Movie business and billionaire

Quote: Pacomartin

Critics don't matter a lot to a #2 film,

That is what I mean. If his acting is so bad, why did the film do so well.

As for a decision to reprise a role, sometimes actors get bad career advice or make poor choices or perhaps producers just think a fresh face won't do worse.

Quote: Fleastiff

That is what I mean. If his acting is so bad, why did the film do so well.

It would seem that there is not always a correlation. The second and third Transformers movies were not really watchable as the acting was horrific, whereas the first one had some fun moments. But the movies grossed $710m, $836m and $1124m worldwide.

Do you think stars matter or publicity or disclosed storyline? What makes a lousy movie make so much money?

Quote: Fleastiff

Do you think stars matter or publicity or disclosed storyline? What makes a lousy movie make so much money?

First of all, it really isn't a big percentage of the population that buys movie tickets. The population of the USA is 316 million and of Canada is 35 million. Very few movies sell more than 30 million tickets in Northern America.

So a great deal of tickets are simply sold to kids. Movies are a cheap air conditioned place to go compared to going to any live performance. Many kids aren't allowed or can afford to go to live music. Many kids just want to get out of the house.

Passion of the Christ sold almost 60 million tickets. When major studios were presented with the project, they all passed because they thought it would be novelty film that would sell a few million tickets at maximum. Mel Gibson financed the project, and marketed it through conservative Protestant groups, many of whom don't go to movies in principal. He found this huge audience that never goes to movies, and they went with religious fervor. Catholics didn't go as much, because they were used to seeing images of the suffering on the Stations of the Cross. It isn't as big a part of Protestanism, so they all went to experience the emotion.

So most of the top movies today sell most of their tickets to kids. On the list below, I saw Man of Steel and Star Trek simply because of nostalgia for old stories. I found both movies a little lacking.

48.7 Iron Man 3
39.7 Despicable Me 2
34.4 Man of Steel
31.0 Monsters University
29.3 Oz The Great and Powerful
28.4 Fast & Furious 6
27.0 Star Trek Into Darkness
23.5 World War Z
22.7 The Croods
18.1 The Heat
17.3 The Great Gatsby (2013)
16.9 Identity Thief
14.7 G.I. Joe: Retaliation
14.3 Grown Ups 2
13.8 Now You See Me
13.6 The Conjuring
13.4 The Hangover Part III
12.7 Epic
12.4 The Wolverine
12.1 Olympus Has Fallen
11.5 This is the End
11.4 Pacific Rim
11.3 42
10.6 Oblivion
10.4 The Lone Ranger

>So a great deal of tickets are simply sold to kids. ... Many kids just want to get out of the house.
Heck, its probably the parents who want to dump the kids at the mall so its Movie as Baby Sitter or Unchaperoned Date.

>Passion of the Christ sold almost 60 million tickets. It isn't as big a part of Protestanism, so they all went to experience the emotion.
Heck, no one went to experience emotion, it became an issue of religious types wanting to suppress the movie because it depicted Christ as having sex and everyone went to stand up to the bigots and see if there were any really sexy scenes. My date that night got interviewed on TV for that lousy movie.

>So most of the top movies today sell most of their tickets to kids.
The Keystone Kops was shown mostly to kids... adult movie viewers came later.
Saturday morning movies were profitable. Adults could have time alone!

Compare two movies this year, Star Trek and World War Z, both with $190m production budget. The Star Trek movie had an ensemble cast of 8 highly regarded young actors. World War Z had Bad Pitt, and a collection of relatively unknown actors.

The "Star Trek:Into the Darkness" movie had much better reviews, and did slightly better financially in the USA. But in the foreign markets, the Brad Pitt star power pushed the film into revenues about 30% higher than Star Trek.

