ip_guru
10-07-2003, 05:23 PM
OK, kind of a general rant thread, been meaning to write this for some time.
One thing I read over and over is how ‘those evil Hollywood bastards only want to make money’ or ‘ there they go again only making money’ or ‘there they go only trying to make money, they don’t care about the fans’ ad nauseum.
This irritates me. Hollywood is a business; movie-making is a business. What, do people expect that all the Hollywood studios are going to tell their shareholders: ‘oh we decided to do independent experimental films this year, sorry that your investment is now worthless’.
They have to make money to stay in business. They provide the general population with what the general population wants. There is nothing wrong with Hollywood making Rocky 200 for all I care. So what if they do it to make money - so does every other business in the world.
Commercial movie-making is a business first, an art second. Take away the highly paid stars, and there are thousands of families whose livings depend on the revenue that movies bring in. Hollywood does not exist to provide the general population an artistic experience every time they go to the theater.
The big budget action movies, and franchise films are supposed to make tons of money, so the studios can hopefully survive the losses they encounter on their other films. So, we go see the big budget movies for fun and pure entertainment, and enjoy the smaller more thought-provoking films when they come out. That is how it is supposed to be.
If you don’t like the big budget films, don’t support them. If enough people don’t like them, then they will fade. But, another concept will replace it. Whatever the replacement is, you can be sure that it will be designed to make money.
Let’s look at some numbers (From boxofficemojo.com):
Movie Name – Gross Revenue – Marketing – Production – Net Loss
Life of David Gale – 20M – 25M – 38M – Net loss of 43M (Universal)
Hollywood Homicide – 30M – 30M – 75M – Net loss of 75M (Sony/Revolution)
Biker Boyz – 22M – 18M – 24M – Net loss of 20M (DreamWorks)
Sinbad (7 Seas) – 26M – 30M – 60M – Net loss of 64M (DreamWorks)
Dumb and Dumberer – 26M – 20M – 19M – Net loss of 13M (New Line)
Dreamcatcher – 34M – 25M – 68M – Net loss of 59M (Warner Bros)
LXG – 66M – 30M – 78M – Net loss of 42M (Fox)
Tears of the Sun – 44M – 35M – 75M – Net loss of 66M (Sony)
Head of State – 38M – 27M – 35M – Net loss of 24M (DreamWorks)
Cradle to the Grave – 35M – 25M – 25M – Net loss of 15M (Warner Bros)
So these ten movies lost a total of 421 Million this year. That is close to a half a billion dollars lost. The studios try to withstand these losses to get the occasional major hit that will put cash back in their bank.
You can even take 2 Fast 2 Furious, the 11th highest grossing movie of the year so far: It has pulled in 127M in revenue. Marketing and Production were 116M, so the 11th highest grossing movie has only returned a 10 Million dollar profit on a 116 Million dollar investment. For the financial ones out there, a less than 10 percent return on a 100 Million investment is not good. Is it positive, yes, good no.
The point is that the blockbusters are required. They need the Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Bond, etc… in order to survive the bad times. The studios are not different than most of us, they pick an industry and try to do as well as possible in that industry, don’t hate them for doing the same thing everyone else wants to do. Let them pump out the franchise films, so that we can get an Equilibrium or a Frailty every now and then.
Oh well, rant mode off. I’m sure that many of you will disagree, I hope some agree. I’m not here to change anyone’s mind on this, I’m not going to argue and try to convince. If you intelligently disagree, I can respect that viewpoint.
One thing I read over and over is how ‘those evil Hollywood bastards only want to make money’ or ‘ there they go again only making money’ or ‘there they go only trying to make money, they don’t care about the fans’ ad nauseum.
This irritates me. Hollywood is a business; movie-making is a business. What, do people expect that all the Hollywood studios are going to tell their shareholders: ‘oh we decided to do independent experimental films this year, sorry that your investment is now worthless’.
They have to make money to stay in business. They provide the general population with what the general population wants. There is nothing wrong with Hollywood making Rocky 200 for all I care. So what if they do it to make money - so does every other business in the world.
Commercial movie-making is a business first, an art second. Take away the highly paid stars, and there are thousands of families whose livings depend on the revenue that movies bring in. Hollywood does not exist to provide the general population an artistic experience every time they go to the theater.
The big budget action movies, and franchise films are supposed to make tons of money, so the studios can hopefully survive the losses they encounter on their other films. So, we go see the big budget movies for fun and pure entertainment, and enjoy the smaller more thought-provoking films when they come out. That is how it is supposed to be.
If you don’t like the big budget films, don’t support them. If enough people don’t like them, then they will fade. But, another concept will replace it. Whatever the replacement is, you can be sure that it will be designed to make money.
Let’s look at some numbers (From boxofficemojo.com):
Movie Name – Gross Revenue – Marketing – Production – Net Loss
Life of David Gale – 20M – 25M – 38M – Net loss of 43M (Universal)
Hollywood Homicide – 30M – 30M – 75M – Net loss of 75M (Sony/Revolution)
Biker Boyz – 22M – 18M – 24M – Net loss of 20M (DreamWorks)
Sinbad (7 Seas) – 26M – 30M – 60M – Net loss of 64M (DreamWorks)
Dumb and Dumberer – 26M – 20M – 19M – Net loss of 13M (New Line)
Dreamcatcher – 34M – 25M – 68M – Net loss of 59M (Warner Bros)
LXG – 66M – 30M – 78M – Net loss of 42M (Fox)
Tears of the Sun – 44M – 35M – 75M – Net loss of 66M (Sony)
Head of State – 38M – 27M – 35M – Net loss of 24M (DreamWorks)
Cradle to the Grave – 35M – 25M – 25M – Net loss of 15M (Warner Bros)
So these ten movies lost a total of 421 Million this year. That is close to a half a billion dollars lost. The studios try to withstand these losses to get the occasional major hit that will put cash back in their bank.
You can even take 2 Fast 2 Furious, the 11th highest grossing movie of the year so far: It has pulled in 127M in revenue. Marketing and Production were 116M, so the 11th highest grossing movie has only returned a 10 Million dollar profit on a 116 Million dollar investment. For the financial ones out there, a less than 10 percent return on a 100 Million investment is not good. Is it positive, yes, good no.
The point is that the blockbusters are required. They need the Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Bond, etc… in order to survive the bad times. The studios are not different than most of us, they pick an industry and try to do as well as possible in that industry, don’t hate them for doing the same thing everyone else wants to do. Let them pump out the franchise films, so that we can get an Equilibrium or a Frailty every now and then.
Oh well, rant mode off. I’m sure that many of you will disagree, I hope some agree. I’m not here to change anyone’s mind on this, I’m not going to argue and try to convince. If you intelligently disagree, I can respect that viewpoint.