The Race to Win the Box Office

What really makes a movie a box office hit? Some may say the storyline; others may say, the actors but my answer is totally about the numbers. Such as how much money did it make the opening weekend? What was the estimated production cost of the movie? What are the chances of the movie being a sequel? The primary sites I check for these numbers are Box Office Mojo, IMDB, and Reuters.

One of my mentors shared some insights that intrigued me. For instance, a studio produces a movie for $20 million. Opening weekend the sites report the movie made $43.3 million.  Have you ever wondered how all those movie tickets are calculated in a weekend? They’re not! They are estimated figures; the official numbers don’t come out until Monday. Bet you didn’t know that! I want to review two movies from this opening weekend Iron Man 3 starring Robert Downey, Jr. and Tyler Perry’s Peeples starring Kerry Washington.

As everyone may know this is part three of Iron Man which; had a production budget of $200 million but has grossed a whopping $949 million worldwide. By the way, Iron Man 3 is now ranked the second-biggest movie opening of all time. Peeples, on the other hand, production budget was estimated to be $15 million but only grossed $4.9 million, domestically. The chances of Iron Man being a part four is very high, however, I don’t expect a part two for Peeples.

From a producer’s perspective, the goals are to exceed the production budget. If you’re thinking that money from the box office is going into the director, producers, or actors’ pockets- you’re wrong. About half of the money goes to the various theatre chains and other portions go back to the studio to recoup the money spent in production. Also the studio may use the box office money for marketing commercials, billboards, and radio stations.