Interesting- Movie Production figures at DVinfo.net

K. Forman · July 19th, 2003, 06:16 AM

I was just turned on to this link fromanother board. It's amazinging how much they sink into these movies, and how much they make.
http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/records/budgets.html

John Locke · July 19th, 2003, 07:00 AM

Hmmm...some of the numbers don't jibe. How can a movie budgeted at $115M, that earns a worldwide gross of over $70M, be listed as almost an $80M loss?

K. Forman · July 19th, 2003, 07:25 AM

Boy, you have an eye for details!

Adrian Douglas · July 19th, 2003, 07:50 AM

Yeah, some of those number are out of whack. But, even if they made a whole "0" of a mistake the producers of Blair Witch have gotta be smiling. Love or hate the movie you can't argure with a 354,614.29% profit margin, hell if it was only 35 000 or even 3500% you still gotta give credit where it's due. Those guys should be studied by marketing students for that effort.

Richard Alvarez · July 19th, 2003, 03:38 PM

For an explanaition of how movies can make millions and still "Not make a dime" read FATAL SUBTRACTION

It's the story of the Art Buchwald lawsuit over "Coming to America" with Eddie Murphy. That's the lawsuit (Or suits) that exposed the funny bookeeping, that never yields a NET for a movie. A terrifyingly good read.

Rick Spilman · July 19th, 2003, 04:13 PM

Check out the footnote:

"The profit and loss figures are very rough estimates based on the assumption that 50% of box office receipts were returned to the studio."

So a $70 million dollar gross means a $35 million dollar return. $115M cost - $35M return = $80 M loss.

Mark Moore · July 19th, 2003, 05:57 PM

A year or so ago, I took some traveling-road-show class on producing movies (a two day course that travels around). It was interesting and I learned a lot about the money end of business, though it doesn't pertain to me (I just wanted see what it was like)!

However the instructor said that whenever Hollywood says that a movie cost $100,000,000 to make, you can estimate that it only cost a fraction of that, sometimes 75% less - and that the quoted figures is for business and publicity.

Any validity to that?

Richard Alvarez · July 20th, 2003, 09:04 AM

You can get a feel for how "true" something is by looking at the state of politics today.

The cost of a movie is an "undefined" term, in the legal sense. This is why there are so many lawsuits of "net" profit deals. There's never any net.

If you really want to know how Machiavellian the big studio accounting can get... read FATAL SUBTRACTION. It's really entertaining AND enlightening.

Mark Moore · July 20th, 2003, 04:32 PM

I may do that, Richard. Sounds like an interesting read. I doubt anyone would admit to inflating costs anyway!!! :)

July 19th, 2003, 06:16 AM	#1
K. Forman Capt. Quirk Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Middle of the woods in Georgia Posts: 3,596	Interesting- Movie Production figures I was just turned on to this link fromanother board. It's amazinging how much they sink into these movies, and how much they make. http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/records/budgets.html

July 19th, 2003, 07:00 AM	#2
John Locke Retired DV Info Net Almunus Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Austin, TX USA Posts: 2,882	Hmmm...some of the numbers don't jibe. How can a movie budgeted at $115M, that earns a worldwide gross of over $70M, be listed as almost an $80M loss? __________________ John Locke SursumFilms.com

July 19th, 2003, 07:50 AM	#4
Adrian Douglas Trustee Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Chigasaki, Japan. Posts: 1,660	Yeah, some of those number are out of whack. But, even if they made a whole "0" of a mistake the producers of Blair Witch have gotta be smiling. Love or hate the movie you can't argure with a 354,614.29% profit margin, hell if it was only 35 000 or even 3500% you still gotta give credit where it's due. Those guys should be studied by marketing students for that effort. __________________ Adrian DVInfo.net Search for quick answers Where to buy? From the best in the business...DVInfo.net sponsors

July 19th, 2003, 05:57 PM	#7
Mark Moore Major Player Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: North Carolina Posts: 301	A year or so ago, I took some traveling-road-show class on producing movies (a two day course that travels around). It was interesting and I learned a lot about the money end of business, though it doesn't pertain to me (I just wanted see what it was like)! However the instructor said that whenever Hollywood says that a movie cost $100,000,000 to make, you can estimate that it only cost a fraction of that, sometimes 75% less - and that the quoted figures is for business and publicity. Any validity to that? __________________ Mark Moore Sugar Free Productions

July 20th, 2003, 04:32 PM	#9
Mark Moore Major Player Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: North Carolina Posts: 301	I may do that, Richard. Sounds like an interesting read. I doubt anyone would admit to inflating costs anyway!!! :) __________________ Mark Moore Sugar Free Productions

July 19th, 2003, 07:25 AM	#3
K. Forman Capt. Quirk Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Middle of the woods in Georgia Posts: 3,596	Boy, you have an eye for details!

July 19th, 2003, 03:38 PM	#5
Richard Alvarez Inner Circle Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: San Mateo, CA Posts: 3,840	For an explanaition of how movies can make millions and still "Not make a dime" read FATAL SUBTRACTION It's the story of the Art Buchwald lawsuit over "Coming to America" with Eddie Murphy. That's the lawsuit (Or suits) that exposed the funny bookeeping, that never yields a NET for a movie. A terrifyingly good read.

July 19th, 2003, 04:13 PM	#6
Rick Spilman Major Player Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Jersey City, NJ Posts: 366	Check out the footnote: "The profit and loss figures are very rough estimates based on the assumption that 50% of box office receipts were returned to the studio." So a $70 million dollar gross means a $35 million dollar return. $115M cost - $35M return = $80 M loss.

July 20th, 2003, 09:04 AM	#8
Richard Alvarez Inner Circle Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: San Mateo, CA Posts: 3,840	You can get a feel for how "true" something is by looking at the state of politics today. The cost of a movie is an "undefined" term, in the legal sense. This is why there are so many lawsuits of "net" profit deals. There's never any net. If you really want to know how Machiavellian the big studio accounting can get... read FATAL SUBTRACTION. It's really entertaining AND enlightening.