Warcraft movie break-even at USD 500M?

[Alantor]

Hi guys, how is possible that a 160M movie production breaks even at 500M? I guess marketing, but how can they spend 340M on promotion? Also, how does making a movie could possibly cost 160M? xD

Source is main page:

The bigger play for this $160M production +$110M P&A vehicle is overseas. Global B.O. currently stands at $286.1M with 55% coming from China. Industry sources tell Deadline that breakeven is at $500M worldwide.

[akris15]

Yeah marketing is the major cost. The rule of thumb for Hollywood is 150% of your production budget for holiday/summer releases (its about 50% for the Sept/Jan dumping ground and 100% everywhere else).

[Deleted]

Isn't it because in China, foreign distributors only get 25% of the ticket price (whereas it's around 45% in the US)? So even if the movie's huge over there, it won't earn the studios that much of money.

[akris15]

Means almost no film these days is making their money back...or already relies heavily on DvD sales and TV rights

Most make their money back but this is also why you see sequels all the time. If a studio knows it can print money they will send any garbage out to do it. Warcraft was just a high risk/high reward because it was an original IP for the movie industry. Probably the only reason it got green lit was it would be big in Asia like Pacific Rim (I even said months ago that I figured Warcraft will play out exactly like how Pacific Rim did when it was in theaters).

[Nathreim]

Isn't it because in China, foreign distributors only get 25% of the ticket price (whereas it's around 45% in the US)? So even if the movie's huge over there, it won't earn the studios that much of money.

Thats why some people are saying it need 500 mill. But no one takes in account Legendary is owned in china so it will be 55% of the ticket instead of the standard 25%. It probably only needs to break 400-420 mill when you account for that.

Universal did not put much into the cost of the movie so they probably will make their money back most of the cost came out of China.

[Tempguy]

That's a problem. We need the fix that asap. Don't know how, but now I see why studios go for shitty transformers and ninja turtles boots and never take a chance at something new.

Having half a billion be the break even 0 profit point is stupid as shit.

[Deleted]

That's a problem. We need the fix that asap.

Having half a billion be the break even 0 profit point is stupid as shit.

Yes.



Yes,let's do this.
You and me. Let's fix this. I've got your back "bro". Me and you.


All the way.





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[Tempguy]

You can only fix it by not going to the cinema. But if somebody legitimately says "I liked Transformers 1, 2 and 3 and I happily pay for 4 and 5" what you gonna do? You are not the taste police...

And sequels don't always work. Alice in Wonderland making over a billion at the BO had me go "WTF?" - now the studio wanted more of the cake and it backfires http://www.boxofficemojo.com/showdow...id=alicevs.htm

But yeah, the money printing works in some cases (Marvel universe) and not so much in others (Terminator franchise)

I was talking about the high ass costs.

The fact a film needs to make half a billion to be seen as not a failure is stupid high.

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Yes.



Yes,let's do this.
You and me. Let's fix this. I've got your back "bro". Me and you.


All the way.





.....

Okay. Suggestions........

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Yes I know I have no solutions. Just kinda expressing frustration here. Maybe with better tech or whatever we can bring down price, but if I could I'd make producing a quality film cheaper. Or cut down on advertising costs. Or maybe renegotiate theater deals.

[Nathreim]

Less CGI. Plenty of films don't cost $160M+ to make. This one could have easily ended up at $250M if they made the entire movie Duncan was trying to make. It's only an issue if you go into it doing CGI in every single scene(like Warcraft did).

It had to have lots of CGI. If they went full live action the Orcs would have been a joke.

[Tempguy]

It had to have lots of CGI. If they went full live action the Orcs would have been a joke.

The force awakens proved that practical effects still have their place. Sure, have CGI orcs if you must,but surely not every scene had an Orc?

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No it didn't. They could have found locations to be the base of many scenes, had less focus on the orcs and focused more on humans on real sets without stupid glowing eyes.

A thought. Off topic maybe.

I have been told the following and I find it hilarious.

1. CGI beats practical effects and is essential to do anything if quality.
2. A full CG film would never work. (Ignoring Pixar , and the love of the wow cinematics)


I can't help but feel that people don't really have a stance. They say you need CG orcs and it was so good that the humans looked weird. But refuse to accept the idea of a full CG Warcraft. Also ignoring the fact that full animated films have and continue to do well as shit.

I find it funny

[Nathreim]

No it didn't. They could have found locations to be the base of many scenes, had less focus on the orcs and focused more on humans on real sets without stupid glowing eyes.

The force awakens proved that practical effects still have their place. Sure, have CGI orcs if you must,but surely not every scene had an Orc?

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Most of the sets, armor, weapons, and locals were practical sets and real locations. The only thing that was CGI that could have been left out was the glowing eyes of the human mages.

[DarkTZeratul]

CGI is expensive for characters. For scenery, especially long-shot scenery, it's a lot cheaper. There's absolutely no reason to build out full sets of two and three-story buildings when all the action happens on the first story and the upper halves are only going to be visible in long shots where you don't need the same level of detail. Never mind that scenery doesn't require anything in the way of rigging or animation, being largely static objects.

[Michh]

So, if you take 500mil and divide it by 123, the length of the movie.....that's over 4mil per minute to make and distribute. Not arguing with the money, or what they say it takes to break even, but man......Hollywood needs to learn to be more frugal.

It's awfully scary that it takes 1/2 billion dollars for a movie to break even.

[Fencers]

Marketing any product is THE most important aspect of selling a product besides bringing it to market. It's very, very expensive.

Warcraft will likely turn a profit. But not through box office alone. BO is more about prestige and franchise viability. The industry is built around tentpoles.

Every film wants to join the Box Office 'Billion Dollar Club' as a means of securing a franchise or film as a popular success. Avengers, Force Awakens, Avatar, etc- these films are mega hits and bring the studio both money (obvs.) and a certain prestige.

[Cerus]

That's a problem. We need the fix that asap. Don't know how, but now I see why studios go for shitty transformers and ninja turtles boots and never take a chance at something new.

Having half a billion be the break even 0 profit point is stupid as shit.

They have tried it many times and they just don't work. Cloud Atlas was something entirely new and it didn't make hardly any money. If you want to blame someone blame moviegoers. They're the ones buying tickets for sequels and reboots instead of something original.

[Berndorf]

It depends on the movie. You take production cost then add marketing cost then the studio needs to make about twice that in box office(due to the studio only getting back about half of ticket sale money). Then there are cuts taken out of that money for actors or producers sometimes. Then studios often get money back from locations which will give them money to film there as an incentive as well as for product placement in some movies. Then you also have money which is made off of rentals, ppv and disk sales after the theater run. So there are many factors in play when you talk about how much money a movie needs to make from box office to turn the studio a profit. Deadline.com sometimes does profit breakdowns which include all of these factors to give a close estimate of how much money a studio actually made off of a movie. Warcraft has a $160m production budget and then prob spent $80m or more on marketing which is why it needs to make $500m in order to break even just off of box office returns. That is just one part of the whole revenue picture though. The studios make a lot off of post theater revenue. Plus a movie like Warcraft will have lots of merchandising tie ins.

[Faltemer]

There is already a Warcraft Megathread, posts regarding the movie need to go there. Closing this.