability. A lot are being forced to shut down recently.