And they spent $300 million on marketing.
I guess I'll never understand that part of the current feature film business paradigm where they spent as much or more in marketing then it cost to make the film, yet somehow they always expect it to then turn a huge profit on taking what 50% of the Box Office Ticket price.
I mean given all the above, that means at $1 billion, the studio so far just about broken even and that's a high bar to set.
To me it appears most films (even when successful at the B.O. ) maybe break even with the theatrical run, but make real money off merchandising and licensing to Stresmers, PPV. Physical copy sales, etc. over the first few years of release.
IE - Great Box Office is good for driving licensing. merchadizing. etc.; but in a way it's a loss leader situation for the studio in most cases.
deadline.com
variety.com
