Quality film product was an essential part of the division’s performance with some of the best performing films during the 2014 year including The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Frozen, The LEGO Movie, Transformers 4, How to Train Your Dragon 2, Man of Steel, The Wolf of Wall Street, Thor: The Dark World, X-Men: Days of Future Past and Gravity. 

The cinema-going public will be delighted to know that the next financial year boasts one of the most impressive films slates seen for a number of years. The line-up of big budget movie blockbusters, quality specialist films and proven franchises includes: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Rio 2, Guardians of the Galaxy, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1, Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, Fifty Shades of Grey, The Avengers: Age of Ultron, Fast and Furious 7, Mad Max: Fury Road, Ted 2, Minions, Penguins of Madagascar, Big Hero 6, Inside Out, Jurassic World and San Andreas. VRL is accordingly confident that the Cinema Exhibition division will deliver a robust performance in the coming year. 

## FILM DISTRIBUTION 

The largest independent film distributor in Australia and New Zealand, VRL’s film and entertainment distribution division includes Roadshow Films, Roadshow Entertainment, Roadshow Digital and Roadshow Television. The division connects film content with audiences and through Roadshow’s pivotal marketing expertise and diverse sales distribution network, titles are provided to various markets throughout their entire life-cycle – from theatrical release of films to cinemas, to home entertainment on Blu- ray and DVD and digital, subscription television and free to air television (including digital multi-channels) – as an effective one-stop solution for delivering content to audiences. 

A strong second half was recorded compared to the corresponding period in 2013, with the division finishing the year to 30 June 2014 with an EBITDA of $41.7 million, down 9.8% on the prior year’s result, and PBT of $34.8 million, down 8.3%. This result was largely the outcome of a challenging slate for theatrical cinema release and underperforming commercial content. 

Once again, Roadshow Films finished the financial year as the leading theatrical film distributor in the market with a commanding 28.4% market share, up 2.9% on last year. This was aided by the delivery of many outstanding performances in the second half as the stronger performing films began to flow through the release schedule. Best performing films in the year to 30 June 2014 included well known franchises and record- breaking blockbusters - The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, The LEGO Movie, The Wolf of Wall Street, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, American Hustle, Gravity and Edge of Tomorrow. 

A key partner and supplier of banner films for many decades, Warner Bros. continues to offer a slate of impressive movies to cater for all tastes. This long-standing distribution relationship with Warner Bros., dating back to 1971, is one that Roadshow Films values highly. Further strengthening VRL’s future supply of A-list, quality film content, Roadshow also renewed the Lionsgate output agreement for an additional three year term from January, 2015. Roadshow’s other core key supplier relationships, including Film Nation, Relativity, Village Roadshow Pictures and The Weinstein Company, place VRL at the forefront in the theatrical film industry. 

IMAGES: L to R – Dr Who; The Wolf of Wall Street; Village Cinemas 

Since its inception, VRL has been a proud supporter of our local film industry; and we have an unrivalled tradition of bringing to life iconic Australian stories - from classics such as Mad Max, Gallipoli, Muriel’s Wedding and Priscilla: Queen of the Desert, to more recent screen legends, Happy Feet and Red Dog. In the 30 June 2014 year, two Australian films backed by Roadshow were released - Wolf Creek 2 and The Rover. In addition to the recently distributed title Felony, starring Joel Edgerton and Tom Wilkinson, there are currently a number of unique Australian films forecast for release in the 2015 financial year including Paper Planes starring Sam Worthington and David Wenham, Oddball starring Shane Jacobson and Deborah Mailman, and Now Add Honey starring Portia de Rossi. 

For Roadshow’s slate of international films, the upcoming 2015 financial year is anticipated to be one of our strongest in years – including the third instalment in the hugely successful Hunger Games franchise, Mockingjay Part 1, the third instalment in the Hobbit franchise, The Battle of the Five Armies, the hotly anticipated sequel Mad Max: Fury Road, as well as American Sniper, The Imitation Game, Big Eyes and San Andreas. 

In the ever evolving home entertainment business, where the digital revolution is changing the distribution landscape, Roadshow Entertainment experienced a challenging year impacted by a shift in how consumers view and own their content. Despite these challenges, Roadshow Entertainment remained the number one independent distributor in Australia with a significant 14.5% market share. The first half results were adversely affected by the timing and consistency of cinema release titles available to flow down through the distribution chain, however the division regained strength and benefited from a much stronger second half. 

Regarding Roadshow Entertainment’s sales of packaged media (Blu-ray and DVD), there were a number of outstanding results including some industry-best results for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, The Great Gatsby, The Wolf of Wall Street and Olympus Has Fallen. 

It is important to note that while the growth of the Digital format for the delivery of content to consumers is inevitable and to be wholly embraced, packaged media sales still represent a very healthy estimated total Australian market of over $1 billion. Through Roadshow’s prominent network of retail outlet partners including JB Hi-Fi, Kmart, ABC shops, Sanity, Woolworths, Target and Hoyts Kiosks, the division is confident of maintaining market share in the future. 

TV content continues to play a crucial role in Roadshow’s packaged media business. Leading properties this year included Dr Who, Broadchurch, Fat Tony, Ja’mie-Private School Girl, Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, The Wiggles and Orange Is The New Black. Through our long term relationships with the BBC, ABC, ITV, Shine, Screentime, 