Star Trek Into Darkness
210 good reviews, 32 bad reviews
Chris Pine; Zachary Quinto; Zoe Saldana; Karl Urban; Simon Pegg; John Cho; Benedict Cumberbatch; Anton Yelchin
Visually spectacular and suitably action packed, Star Trek Into Darkness is a rock-solid installment in the venerable sci-fi franchise, even if it's not as fresh as its predecessor.
Domestic: $226.5m
+ Foreign: $225.3m
= Worldwide: $451.8m
Production Budget: $190 million

No actor in this production probably made over $2 million.

World War Z
159 good reviews, 78 bad reviews
Brad Pitt; Mireille Enos; Daniella Kertesz; James Badge Dale; Ludi Boeken; Matthew Fox
It's uneven and diverges from the source book, but World War Z still brings smart, fast-moving thrills and a solid performance from Brad Pitt to the zombie
Domestic: $196.8m
+ Foreign: $292.5m
= Worldwide: $489.3m
Production Budget: $190 million

Brad Pitt made at least $14m in salary, and may have received much more in profit sharing.

The 2013 Star Trek movie was expected to do as well or better than the original movie from four years ago. It did slightly worse domestically, and better in foreign markets. The additional $66m in worldwide revenue does not make up for the additional $40m production budget. While certainly not a disappointment, the expectations were high.

Star Trek (2009)
282 good reviews, 16 bad reviews
Chris Pine; Zachary Quinto; Zoe Saldana; Karl Urban; Simon Pegg; John Cho; Benedict Cumberbatch; Anton Yelchin
Star Trek reignites a classic franchise with action, humor, a strong story, and brilliant visuals, and will please traditional Trekkies and new fans alike.
Domestic: $257.7m
+ Foreign: $127.9m
= Worldwide: $385.7m
Production Budget: $150 million

The Star Trek movie had an ensemble cast of 8 well-worn characters from past Star War movies. World War Z had Bad Pitt, and a collection of relatively unknown actors.

It's unanimous: New Shyamalan film is a stinker

Some pretty negative publicity about the World War Z movie. That said, the movie made a lot of money. It was ranked #8 worldwide so far this year, and they may make a sequel. Surprisingly it had the same worldwide take as Oz, which was proclaimed a hit. Oz even had a higher production budget by $25 million.

Disney's 'Oz' Is A Hit.-Forbes

So it would seem that critical reviews are almost irrelevant today. Out of the top 100 movies this year according to Rotten Tomatoes, hardly any were popular.

