Case Studies - UK Low Budget: Only Lovers Left Alive

Release Date: 21st February 2014 (UK)
Budget: $7,000,000
Opening Weekend: $87, 989
Gross: (12th September 2014) $1, 879,534
Production Companies: Recorded Picture Company, Pandora Filmproduktion, Snow Wolf Produktion
Countries: United Kingdom, Germany, Greece
Director: Jim Jarmusch
Certificate: 15
Stars: Tom Hiddleston (The Avengers), Tilda Swinton (The Chronicles of Narnia), Mia Wasikowska (Alice In Wonderland)
Genre: Romance, Horror, Drama
Marketing:
Trailer:

Poster:

Interviews: 

Reviews: 
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/only-lovers-left-alive-2014
It was given positive reviews, winning multiple awards at film festivals. 85% from Rotten Tomatoes and 7.3/10 from IMDb

Why was it not successful?:
Ever since Twilight, Vampires have been a sure fire way of a film gaining success, however this film did not do well at the box office at all with a loss of over $5million. Though the film gained very positive reviews which, for low budget and independent films can be the thing that makes or breaks them, the main reason for the failure of the film was a lack of advertisement. It was shown on very few cinema screens and was only heard about for many people through word of mouth. Social media was a very prominent part of spreading the word about this film, and many people heard about it purely because of the stars, such as Tom Hiddleston fan blogs on blogging platform Tumblr.

Case Studies - US Blockbuster: The Maze Runner

US Blockbuster: The Maze Runner

Release Date: 19th September 2014
Budget: $34,000,000
Opening Weekend: $32,512,804 (USA)
Gross: (7th November 2014): $98,946,102 (USA)
Number 1 film in the world on opening weekend
Production Company: 20th Century Fox
Director: Wes Ball
Certificate: 12
Based on a best selling novel by James Dashner
Stars: Dylan O'Brien (Teen Wolf), Kaya Scodelario (SKINS), Will Poulter (We're The Millers), Thomas Brodie-Sangster (Game Of Thrones)
Genre: Action, Mystery, Sci-fi
Marketing:
Trailer:

This trailer has 7,294,904 views on YouTube. It has been seen all over Social Media, which helped gain major popularity before the film was even released. It shows the main characters clearly and focuses on the popular actors that feature in the film

Poster:

Interviews:

Reviews: The response to 'The Maze Runner' was generally very positive with praise for the new way that the popular teen based dystopian future was shown. However, many people saw it as yet another 'Hunger Games' wannabe with 63% from Rotten Tomatoes and 7.3/10 from IMDb

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/11148854/The-Maze-Runner-review-grips-from-the-get-go.html

Why was it so successful?:
It is based on 2009 best selling novel 'The Maze Runner' by James Dashner which already had a large fan base.
Features many rising teen stars from popular television shows such as Dylan O'Brien from Teen Wolf and Thomas Brodie-Sangster from Game Of Thrones. Dylan O'Brien was the most reblogged actor on Tumblr  in 2013.
The Young-Adult dystopian style films such as The Maze Runner, Divergent and The Hunger Games have been incredibly popular over the past few years.
It was released on the same weekend as quite small films, with its only real competition from 'This Is Where I Leave You', which had a higher certificate, therefore restricting its audience. The film was released just after the end of the Summer holidays, which can sometimes be a bad idea for a film, however it made sure that there weren't as many big films for it to compete with, as well as making it the perfect film for a final treat for teens to go to see it before the school year kicks in.