lilcarus wrote:how is that....do you know how the economics of the movie industry work....well its like this a production company doesnt not see a dime of world wide gross until way down the line and even then its about 35% of the total overseas number...everything gets chopped up between the movie distributer and the exhibitors....this deal favors the exhibitors after the initial buzz has worn off....these numbers you see dont mean **** if it doesnt pull 210 domestic....they still have to recover all the media money they spent on promoting this film....i just dont see this film making the dollars it needs to yet.....potter week will tell us all if the movie gets a sequal or not.
Okay, let's look at some numbers here.
Opening week, Transformers grossed $155 million.
Most of the big summer movies have had a 65% drop off.
That would put the second week at $54.25 million, which would give a total of $209.25 million. Right near the $210 million figure you're suggesting is critical. This movie has a strong chance of breaking $300 million domestic.
For exhibitors, a 10-15% take of ticket sales is considered large. Most chains make their profit off concession sales... thus why you get such high prices at the stand. Big ticket films usually have a miniscule portion, if any, going to the theatres. The films are the attraction that increases concession sales.
The international numbers are a little tricky. For some big budget movies, two studios will chip in to cover it, with one handling the domestic release, and the other handling the international. This happened in the case of Transformers, with Dreamworks handling the U.S., and Paramount overseas. However, when the Paramount purchase of Dreamworks went through, this put both ends of the film essentially under the same umbrella. Long story short? Paramount's pocketing all the receipts.
As for the marketing, bear in mind they're also seeing profits off all the movie-related products that are on the market right now. And as for the marketing campaign, there's a difference between the number they mention in press kits and the amount that's actually coming out of their pocket. They can technically say, for example, a Burger King or GM commercial promotes the movie, since it has movie ad bumper on it. BK or GM are footing the bill for that ad, but it's part of the movie's marketing campign. Some studios have even counted the toyline, and I wouldn't be shocked if Paramount did so, as well. I've not seen any actual figures, myself. I've seen a figure of $50 million floated around a few times, but a source is never given. A third of the film's budget seems incredibly high to me.
Again, people are free to have whatever opinion they want on the film. But to try and fudge the numbers to claim that it's anything but a tremendous success for the movie and for Paramount(its opening week exceeding internal expectations by $55 million) is reaching.
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