Producer: ‘King’s Speech sequel foiled by The Crown’
December 3, 2019
Colin Mann @ Video Exchange Streaming
Any chance of there being a follow-up to Academy Award-winning film The King’s Speech was effectively ended by Netflix’s production of The Crown, according to the 2010 movie’s executive producer Paul Brett.
Participating in a panel discussion at Video Exchange Streaming in London on the topic of the relationship between rightsholders and distribution platforms in the OTT age, Brett told delegates that the budget for The Crown far exceeded the £8 million raised for The King’s Speech.
He warned that more movies would not have a theatrical presence because of the emergence of OTT platforms and their exclusive content, noting that Disney’s live action remake of The Lady and the Tramp to be shown on the studio’s Disney+ SVoD service would previously have had a theatrical release before any wider distribution. “The nature of film and how it is seen is changing,” he noted.
Fellow panellist David Smyth, former SVP and MD, 20th Century Fox, suggested that the rules regarding windowing have changed. “They were there to maximise revenue, but now [the studios] are interested in customer acquisition.”