- The Wonderfilm Media Corp. is a newcomer to the film production industry, drawing on the talents of four veteran producers skilled in delivering huge profits from low-investment properties
- Wonderfilm’s low-risk production model involves pre-packaging a developed script with an actor under contract and pre-sales to distributors, allowing the fledgling company to enter production with a budget tied to available financing
- The company’s growing stable of 18 films includes the just-released Nicholas Cage thriller ‘Primal’
- Wonderfilm is establishing its name in the film industry, gaining media traction while working on pre-sales and solidifying new projects at this month’s American Film Market
- The company has also issued an advisory disclaiming an affiliation with Archer Entertainment Media Communications that has been reported in industry media
The explosive birth of home-access Internet a generation ago has now produced a growing giant of a child in the form of video streaming services – the global video on demand segment of the industry alone was valued at $28.9 billion in 2017 and is expected to reach $89.3 billion by 2026 according to analysts at Maximize Market Research (http://ibn.fm/wQH7i). The Disney behemoth’s launch of its own streaming service this month had already generated 10 million subscribers the day after opening its studio vaults to online viewers, far outpacing expectations and giving the streaming industry a huge shot of adrenaline (http://ibn.fm/V5TqP).
British Columbia-based film production house Wonderfilm Media Corporation (TSX.V: WNDR) (OTCQB: WDRFF) is an up-and-coming developer of original content with established box office talent that stands to benefit from the demand for new content that streaming’s rise portends. With corporate offices in Vancouver and production offices in Los Angeles as well as a management team experienced in developing large profit margins from low production cost properties, the producer-distributor is ideally situated to see its growing stable of films (18 currently, including the just-released Nicholas Cage thriller ‘Primal’) up in lights.
At the beginning of the year, Variety reported estimates that the largest media companies are spending about $107 billion annually on global content. Wonderfilm Media is building its operation into a leading entertainment company through a strategy that relies on developing a script, getting a named actor under contract and then pre-selling the film under a plan that allows Wonderfilm the opportunity to reap not only its production fees, but profits that exceed the terms outlined in the contracts.
The average Wonderfilm movie is pre-sold for $5 million, netting commissions of $500,000 to $750,000 per sale. The commissions stay in-house under Wonderfilm Global, a foreign sales and distribution joint venture with 101 Films and Paul McGowan that Wonderfilm officially launched at this year’s Cannes Film Festival (http://ibn.fm/Rrq9o). The company expects to sell 10 to 12 third-party films between fall 2019 and fall 2020, creating about $6 million in commission income.
The company is less than two years old, and since it takes six months to develop a film and then nine months to a year to make followed by time to get the film released, Wonderfilm is not able to recognize final revenues yet but the revenue projections provide a good estimate of what the company expects.
“Wonderfilm has discussed plans to launch its own streaming channel, but for now the company is focused on creating films for other distributors, both cinematic and online. The boom in streaming services isn’t just good for the companies running those services, it’s also a potential windfall for content creators such as Wonderfilm, as streamers launch a content gold rush,” a recent NetworkNewsWire Editorial reads (http://ibn.fm/PU8Sq).
The company’s producers have been working to build the company’s name within the industry, attending this month’s American Film Market in Santa Monica, California, in an ongoing bid to pre-sell Wonderfilm’s intellectual properties for the company’s expanding production slate of movies and television/streaming series and to solidify new projects by advancing production, streaming and co-production opportunities (http://ibn.fm/HP2PM).
The company simultaneously is working to protect its name from what it considers improper affiliation with another entity – Archer Entertainment Media Communications, Inc.
“Wonderfilm has become aware of a publication dated November 7, 2019 that purportedly states that Wonderfilm is in talks to form an alliance with Archer. This is not true, and Wonderfilm… requests that readers disregard and ignore any references to Wonderfilm having talks with Archer or with Wonderfilm having any other actual or potential relationship with Archer,” the company stated in a November 14 news release (http://ibn.fm/1mF9s). “Wonderfilm is sending a cease and desist letter to Archer regarding Archer’s references to Wonderfilm.”
For more information, visit the company’s website at www.Wonderfilm.com
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to WDRFF are available in the company’s newsroom at http://ibn.fm/WDRFF
