MTV Films: What is it?

(Fortune Magazine) - This summer, Hollywood is size: Big stars, big budgets, big sequels, big effects and big marketing plans. Sony has Spider-Man and Men in Black 2, New Line has the third Austin Powers movie, while Fox has yet another Star Wars installment. The hope is that large, safe, pre-sold projects with multiple revenue streams that provide insulation from the unfortunate fact that nearly half of all major studio releases do not earn their expenses. "Most film studios are running at a loss," said Peter Chernin, chief operating officer of News Corp. Fox and supervisor of the study. "The economy is bad."

But upstart filmmakers Nickelodeon and its sister cable channel, MTV, think they have found a way to beat the odds. Since the channels owned by Viacom formed a unit called MTV Films to produce films for Paramount, the studio of Viacom, MTV and Nick have done 18 films, and each has earned a profit.

The cable guys have built their winning streak by holding down costs, the marketing of its cable channels, and thumbing their noses at the establishment of Hollywood. "We come from left field," says Albie Hecht, 49, who is responsible for Nickelodeon Movies. "We're not Hollywood and we do not have a preconceived idea of what a movie should be." Ask Van Toffler, 43, who heads the unity of MTV film, why it has become, as well as foreigners, and jokes, "The ignorance and stupidity." Having grown up on MTV, Toffler and his people are reluctant to do what she said: "We have a full nonformulaic and marketing of films."

While the average Hollywood film cost $ 47.7 million for production and market of $ 31 million in 2001, MTV and Nick have never spent more than $ 30 million in production and $ 15 million in marketing. They have made several films of less than $ 5 million. "It's more of an indie film," says Hecht. In a way, the strategy of MTV, Nick is a new twist on an old idea - genre films like horror movies or midnight movies that were made at low cost for young viewers.

Some versions of MTV and Nick are big-screen versions of the cable, including The Rugrats Movie, Beavis and Butt-head Do America, and Hey, Arnold. All are based on contemporary animation is less expensive than the style favored by classic Disney and DreamWorks.

Other films are live action, do not need big stars because they target children, teens and twentysomethings who seem to prefer new faces. For example, MTV Orange County, a film about a high school to enter desperate Stanford, stars Colin Hanks (son of Tom) and Schuyler Fisk (daughter of Sissy Spacek), who were directed by Jake Kasdan (son of director Lawrence Kasdan). These genealogies, and an unconventional script, is Ben Stiller, John Lithgow, Kevin Kline, Lily Tomlin, Chevy Chase and the film in smaller roles, with salaries to match. Total cost: $ 16 million. Published in January, the film has grossed $ 40 million.

Citing the lack of star power, other studies on the past of a black film starring comedians Steve Harvey, DL Hughley, Cedric the Entertainer and Bernie Mac Toffler, but I saw them perform together and persuaded Spike Lee to direct a film on his show. Filmed in three days, The Original Kings of Comedy cost only $ 3 million and raised $ 38 million in theaters after MTV launched by cable and radio, with "street teams" that covered the neighborhoods with posters.

Nickelodeon's latest film, Clockstoppers, was produced by Gale Ann Hurd, who has done big-budget movies like The Terminator and Armageddon. Clockstoppers decreased production, which cost less than $ 30 million because it wanted to make a movie to his 10-year-old daughter could enjoy. "I do not think a modest budget is a constraint to make a good film," said Hurd.

Clockstoppers with a disappointing $ 10.1 million in its opening weekend, behind the Ice Age Fox and Disney's The Rookie. But that will not change the small-is beautiful approach on MTV and Nick. MTV is doing a movie based on their gross income on "reality show" Jackass that cost almost nothing, Toffler and want to make films that are much less expensive and more adventurous. "I had this dream that would lead to a slice of MTV Films makes movies midnight, perhaps for just $ 300,000," he says. His unit recently acquired better luck tomorrow, Asia and America on teens who are honor students, day and night by gang members. Costs less than $ 1 million.