China Box Office Thread | Deadpool & Wolverine- July 26

[druv10]

1998 is pretty old. I seem to remember a poster on BOM who actually works in the industry that reported the 90+% number just a few years ago.

We have our own industry insider and he can tell us about this. Paging Rth.

[vc2002]

Theaters do not get 50%. Not even close. For big films like TDKR, the studio gets 90-95% of the first 2 weeks. TDKR made $318m in 2 weeks, which means WB already had around $300m at that point. Percentages favor the theaters over time. Theaters loved the leggy runs of Titanic and Avatar.

I never believed this 90% thing. I mean, are theater owners stupid or something? Everyone knew the first 2 weeks were where most of the money came from, yet they agreed on some shit deal like they took only 10% or ever 5%?

[A Marvel Fanboy]

90% was true 20 years ago when films were not that frontloading.

[vc2002]

That's understandable. Today theaters would have to be out of their mind to agree on that kind of deal.

[DeeCee]

Rth will clarify but I think I recall what the 90% thing comes from. The theatre gets a fixed amount, say $10,000, then anything above that number 80-90% goes to the studio for the first 2 weeks. After that the percentage drops. It may no longer be that high or is only that high for certain films. The end result is a roughly 50% split of the total gross after the full run of a film. He's posted the explanation a few times.

[A Marvel Fanboy]

There is a poll about TDKR/TASM facing off on Mtime.comhttp://topic.mtime.com/180.html

[A Marvel Fanboy]

Release date:

Looper, September 28, same date with DOM. (To be noted: Looper is a FilmDistrict co-production with DMG)

http://news.mtime.co...07/1494463.html

Also, Guy Peace's LOCKOUT is releasing today (8.7).

The Lincoln Lawyer, 8.15

Edited August 7, 2012 by firedeep

[Michael Seng Wah]

There is a poll about TDKR/TASM facing off on Mtime.comhttp://topic.mtime.com/180.html

Seems that the hype for TDKR is much higher as from the poll and the comments.

[vc2002]

Seems that the hype for TDKR is much higher as from the poll and the comments.

TDKR is definitely winning the poll. On the internet TDK was one of the most talked about and beloved films in CHina. Edited August 7, 2012 by vc2002

[fmpro]

Still TASM has 3D and the kids factor... 3D is a huge factor in ChinaMy money is that TASM will gross more overall than TDKR

[vc2002]

Still TASM has 3D and the kids factor... 3D is a huge factor in ChinaMy money is that TASM will gross more overall than TDKR

Come on, you know it can't do over 50m.

[fmpro]

Come on, you know it can't do over 50m.

:rotfl:You´re sooooo lucky that TASM will be released along TDKR..Now you actully have a chance of winning the bet

[A Marvel Fanboy]

VC still has no chance to win.

[dezorz]

Again, it is not up to Sony or WB at all. They can decide nothing but to export movies to China or not. The Sarft gives them (Hollywood studios) a date and the studios take it or no releases at all.

people who have never experienced comunistic regime (i llive in slovakia, 25 years ago it was about the same as it is now in china) will never understand power of ONE.this is why cameron makes next avatars in chinese coproduction. he gives up volunatarilly some worldwide box office share for safer (as a chinese coproduction it is much safer avatar will be released in china as if it was non chinese film) and bigger share of chinese box office. (when avatar 3 will go to cinemas, chinese boxoffice might be about same as US one) so this way he will make more money. he always knew where the money was.

[dezorz]

1998 is pretty old. I seem to remember a poster on BOM who actually works in the industry that reported the 90+% number just a few years ago.

a bit out dated, i know. but there is not much real data about how theaters make money. anyway, it think it is pretty safe to assume that if in 1998 theaters made about 40 percent of their income from selling tickets that situation has not got any better now. 1998, almost no dvds, no internet piracy,vhs window over a half of a year, movies kept playing for longer and with better legs than now.

here is another thought:

http://io9.com/57473...o-be-profitable

Is it true that studios get a bigger cut of the revenue from the opening weekend?

You might have noticed that studios are pushing a lot harder lately to make a film as big a hit as possible in its opening weekend. And films tend to open on more screens right away — a typical big film will open on 4,000 screens, instead of the hundreds of screens it would have opened on in the 1980s.

