Hyperstealth released this rather well laid out statement regarding the decision to end their long relationship with the film industry.
(July 13, 2015, Vancouver, B.C.) Hyperstealth Biotechnology Corp. is a successful camouflage design and development company with over 4,000,000 military uniforms issued around the world which use their licensed camouflage patterns and over 12,000 camouflage patterns under worldwide copyright.
Hollywood came calling nine years ago and since that time Hyperstealth has worked on developing camouflage used on many hundreds of uniforms for both TV series and blockbuster movies. The worldwide box office grosses for those movies which used Hyperstealth camouflage uniforms is $4.9 Billion U.S. dollars including 3 of the top 6 movies of all time. If you add the movies Hyperstealth has provided camouflage for pre or post production then the number goes to $6 Billion U.S. Dollars and adding those movies which used patterns developed by Guy Cramer, President/CEO of Hyperstealth but are independent of Hyperstealth then the total worldwide box office gross goes to 7.3 Billion U.S. dollars.
Hyperstealth provided very fast short run production at fairly inexpensive rates. Whereas large textile printers require 10,000 yard minimums with considerable upfront costs on screen cuttings and color sampling and screen cutting alone could take weeks before the printer could begin production of the material. Hyperstealth also had a vast library of patterns to select from and the ability to change colors and scale to the studio requirements or even creating new patterns in just a few hours.
The last thing a studio needs is to find themselves in is an expensive copyright infringement case which can occur if the studio used or developed a pattern close to another camouflage pattern owned by someone else and used it in their movie without permission of the original owner. Hyperstealth pattern use provided the studios that copyright security.
So why has Hyperstealth decided to walk away from further Movie/TV business? This is not their core business. When times were lean a few years ago, these contracts helped supplement Hyperstealth’s revenue but the time constraints of all these productions required that Hyperstealth drop everything else and focus 110% on the movie or TV project working 12-16+ hour days and over weekends and holidays to meet their deadlines. Quite often the Science Fiction movies and TV series want something futuristic, a new material and/or a new pattern, something that no one has seen before. These Movie/TV requirements are usually more than what a country development program would require for a new military camouflage pattern, and country camouflage pattern development is currently the core business of Hyperstealth.
In business there is an element of marketing, promotion and/or branding to offset the costs associated with the extra work required for these special short run jobs. However, getting a studio to authorize a press release or even allowing Hyperstealth to announce their pattern was used in a film or TV show was at best difficult. Hyperstealth was under strict NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreements) with the studios and productions and Hyperstealth didn’t even show up in any of the movie credits.
Out of all the big movies Hyperstealth has worked on, only Marvel Studios provided a one page press release a week after the release of “Avengers; Age of Ultron” but would not allow the release of photos from the movie or production showing the camouflage uniforms. Hyperstealth had to take a photo of their camouflage material in their office to use with the press release.
Guy Cramer, President/CEO of Hyperstealth “While we have been highly successful with the movies and TV shows, it has interfered with our key business and when you are unable to make that your highest priority, then we are putting Hollywood ahead of our main clients, that being country camouflage programs. We don’t need their (Hollywood) money, we can’t really afford the extra time and given Hollywood’s track record on credit, we don’t see any real benefits from further movies or TV shows.”
As an aside I’d like to show you the camo pattern they are referencing from the “Age of Ultron“.
