Comments on: Weekend Box Office: ‘Harry Potter’ Breaks Open The Kitty; ‘Bruno’ Shits The Bed

By: gabetoro

gabetoro — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 01:44:58 +0000

Sk- thanks for the praise and discussion. You're bang-on about Potter- the WB really has a dream of a franchise on their hands there. Transformers, though… they are splitting the profits with Spielberg/Dreamworks, and after "profit," Michael Bay is set to take home something in the vicinity of $150 million for this movie alone. That leaves $750, and I think Dreamworks gets a hefty chunk of that as well. Considering production and marketing has to be close to $300, that's not a lot of wiggle room.

By: SK

SK — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 18:50:16 +0000

And the "Bruno shits the bed" headline could also be interpreted as a seen from the movie, I'm not surprised the appeal of this lasted 1 weekend.
There was just a lot of nonsense gross out gags that really distracted from the humourous exchanges he had with people dumbfounded by his behaviour.

By: SK

SK — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 18:07:21 +0000

I like that you guys present the box-office numbers with an analysis, almost a "cause-effect" of what will come from studios and their film makers.

Like the "Mann-standard $100 million" remark. So true. But he did make Collateral with a tighter $65 budget with Tom Cruise so we'll see what he has next.

Too often I hear the B.O. numbers mentioned in the same sentence as "So what movies are worth seeing this week...". This is followed usually by the top 3 movies with disregard for movies that have been out for a while and continue to be enjoyed by people (Hangover, Proposal, and lesser extent Enemies).

By: SK

SK — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 18:01:52 +0000

Even if Potter doesn't cross the original's $317 million I don't think those involved are too concerned. The Potter movies are a lock, and the budgets don't balloon like we see sometimes with tent-pole movies, especially sequels.
The numbers (according to boxofficemojo)

Potter# $Production--> $domestic B.O. --> $total internation B.O.

1 $125 --> $317 --> $974 total
2 $100 --> $262 --> $878 total
3 $130 --> $249 --> $795 total
4 $150 --> $290 --> $895 total
5 $150 --> $292 --> $938 total
6 N/A --> $159+ --> $205+TBD
7p1
7p2

For movies that come out almost yearly or every two years this is really impressive. Hopefully this license to print money keeps Warner Bros in a good risk - good reward mood.

And can the Transformers movie really be only a slight profit for Paramount? Even with Paramount/DW/Michael Bay all splitting revenue and profit this is still almost a $400 million grossing dollar movie.