"They're not acquiring synergies," Mr. Wildmann said, "they're buying distribution".
"The Blair Witch Project" brought Artisan Entertainment, the company that bought distribution rights to it for $1 million, over $150 million last summer, elevating Artisan to the ranks of major Hollywood players.
Universal Pictures has bought distribution rights for Latin America and Spain, and other companies have picked up Russia, China, the U.K., Portugal, Turkey, the Middle East, Italy, and Poland.
Volatile and blunt, Mr. Ray championed stylized, intellectually challenging films, buying distribution rights to movies that few believed had a box-office prayer.
TV content and channels Apple has bought distribution rights from CBS to James Corden's hugely popular Carpool Karaoke, where celebrities such as Adele join the chatshow host for in-car singalongs, which will be distributed through its Apple Music service.
The film, which is now showing in Hong Kong, will be shown in Taiwan and South Korea, and a company recently bought distribution rights for Britain at the Cannes Film Festival, where the film was screened out of competition for potential buyers.
Gazprom, in other words, is busily undermining its own ascendancy.Europeans are now so worked up about Gazprom's conduct that the firm is struggling to fulfil its more sensible ambition of buying distribution in the EU.
The company acquired Vessel, bought a stake in AwesomenessTV and bought distribution rights for Vice Media shows.
It was buying distribution which helped it maintain its overall market dominance.
