By Aidan O’Connor | Radio Broadcaster
The biggest problem with movies flopping today is not viewership or critical reception; it’s something more controllable and preventable: the money. Budgets have ballooned to the point where it’s tougher than ever to make a profit.
Take a look at Marvel’s “Thunderbolts*,” for instance, it has done extremely well critically, earning an 88% on Rotten Tomatoes, and has made $382 million at the box office. The problem with the film arises from the $180 million budget. It’s tough to determine the point where a movie would break even and recover all of its production costs and lengthy reshoots in the case of “Thunderbolts*,” but the standard rule in Hollywood is to multiply the production budget by approximately 2 1/2 to get the break-even point.
With that in mind, “Thunderbolts*” would need $425 million to break even, which it failed to reach, losing $43 million for Marvel and thus becoming a flop.
On the other end of the spectrum is a movie like “Sinners,” which grossed around the same amount as “Thunderbolts*”, earning $365 million globally. Working on a lower budget of $90 million, the break-even point for Ryan Coogler’s vampire film was a more manageable $225 million, leading to a hit. The budget made all the difference as Coogler’s work became the opposite story of Marvel’s summer blockbuster, earning $140 million for Warner Bros.
“Sinners” was able to avoid the pitfalls of many modern movies and keep its budget in check in several ways. The most important being the minimizing of reshoots, clear direction and consistent script throughout filming.
Reshoots after the movie has concluded its filming schedule can add millions of dollars onto a budget that is already extremely high. They typically occur after the initial production has concluded, which forces the studio to rebuild new sets, pay actors and crew again and undergo another round of post-production for the scenes the studio wants to redo. On the lower end, they could cost at or below $10 million, but they could also exceed $25 million, as seen in 2017’s “Justice League.”
“Justice League” is a classic example of unclear direction. Zack Snyder was originally set to direct, but because of a family tragedy, he stepped away. In his absence, Warner Bros. brought in Joss Whedon to completely overhaul the film’s tone and make extensive changes to the script. The reshoots and modifications to the script ultimately expanded the budget to an even greater extent, making it unlikely that the film would be profitable and resulting in a $89 million loss at the box office.
This year, Warner Bros. made history with six consecutive movies opening to $40 million or more at the domestic box office. It’s the first time in Hollywood’s history that a studio achieved this milestone. People continue to go to the movies.
Audience members are no longer the ones controlling whether a movie is a success; it’s those within the industry who refuse to learn from the failings of films like the “Justice League” and “Thunderbolts*.” For studios and Hollywood to survive, they must shift towards making movies like “Sinners” that have a manageable budget and go into filming with a clear vision and a consistent script. Because one day the money will run out, and these costly budgets will come back to haunt Hollywood forever.
