Film Advance Index: Global Minimum Guarantee Benchmark

Verified Deal Benchmarks Across Global Film Markets

The Film Advance Index compiles verified minimum guarantee (MG) deals across North America, Europe, Asia, and Latin America, drawn from more than 300 independent and mid-budget films representing over 1,300 territorial transactions.

It tracks how distributors have valued features with budgets between $500,000 and $60 million—revealing what buyers have actually paid for comparable titles by region, genre, and budget level. Each entry includes Country of Origin, Language, Distributor by Territory, Sales Representative, Budget, Genre, and Advance Value, with fictitious film titles used to protect proprietary data while preserving accuracy.

---

What the Data Reveals

The Film Advance Index replaces speculation with verified evidence—showing what distributors actually pay, how territory counts have collapsed, and which genres and regions still sustain meaningful MGs.

Divided into four datasets, it captures every layer of the independent market:

• Tier A (Prestige, Breakout, Festival Winners): Features with festival pedigree, marquee cast, or auteur recognition. These films drive the few remaining competitive auctions and command the highest MGs across multiple territories.
• Tier B (Commercial, Elevated Genre): Thrillers, elevated horror, crime, and cast-driven action titles that sustain mid-range MGs and remain the most active category in today’s market.
• Tier C (Arthouse, Quiet Drama): Critically regarded films with modest commercial pull—still viable in France, Japan, and select European territories where curatorial buyers remain.
• Global: The full benchmark across all tiers—capturing advances by budget, genre, region, and distributor.

---

Verified Datasets Covering Every Level of the Market

---

The Market Before and After 2020

For nearly a decade, advances held steady: a strong indie premiere could routinely sell 20–35 territories, with meaningful MGs across Europe, Asia, and Latin America—sometimes even in smaller ancillary markets.

When the market shifted in 2020, that model broke. Today, even well-received films may only close 8–18 territories, and MGs have contracted sharply in nearly every region.

Since then, the Index shows:

• France remains the most stable buyer, still paying reliable advances for prestige and auteur titles.
• Japan continues to support select, emotionally clear or genre-specific films with real MGs.
• The Middle East and GCC have emerged as one of the few growth areas, especially for cast-driven thrillers and commercial fare.
• In contrast, Germany, Italy, Spain, South Korea, and Latin America now favor low-advance or revenue-share models, and China has largely withdrawn from the foreign independent market.
• Across most regions, buyers have become risk-averse, favoring smaller or performance-based advances and placing less value on downstream TV and streaming rights than in the era of aggressive platform acquisitions.
  

---

Film Advance Index Samples

Access film distribution advances in all major markets across budget, genres, and more…

---

DISCLAIMER: By downloading from FilmTake, you acquire absolutely no rights or licenses in or to the materials contained therein other than the limited right to utilize the information for your own personal, noncommercial use. No rights are transferred to you to redistribute, monetize, release, make known, or otherwise use the information contained therein other than the limited right to utilize it for your own personal, noncommercial use. In no circumstances can any of the information be used for or construed as legal, accounting, financial, or other evidential statements or facts. FilmTake does not provide any warranty or guarantee as to the accuracy or lack of errors found in the information.