Even Harry Potter Pic Loses Money Because Of Warner Bros' Phony Baloney Net Profit Accounting

Deadline Hollywood Daily ^ | July 6, 2010 | Nikki Finke

[circlecity]

"This is an open secret in the business."

LOL, I believe in the business that percentages of net profits are known as "monkey points".

[Pilsner]

If you believe the studio accountants, the last picture to turn a profit was Gone With the Wind, and it didn't break even until 1973.

[VRWCmember]

Maybe these Hollywood types are onto something. Let's see if we can apply the same concept to a broadway show!

[Terry Mross]

I was in a movie that was bringing in around $20,000,000 per week when it was released. In fact, it was number one in “per screen earning”. The budget was $6,000,000 and about half of that number was B.S. They still say it didn’t make a profit.

This was the same studio that James Garner sued over THE ROCKFORD FILES. It was the number one show on T.V. and they told Garner it was losing money so they didn’t have to pay him his share. He sued and won.

Art Buchwald sued Paramount for stealing COMING TO AMERICA. He was awarded a percentage of the net profits. Guess what. It lost money according to the accountants and he didn’t get on penny.

Gross profits AND the right to have your own accountant run the numbers is the only way you won’t get screwed.

[Deb]

Accounting. Studios take the profits from their hit movies and factor them against the losses from their flops. *Presto*.....no taxable profits and no profits to honor the backend contract deals.

[MikeD]

I read the book “Fatal Subtraction” a few years back, which detailed Art Buchwald’s treatment for “King For a Day,” which was eventually reworked into “Coming To America.” Not only did his contract call for a percentage of net profits, but Paramount released “CtA” without any acknowledgement of the “KFaD” story treatment. Buchwald sued for breach of contract & copyright infringement, only to discover that the $150 million box office + video sales translated into a net loss. Not only was it a net loss, but the way the books were kept, the more tickets & videos sold, the greater the loss!

[GraceG]

[ Accounting. Studios take the profits from their hit movies and factor them against the losses from their flops. *Presto*.....no taxable profits and no profits to honor the backend contract deals. ]

Since the studios make a “net loss” I wonder how much tax they pay?

And then Hollywood has the gaul to tell us that the “rich business owners” need to pay more taxes... Why don’t they pay their own taxes?