And it used to be true across the board that the opening weekend was when the biggest percentage of profits went to the studios. In the past, studios "strong-armed exhibitors into these front-loaded deals, wherein the overwhelming majority of the opening weekend take goes to the studio," says David Mumpower with Box Office Prophets. "As much as 90% of that revenue is theirs." The theaters only make money by selling "overpriced snacks" to audiences during that first week — but in the following weeks, the theater's cut goes up. Eventually, by the fourth week, the studio's cut has fallen to around 52 percent in most cases.

But after a bunch of theater chains declared bankruptcy in the early 2000s, these frontloaded deals started to fall out of fashion, says Doug Stone with BoxOfficeAnalyst.com.

Nowadays, with many of the bigger Hollywood blockbusters, the theater chains just get a standard cut of the whole revenue, regardless of which weekend it comes in.

The percentage of revenues that the exhibitor takes in depends on the individual contract for that film — which in turn depends on how much muscle the distributor has, according to Stone.

These deals often protect the theaters from movies that bomb at the box office by giving the theaters a bigger cut of those films. So if a film only makes $10 million at the box office, the distributor will get only 45 percent of that money. But if a film makes $300 million at the box office, then the distributor gets up to 60 percent of that money.

You can actually look at the securities filings for the big theater chains, to look at how much of their ticket revenues go back to the studios, points out Stone. So for example, the latest quarterly filing by Cinemark Holdings, shows that 54.5 percent of its ticket revenues went to the distributors. So as a ballpark figure, studios generally take in around 50-55 percent of U.S. box office money.

Is it better if a movie makes more of its revenue in the U.S.?

According to the book The Hollywood Economist by Edward Jay Epstein, studios take in about 40 percent of the revenue from overseas release — and after expenses, they're lucky if they take in 15 percent of that number.

Domestic revenue just counts for a lot more than overseas revenue, says David Mumpower with Box Office Prophets:

The reason for this is simple. Collecting revenues abroad is a trickier proposition since the dollar fluctuates against foreign currencies. There are also tariffs from these governments in place in order to keep as much money as possible from leaving their countries and going abroad, which is an understandable practice. While the global conglomerates such as Fox, Disney and Time-Warner that run major Hollywood studios can secure sweetheart deals with various local governments, it doesn't happen for each film. As such, international box office revenue is much less reliable than in North America.

some information can be found in thread Interesting facts about boxoffice receipts and other revenue sources

http://forums.boxoffice.com/index.php?/topic/3278-interesting-facts-about-boxoffice-receipts-and-other-revenue-sources/

Edited August 7, 2012 by dezorz

[dezorz]

i know, this is chinese boffo thread, but since we started and would love to finish. some excerpts about p&a: Larry Gerbrandt´s 2010 article from hwr (behind firewall, there is a copy though, on reuters)It might be the ultimate example of that old adage, "You never get a second chance to make a first impression." With movies, it is an impression that lasts a lifetime.http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/06/11/us-industry-idUSTRE65A13Q20100611little wonder that the average P&A (prints and advertising) spend for major releases last year topped $37 million, according to Baseline Intelligence, the highest number since 2003, when the six largest studios spent an estimated average of $39.5 million on P&A in North America.For the past seven years, domestic P&A has accounted for 34 percent-37 percent of combined production and domestic-releasing costs for movies released by the six big studios. In fact, after taking a big jump in 2003, the combined negative plus domestic P&A has hovered around the $100 million-a-film mark, with last year hitting $102.3 million, up from $87.9 million in 2008, according to Baseline Intelligence.Through the years, there have been periodic attempts to control escalating P&A spending, which can soar to the $85 million range on big "tentpole" releases involving 4,000 screens. This includes finger-pointing at ego-driven demands by actors and directors to blanket major-city skylines with giant billboards and lavish creative campaigns.But Nielsen Ad*Views data suggest that the overwhelming portion of the spend is on television advertising. Last year, Nielsen estimates that of the $26.5 million in media spent on the opening weekend of a 2,000- to 5,000-screen release, 80 percent went to network, cable and spot TV buys.

