Whatever it makes in domestic sales and triple it. That will probably give you an accurate impression of the total sales domestic, overseas, and on DVD, but not counting merchandising or TV/cable rights.
X2's was around Domestic: $214,949,694 52.7% + Foreign: $192,607,919 47.3% = Worldwide: $407,557,613 Lets hope they can pull it off.
Well over on REUTERS they are saying the fil cost $165 million to make (which makes more sense) and that it's first weekend domestic total was $107 million. Assuming the cost is true, it's well on its way to being profitable.
I saw it, thought it wasn't as good as the previous two (and I'm a MASSIVE X-ophile) but I am very happy to see it is doing so well at the box office For that means it's making me lots of moolah at the HSX....I just wish it was for real, for I'd be a millionaire! Oh, and don't even ask what I'm making off the Transformers movie, for that thing is just skyrocketing....
It’s not just the budget of the movie that they have to take into account but all the advertising and other promotional costs too.
And that -can- often cost as much as the film (though that's usually films with average budgets - in this case, 60 mil in world wide promotion wouldn't suprise me).
As far as making a profit goes, IIRC the rule of thumb is that a movie has to take back about triple its budget to go into the black. Keep in mind that all the studios get first are the rentals. The rule on that used to be that rentals = about 1/3rd of the theatrical gross, although I'm not sure if that still holds true. Ancillary markets--cable TV, DVD (and now HD formats), merchandising, marketing tie-ins, etc.--are where the real money comes from these days. If a movie becomes popular enough to develop a long-lasting following, like the Star Wars movies, that money never really stops rolling in, and eventually dwarfs whatever it made at the box office.
