All movie budgets are bogus. I know of a film that was under budget when it got back from location to Hollywood. One “big shot” was given a special screening and the budget was charged $75,000. After a bunch of other charges in a week it was over budget.
And the original budget was only 5 million dollars. The director only wanted 3 million but the studio demanded it be 5 million. There’s 2 million bucks in someone’s pocket before one scene was shot.
Yup. Remember how the Tolkien estate got taken on LoTR. Christopher (and his legal team) made the rookie mistake of being paid as a % of profits, rather than gross.
When the movies failed to turn a “profit” ... Predictable outcome from predictable results.