[dezorz]

Now it's 25%, still pretty low.

Still a huge ripoff.

-----

According to the book The Hollywood Economist by Edward Jay Epstein, studios take in about 40 percent of the revenue from overseas release — and after expenses, they're lucky if they take in 15 percent of that number.

----

If it is right and 15 percent is what you get from non us theaters after expenses are count, than 25 percent from china is HUGE number if we consider there is almost no p&a for US distributors.

Edited August 7, 2012 by dezorz

[A Marvel Fanboy]

Official cash out:

IA4, 153M yuan, $24.3M, with 3819163 admissions via 145062 shows. up 16% from last week; cume 283M yuan, $44.92M.

Jason Statham's B movie The Mechanic, 50M yuan, $7.94M, with 1423912 admissions via 54147 shows. 2nd biggest opening for a buyout movie ever after The Expendables. It opened to$11.4M DOM 17 months ago. Means its China opening is 70% big compared with DOM. Its OS total before China opened is only 22M with 8M from Russia, which is its current biggest OS market. China alone will make it another 20M or so. So for this movie, China almost equals its other total OS markets combined.

Abduction, 25.8M yuan, $4M, with 799240 admissions via 56860 shows; up 0% from last week; cume 50M yuan, $7.94M. Taylor Lautner Could even do $12M. 42% of its DOM gross; biggest OS market by far for it.

Lorax, 6.3M yuan, $1.0M, with 140581 admissions via 21282 shows; cume 12M yuan, $1.9M. Epic bomb

Source: Sarft via Mtime.com

Screen count (estimated):

IA4 2,600

The Mechanic 1,900

Abduction 1,200

Lorax 400

[A Marvel Fanboy]

i know, this is chinese boffo thread, but since we started and would love to finish. some excerpts about p&a: Larry Gerbrandt´s 2010 article from hwr (behind firewall, there is a copy though, on reuters)

It might be the ultimate example of that old adage, "You never get a second chance to make a first impression." With movies, it is an impression that lasts a lifetime.

http://www.reuters.c...E65A13Q20100611

little wonder that the average P&A (prints and advertising) spend for major releases last year topped $37 million, according to Baseline Intelligence, the highest number since 2003, when the six largest studios spent an estimated average of $39.5 million on P&A in North America.

For the past seven years, domestic P&A has accounted for 34 percent-37 percent of combined production and domestic-releasing costs for movies released by the six big studios. In fact, after taking a big jump in 2003, the combined negative plus domestic P&A has hovered around the $100 million-a-film mark, with last year hitting $102.3 million, up from $87.9 million in 2008, according to Baseline Intelligence.

Through the years, there have been periodic attempts to control escalating P&A spending, which can soar to the $85 million range on big "tentpole" releases involving 4,000 screens. This includes finger-pointing at ego-driven demands by actors and directors to blanket major-city skylines with giant billboards and lavish creative campaigns.

But Nielsen Ad*Views data suggest that the overwhelming portion of the spend is on television advertising. Last year, Nielsen estimates that of the $26.5 million in media spent on the opening weekend of a 2,000- to 5,000-screen release, 80 percent went to network, cable and spot TV buys.

Dear lord, they spend 26M on opening week alone for a middle medium-sized release ...

[vc2002]

people who have never experienced comunistic regime (i llive in slovakia, 25 years ago it was about the same as it is now in china) will never understand power of ONE.

this is why cameron makes next avatars in chinese coproduction. he gives up volunatarilly some worldwide box office share for safer (as a chinese coproduction it is much safer avatar will be released in china as if it was non chinese film) and bigger share of chinese box office. (when avatar 3 will go to cinemas, chinese boxoffice might be about same as US one) so this way he will make more money. he always knew where the money was.

There wont be any Chinese coproduction in Avatar sequels. Cameron will make them the way he made the first one. The reason Cameron said they were "discussing the possibilty of co-operating with Chinese" is because he was attending a Chinese film festival at that time and was asked by some Chinese media if he had any desire to work with Chinese film companies. That was just a polite answer he gave.

And why would he have to give up some WW BO share if he wants to have Chinese involved?