Avalon Family Entertainment’s mission statement is “Making wholesome movies is not only good citizenship, it’s good business.” The company’s goal is to make high-quality family-friendly movies that have a budget way below the movies made at typical studios.
Surprising to many, family movies are the highest money makers. A study conducted by the Dove Foundation showed that family movies had an average gross profit of $94 million, whereas R-rated movies averaged only $11 million. Besides revenue from the theater, family-orientated movies bring in profit from merchandising. Movies such as “Shrek,” “Finding Nemo,” “Toy Story,” and “A Bug’s Life” have brought in an enormous amount of profit with endorsements, clothing, toys, and other products. Also, DVD, Pay-Per-View, and soundtrack sales increase profit even further.
Gary DePew is President and CEO of Avalon Family Entertainment. He has worked for various studios before becoming part of the Avalon company. One of his recent successful projects is the film “Hansel and Gretel.” “Jack & the Beanstalk” is Avalon Family Entertainment’s current project. The movie stars Colin Ford as “Jack” and James Earl Jones as the voice of the Giant. Other actors in the movie include Christopher Lloyd, Katey Segal, Gilbert Gottfried, and Chevy Chase. Avalon also has “Snow White” in production.
Avalon Family Entertainment will be making more live-action films based on well-known fairy tales. This is a profitable plan since these stories and characters are popular and will automatically bring people to the theaters to see their favorite fairy tales come to life. Another reason this plan is productive is that there are no costs to the rights of these stories since they are public domain. Upcoming projects from Avalon hope to include “Beauty and the Beast,” “Cinderella,” “Gulliver’s Travels,” “The Little Mermaid,” “The Pied Piper of Hamlin,” “Robin Hood,” and “The Three Little Pigs.”