Question for U.S and Brit box office geeks

[Jethro]

Just wondering if anyone follows horror at the box office and have a general question.

In Oz

20 million = blockbuster

10 million = breakout hit

2.5 million = pass mark for a horror flick

U.S

200 million = blockbuster

100 million = breakout hit

???? = pass mark for a horror flick, 50 million?

Britain

???? = blockbuster

???? = breakout hit

???? = pass mark for a horror flick.

And before anyone asks yeap am an avid box office result watcher and compiler, Australian box office, the better the results the more chance of future movies being released

 

[Tom]

Something you might want to consider.
Straight to DVD
Some very popular cult films go straight to DVD
Tracking only Box Office is like eating the blueberry pie that only has 6 blueberries in it.

 

[Jethro]

Tom the problem with disc sales is the data is universally hard to come by, a lot of claims without the actual sales data. Talking to one of our Distributors Downunder they claim you can't read too much into first week, first month figures etc because some titles may take a year or more to get a roll on, hence importance of review sites to bring titles to fans attention.

There are other markets, for example television, cable, VOD etc that also provide revenue streams.

To a certain extent disc sales give a false reading as certain genres do very well on that medium as collectors wade in. Most horror fans I know for example have huge collections but go to cinema at best once or twice a year.

The box office remains the first port of call for judging how well a movie is being accepted however, as it strips internet hype by producing actual quantified figures.

 

[Kevin]

Wouldn't it be a bit more complex than just BO receipts because it doesn't take into account how much it took to make the movie? In the US a $100MM movie might sound impressive but not if it took $125MM to make it.

 

[Jethro]

Kevin that's a whole new kettle of fish and something of a black art to calculate.

For example accepted wisdom is for a movie to move into profit in North America it needs to make twice the production cost. So in your example to break even the movie would need to make $250 million just to make the investment back; this takes into account marketing etc.

In the modern age the International markets are becoming more important as film cost via Hollywood production houses are going through the roof. Another example, the average cost of a horror flick out of the Studios is $30 million! So even a horror movie needs $60 million to break even.

If basing profit on the International take the current theory is the movie needs to make 3 times the cost due to differing contracts in Europe, Asia, etc.

As mentioned above there are of course other revenue streams available including product placement etc.