Rank meter Title No. of Reviews
1. 100% Sound City (2013) 34
2. 100% You Will Be My Son (2013) 21
3. 99% 20 Feet From Stardom (2013) 70
4. 98% Before Midnight (2013) 160
5. 98% Mud (2013) 156
6. 98% The Act Of Killing (2013) 88
7. 98% Blackfish (2013) 82
8. 97% A Hijacking (2013) 75
9. 97% Call Me Kuchu (2013) 32
10. 96% War Witch (2013) 49
11. 96% A Band Called Death (2013) 45
12. 96% Drug War (2013) 26
13. 95% Stories We Tell (2013) 98
14. 95% The Hunt (2013) 93
15. 95% We Steal Secrets: The Story Of Wikileaks (2013) 73
16. 95% Museum Hours (2013) 22
17. 95% The History Of Future Folk (2013) 22
18. 95% One Life (2013) 20
19. 94% Fruitvale Station (2013) 134
20. 94% Behind the Candelabra (2013) 85
21. 93% Room 237 (2013) 120
22. 93% No (2013) 110
23. 93% The Gatekeepers (2013) 98
24. 93% It's a Wonderful Life (2013) 60
25. 93% Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me (2013) 30
26. 93% What Richard Did (2013) 30
27. 92% Frances Ha (2013) 130
28. 92% Gimme The Loot (2013) 59
29. 92% The World's End (2013) 53
30. 92% Still Mine (2013) 49
31. 92% Our Children (2013) 38
32. 92% Deceptive Practice: The Mysteries and Mentors of Ricky Jay (2013) 37
33. 91% Caesar Must Die (2013) 45
34. 91% My Brother The Devil (2013) 45
35. 91% Inside Llewyn Davis (2013) 23
36. 90% Blue Jasmine (2013) 115
37. 90% Beyond The Hills (2013) 84
38. 90% The Spectacular Now (2013) 72
39. 90% The Attack (2013) 42
40. 89% Upstream Color (2013) 93
41. 89% In the House (2013) 75
42. 89% A Place at the Table (2013) 56
43. 89% Koch (2013) 37
44. 89% Hannah Arendt (2013) 35
45. 89% Hava Nagila: The Movie (2013) 28
46. 89% In the Fog (2013) 28
47. 89% Oasis (2013) 28
48. 89% Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa (2013) 27
49. 88% The Angels' Share (2013) 86
50. 88% What Maisie Knew (2013) 75
51. 88% Yossi (2013) 41
52. 88% 100 Bloody Acres (2013) 26
53. 88% A Field in England` (2013) 25
54. 88% Terms And Conditions May Apply (2013) 25
55. 87% Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) 242
56. 87% Happy People: A Year in the Taiga (2013) 45
57. 87% The Silence (2013) 31
58. 86% The Conjuring (2013) 157
59. 86% In a World... (2013) 28
60. 86% Évocateur: The Morton Downey Jr. Movie (2013) 22
61. 85% Computer Chess (2013) 40
62. 85% Graceland (2013) 26
63. 85% Electrick Children (2013) 20
64. 84% This Is the End (2013) 196
65. 84% Side Effects (2013) 187
66. 84% The Way, Way Back (2013) 136
67. 84% Sightseers (2013) 93
68. 84% From Up On Poppy Hill (2013) 75
69. 83% Much Ado About Nothing (2013) 145
70. 83% Kon Tiki (2013) 54
71. 83% Fill the Void (2013) 47
72. 82% Monster (2013) 183
73. 82% Berberian Sound Studio (2013) 84
74. 82% Shadow Dancer (2013) 82
75. 82% Something in the Air (2013) 61
76. 82% Crystal Fairy (2013) 55
77. 82% Dirty Wars (2013) 49
78. 82% Laurence Anyways (2013) 49
79. 82% Eden (2013) 33
80. 81% Warm Bodies (2013) 176
81. 81% Like Someone in Love (2013) 85
82. 81% Pieta (2013) 36
83. 81% You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet! (2013) 26
84. 81% André Gregory: Before and After Dinner (2013) 21
85. 80% Quartet (2013) 122
86. 80% Prince Avalanche (2013) 50
87. 80% Everyday (2013) 20
88. 79% Ginger & Rosa (2013) 100
89. 79% Reality (2013) 67
90. 79% Europa Report (2013) 57
91. 78% Iron Man 3 (2013) 270
92. 78% Monsters University (2013) 175
93. 77% 42 (2013) 146
94. 77% It's a Disaster (2013) 39
95. 77% Hors Satan (2013) 35
96. 77% No Place On Earth (2013) 35
97. 77% Leviathan (2013) 31
98. 77% Pussy Riot- - A Punk Prayer (2013) 26
99. 77% Populaire (2013) 22
100. 77% StreetDance 3D (2013) 22

This 6.5 minute short was made by a 22 year old student (Lechowski) old from Berlin's Mediadesign Hochschule.

Scott Glassgold, of the managing company IAM Sports & Entertainment, was impressed. "His work is not only professional, it's extraordinary," Glassgold wrote Mashable in an email. "There are shots in there that look like they are from a 150-million-dollar movie."

Lechowski says he actually prefers to improvise directly with the program he uses rather than do too many drawings with pen and paper. Apart from having an actor doing the voices, and receiving help with the sound, he did it all by himself.

The German student will go to Hollywood in a few weeks to meet with executives and see if he can get the financing he needs to turn this into a movie. Lechowski and Glassgold declined to give more details about who they'll meet but Glassgold said they "are already fielding offers and interest for a feature."


The point is that with the $225 million dollars budgeted for Men in Black 3, they could probably make 10 movies from talented newcomers. It might just pay off better in the end.

Might.