Every now and then we get a reminder: film math is not the same as normal math. Take, for example, “John Carter”, formerly “John Carter of Mars” and the first (and quite possibly last at the rate Disney is mishandling the promotion) live action film from Andrew Stanton. You might remember him from Pixar.
Yeah, apparently for “John Carter” to get a sequel, it’s going to have to make $700 million, worldwide.
Here’s the first thing; as outrageous as this sounds, it’s not THAT outrageous. Yeah, only 45 movies have ever made $700 million worldwide…but 38 of those came out in the last ten years. It’s not some insane unreachable figure, although I’ve got to question why Disney is expecting summer-movie grosses out of a movie they’re releasing in, let’s see here, March.
I can’t find a budget, but it seems kind of odd that Disney is demanding this much out of a movie that probably costs about $200 million. Yeah, it’s doubtful it’ll make $400 million in the US alone, but it’s also really unlikely they’re not breaking even.
Secondly, it reflects what a mess Disney is behind the scenes that A) nobody told Stanton to not tell the New Yorker that figure and B) that Disney honestly expects every single big movie they’re turning out to turn a huge profit in theaters, since 99% of most movies never do that. I understand DVD and home video revenues are plateauing, guys, but be realistic.
[ via the pulp heroes at Blastr ]