How would a film qualify for bomb status?

[Gaborikroenick]

I am just curious I read a story on a couple of movies, where a guy has no clue what he is talking about.. was saying a couple of movies bombed. I thought if a movie made enough for profit it was considered a good movie from a "studio stand point"? I mean Wedding Crashers would be a smash hit correct? Not expected to make as much as it did, correct? Just curious

[ChemicalRomance]

Wedding Crashers definitly. 40 million to make and it made 220 million? Big time smash!

I always see a bomb as not making half of the budget back at theaters. In terms of THE ISLAND, you think of a 100 million dollar budget and only 20 million in grosses...you have a tremendous bomb.

[Tuukka]

Bomb is a film which fails to reach the breaking point - the profit point - in a big way.

There are LOT'S of factors which define how much money a studio makes out of a movie. And for a large part, we have no way of checking these revenues.

But there is a fairly standard method of tracking a film's success, used by B.O enthusiasts. It's in no way 100% accurate, but it's the best method we have.It goes like this:

Use www.boxofficemojo.com to get information on budget, B.O, etc.

1. Count the production budget and marketing budget together. This is the money studio has spent.

2. Check the worldwide gross.

3. The studio get's roughly 50% of the worldwide gross.

4. DVD sales and rentals make roughly as much as theatrical release. The studio get's about 50% of these as well.

So let's say that a film costs 100 million to make. It spends 50 million to marketing. So the overall sum is 150 million.

Then the film makes 100 million on american release. It makes another 100 million overseas. The worldwide gross is 200 million.

It makes another 200 million on DVD. The overall gross grows to 400 million.

The studio gets 50% of the overall gross. That's 200 million.

So they end up making 50 million of profit.

...That's about as accurate prediction that you can make. Then there are merchandising rights, TV-distribution... But the studio might also get less than 50% of the overall money. For example a star actor might get 10% of the overall gross, overseas percentage might be smaller, The studio might have sold overseas rights to another company and gets only a certain amount of money, regardless of the overseas gross... There are a lot of variables here.

But the method I explained is about as accurate tool as we have.

[Tuukka]

Originally posted by ChemicalRomance
I always see a bomb as not making half of the budget back at theaters. In terms of THE ISLAND, you think of a 100 million dollar budget and only 20 million in grosses...you have a tremendous bomb.

Using my method, a small analysis of The Island:

The film had a production budget of 126 million. Marketing numbers are not available, but for a film of this size they were probably around 34 million. The marketing was big, but not massive.

That's 160 million.

The film has made 160 million worldwide.

The worldwide DVD distribution should bring in another 160 million - At least.

So the film will stand at 320 million at the end of it's run. 50% of that is 160 million - Reaching the profit margin.

So in the end The Island will likely make some profit. We can't know it for sure, but it's a close call. So calling Island a "bomb" is not that accurate, really. It bombed in USA, but performed quite well worldwide.

[bigred760]

Yeah, but most movies do well worldwide. Hell, Waterworld is considered one of the biggest box office bombs ever, but it still made its money back in overseas markets. I think most movie analysts and critics consider a movie a bomb if it doesn't make the dough at the U.S. box office.