Laguna Beach-based Imax movie production company MacGillivray Freeman Films Inc. is starting its biggest project yet—a $25 million film, TV and Web series on oceans.
The company, which got its start filming surfers in the 1960s and moved into Imax documentaries, calls its “One World Ocean” project the “largest production in its history.”
“It’s one of the largest projects that we’ve ever undertaken,” said Shaun Mac-Gillivray, producer at MacGillivray Freeman and lead on the project. “You’re looking at pretty much 10 different films with a huge social marketing campaign behind it.”
The five-year, $25 million project is set to include a 40-minute Imax 3-D film, a 90-minute 3-D theatrical documentary, an eight-part 3-D television series and an online Web series, all of which will literally crisscross the world’s five oceans.
Other planned elements include books, educational elements for museums and other media collected during the four years of filming.
MacGillivray Freeman, which predominately funds its own films, has received grants from the National Science Foundation and support from corporate sponsors.
In previous projects, MacGillivray Freeman got about 40% of funds from outside sources. It’s making a larger financial commitment to “One World Ocean.” MacGillivray declined to give specific financial details.
“We’re investing a lot of the company’s and foundation’s money into it,” he said. “We also have partners and sponsors who want to protect and preserve our ocean.”
In the past few years the company has teamed up with conservation group Oceana on “To the Arctic,” a 3-D documentary about climate change near the North Pole, and several Saudi-American businessmen and the Royal Geographical Society of London for the company’s “Arabia 3-D” documentary.
MacGillivray Freeman declined to say who is backing “One World Ocean.” Many of the company’s past backers are expected to participate in financing the production, he said.
“We have big supporters and we’re going to have a lot more,” MacGillivray said.
Filming, Marketing
Film crews are set to travel to all five oceans around the globe—the Antarctic, Arctic, Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans—with as many as six different production teams.
The filmmakers will document each ocean’s ecosystem and mankind’s impact on the oceans.
The company is set to begin production this fall in the South Pacific—it has spent the past seven months researching and planning.
The project will be produced and distributed by MacGillivray Freeman. The company is looking at a 2015 release.
“We’re going to have the TV series, the feature film and the Imax film all come out in a very similar time period so that they all market each other,” MacGillivray said.
A $10 million social media marketing and education program is slated for 2013.
“We’re going to ramp up the social media as part of a two year lead up to the 2015 premiere,” MacGillivray said.
The company already has agreements with Imax theaters and museum-affiliated theaters that are likely to screen the Imax version.
It’s too early to talk about plans for the theatrical release and how many theaters might support it, MacGillivray said.
The company is in talks with several undisclosed broadcast companies to distribute the eight-part TV series.
Ocean-focused films are hot right now.
Walt Disney Co.’s “Oceans” came out this April to a modest $76 million worldwide take. Britain’s BBC Worldwide Ltd. also released a documentary focusing on oceans in 2009.
The advent of high-definition cameras saw a rise in nature documentaries earlier in the decade with productions such as “Planet Earth,” “The Blue Planet” and others.
With the growth of 3-D film technologies after the success of James Cameron’s “Avatar” and other films shot or converted into 3-D, it could become the norm for entertainment, according to MacGillivray.
“It will be the standard,” he said. “By 2015, there is going to be more 3-D televisions and a lot more 3-D programming. We’ll be ahead of the curve.”
Revenue
Privately held MacGillivray Freeman, which has about 35 employees, declined to disclose revenue. It’s a “multi-million dollar” company, according to MacGillivray.
MacGillivray Freeman’s revenue is derived mainly from leasing agreements and ticket sales from partner Imax theaters.
In the past, it secured 100 to 150 leases for each of its films—which have longer shelf lives than that of traditional Hollywood films. On average, a MacGillivray Freeman film can play up to a year or more at an Imax theater compared to only a month or two at a regular theater.
The company’s giant screen Imax documentaries are expected to cross the $1 billion worldwide gross box office milestone this year, driven by ticket sales at museum-affiliated theaters.
MacGillivray Freeman has produced and directed 36 educational giant screen Imax films since it started with the format in 1996, including “Everest,” which went on to gross $150 million worldwide.
Other films coming down the pipeline include “To the Arctic” in 2011 and “Humpback Whales” in 2012.
The company recently released “Arabia 3-D” about the Arabian Peninsula.
It’s playing on big screens and in 3-D in 11 U.S. cities, and will soon open in Kuwait, Spain and Germany.
