[C19fan]

OMG. The WB claims they spent $131 MM on marketing and $315 MM in negative costs??? Production should of been in the $150 MM - $200 MM range.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

The CBO would be happy to confirm that none of their movies ever makes a profit.

[Deb]

Oh, please. Nikki Finke has been around long enough to know this is the way the studios do their accounting. "Lord of the Rings" made billions, but because of accounting procedures at New Line it will never show a profit so it can't pay the actors who have merchandising deals with the studio. I know because I get the quarterly accounting statements.

Its show-biz 101, if you have a backend or net deal on a movie, you have worthless paper.

[The Comedian]

This is an open secret in the business. Everyone knows this except illiterate noobs, and they are the only ones who get burned by it.

No sympathy.

Read any book on the film biz, and it will tell you about this practice.

Here's another secret: Avatar didn't cost $1 billion either.

Frowning takes 68 muscles.
Smiling takes 6.
Pulling this trigger takes 2.
I'm lazy.

[Cyman]

Damn, I want THOSE accountants to work on my tax returns!

[a fool in paradise]

Culture of corruption. Crooked books. Been that way for decades.

Funny how a film “never turns a profit” (so the screenwriter et al don’t have to be paid any bonus on a box-office hit) yet they will up for 3 sequels right away.

No one throws that much money down a drain trying to make a loss profitable.

Well, no one except Obama.

[Nat Turner]

So when will Congress investigate “Big Film” and the shady business practices of Hollywood?.. oh wait, there is nothing to see here... keep it moving...

[a fool in paradise]

Hollywood Reds love “redistributing” the wealth.

And yet if a “protected” director or star’s project tanks, the loss can be written against some smaller (or blacklisted) filmmaker’s project crippling his own career.

[Smogger]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_accounting

[RJL]

Though the film grossed $938.2 million worldwide, the accounting statement below conveys that the film is still over $167 million in the red.

The good Marxists in Hollywood want higher taxes for you, but they won't be paying income taxes since they are losing money on every film.

[SES1066]

Imagine how the recent history of movies might have been if George Lucas had developed “Star Wars” from within this kind of system. Given that it took his profits from this movie and its offspring to build Industrial Lighting and Magic as well as the foundations of Pixar, we can imagine how different things might have been without his ownership of Star Wars licensing rights.

[KarlInOhio]

The WB claims they spent $131 MM on marketing and $315 MM in negative costs???

Any bets on whether WB owns the marketing and negatives companies they contracted with?

What should a studio executive do if his movie makes a net profit? Shoot the accounting department as a warning to future accountants... and then charge the bullets' cost against the net.

[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.

[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!