The studios want every movie to be a blockbuster. They don’t seem willing to make more movies that simply make decent profit because by telling a good story cheaply. No they shove hundreds of millions of $ into these wannabe epics. But it only takes a few losses to ruin you when you are soendingvseveral hundred mill per movie.
Damn internet. That’s “spending several hundred million.”
It also has to do with all the ancillary income streams. A good, moderately budgeted romantic comedy, say, isn’t going to spawn video games, toys, t shirts, and theme park rides. The things that continue to bring in money after the film has disappeared from theaters.