[Deb]

"Benjamin Button" cost $150 million to produce (not including advertising and prints), has brought in $94 million so far and is sinking fast. I predict it will never see black ink.

"Mama Mia" is a hit because of the worldwide box office.

[Tublecane]

“’Benjamin Button’ cost $150 million to produce (not including advertising and prints), has brought in $94 million so far and is sinking fast. I predict it will never see black ink.”

So it may not be on the level of “Titanic,” “Lord of the Rings,” but I wouldn’t exactly call it a bomb. It will no doubt top 100 million dollars, which will put it in the range of respectable previous winners like “Gladiator,” “A Beautiful Mind,” and “The Departed”.

Of course, winning itself gives a movie a huge bump, so maybe the 100 million range isn’t a test of much of anything when it comes to Best Picture winners. Maybe the real test of whether it was a hit is to compare it to the grosses of other films released that year. Using this standard, hits like “Forrest Gump” and “Rain Man” really tend to stand out, while respectable grosses like “The Departed” fall by the wayside.

[Arizona Carolyn]

Yet, everyone I know who has seen Button loved the movie, I also thoroughly enjoyed Valkyrie.