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How much to make money?

DontFeedPhil

Fleet Captain
OK. With all of the talk about TDK and how much its is making at the Box Office...I am wondering how much money will Star Trek need to make to break even and or make money? I know we cant hope for TDK numbers but we could hope for Batman Begins type numbers...
 
Double it's production budget to break even (production budgets don't include advertising, all the prints that go out to all the theaters, etc).
 
Assuming the production budget is the rumoured $150 million, it'll have to rake in at least $300-350 million worldwide to make a profit and justify Paramount's investment in it. If they're counting on DVD sales and merchandising to help generate revenue, the box office expectations might be downplayed slightly.

A friend and I have been debating how much money we think Star Trek is likely to make. He thinks it's going to top out at $150 million at the US Box Office and around $230 million worldwide, using the aforementioned DVD sales and merchandising to make up the shortfall. I'm more optimistic, hoping that it can break the $200 million barrier in the US and go on to rake in just north of $300 million worldwide. It's highly unlikely to post Transformers or Dark Knight style numbers, but it's also unlikely to be as big a box office disappointment as Insurrection and Nemesis were.
 
According to my economics text for my course a few weeks ago one of the things discussed was film profitability. As said to be considered a success it is usually double the production budget with an additional 25% of the production budget to be considered a success.
 
According to my economics text for my course a few weeks ago one of the things discussed was film profitability. As said to be considered a success it is usually double the production budget with an additional 25% of the production budget to be considered a success.

They can always revise the figures down a bit as well (which they did a week after INSURRECTION came out, basically ignoring the large chunk they spent on reshooting and new vfx), though it may be more difficult this time, because as I understand it, interest is charged on the money, so the extra delay before release should actually drive the figure up higher.

They can always get around this stuff though ... if they make more, they can say they weren't expecting a hit the first time, and they can amortize the first film's investment in sets on sequels or stage tours or new tv series.
 
Well with a budget that been mentioned between 120-150 million, you can add on a minimum ad budget of 50 million (and I don't know if that is US or world wide and if it includes print costs).

You then figure that the studios get roughly 55% of each dollar spent.

So if the budget was say 120 add 50 million to make it 170. The studio would need to generate roughly 315 million at the box office to break even.

If the budget is 150 and again add 50 to 200. The studio would need to generate roughly 370 million to break even.

Now with squeals their are other factors in considering if one is successful (besides just profitability). Especially since just in the US big films can generate 50 to over 100 million more dollars in profit just from DVD sales and rentals. We never get info on the revenue generated World Wide on DVD sales.

If this film can pass the 100 million mark in the US, it will probably be considered a modest disappoitment (after all it is a sizable improvement over the last Trek films of which it will be judged against). The studio wont make another in any near future though,as the film would probably lose money even with all other revenue streams.

At 150 million it will be ok performer, at 200 it will be considered a solid hit (with inflation 2 trek films barely make it to that mark I & IV in US sales).

Anything higher and Paramount (unless in the months before release tracking really takes off) will be exceptionally pleased.

At 200 US a sequel will be greenlite, most likely unless it truly performs and overseas (less then 25% of its US gross).
 
You then figure that the studios get roughly 55% of each dollar spent.

Doesn't the percentage change with time? At the first weeks the Studios get most of the money and then it flips and the theater owners take most of it.
 
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