How much $ does a movie have to make in rentals to be a hit?

[swiper]

50% of b.o. gross? 25%? 75%?

When industry say a movie was a hit in home rental, what is the basis? Someone explain.

[Jon Lyrik]

I'd say when it makes over $15mil in video sales.

[The Delfonics]

Not sure, Id say sequels are mostly based on how it does in theaters.

[Dignan]

Originally posted by The Delfonics
Not sure, Id say sequels are mostly based on how it does in theaters.

Not exactly, the reason Blade ad a sequel was because of its enormous rental/ dvd sales.

Or so it says in an issue of Wizard I have somewhere....

[Jim H]

Blade made around $100,000,000 in theatres worldwide. It did good enough for a sequel solely on that, but great DVD sales/rentals certainly helped.

[Dude]

Dont know what the number is..but when a flick reaches around $7 million in home video sales in its first month, they buzz about it on E.T and Extra.

[mrdeeds]

Though it doesn't really answer the question, here is a interesting link as to movie revenue streams:

http://www.factbook.net/wbglobal_rev.htm

[James Logan]

Originally posted by The Delfonics
Not sure, Id say sequels are mostly based on how it does in theaters.

Not really. AUSTIN POWERS wasn't supposed to have a sequel, but it did great on rental and sales on DVD and VHS, so the producers decided to get an AUSTIN POWERS 2 going. That one had great success in theaters, which spawned AUSTIN POWERS IN GOLDMEMBER, and perhaps even an upcoming AUSTIN POWERS 4.

[Jim H]

Well, Austin Powers made about 54 million with a budget of 17. I'd say it had enough for a sequel, the excellent rental sales probably just helped the sequel get a bigger budget and get greenlit faster.

[BorderEevilIII]

OK Question and I also took a look at the interesting link by mrdeeds:D

But I have these questions:

-I know when A movie fails to exceed its budget is considered a box office "bomb" is it when during its initial run the studio knows its NOT gonna make it or when the movie drops out of theatres? And what about "breaking even". Entertainment Weekly periodcally list movies in different cagtegories from Box Office Hits to Bombs and I always seen one section for "break even" And the gross abroad from a movie is that included? I know there was a question posed on this but couldnt find it. :(

[Haddonfield]

According to IMDB....Austin Powers was made for 17mil and has done 24 mil in rentals alone.

not sure how accurate that is but after searching a few movies, rentals do a HUGE business. Now I truly understand why so many horroh movies get made...they do pretty good when its all said and done.