But you're talking about a profit in the first week. Three months from now the Hulk will have a healthy profit margin.

Etchy333: UNC_Samurai: But you're talking about a profit in the first week. Three months from now the Hulk will have a healthy profit margin.

The numbers of the first weekend are the biggest, movies rarely make bigger revenues its third, fourth, fifth week out.

If they can continue the $50 million weekend for three weeks in a row, yeah, sure, it'll make up for it, but that's not likely.

Case in point, Iron Man made $5 million this weekend. They've already surpassed their budget, of course, but it's only 7 weeks old. The shelf-life of comic book movies is fairly short.

You don't really "get" dvds, do you?

aren't these figures for US only? Worldwide sales plus DVD sales will probably net the movie a profit.

Those are only U.S. box office numbers. Hulk will easily clear $300+ million worldwide.

I watched the new Hulk movie at home with some friends on thursday night, so I'm really getting a kick out of these replies.

Hulk will easily clear $300+ million worldwide. ...but Marvel's and Universal's books will still show it losing money.

Etchy333: The Hulk movie still hasn't broken even with its own budget. It cost $150 million to make, and is only getting $54 million this weekend.

None of the top 4 have, the last movie to make a profit has been "Sex and the City."

/bad times for movies

Umm. Damn. I don't really know what to say to this.

Phil Moskowitz: You don't really "get" dvds, do you?

Exactly. If it even breaks even at theaters, it'll make a pile of money. DVD is where it's at (and that's not even counting the shiatload of copies they'll sell to rental places like Blockbuster and Netflix).

Etchy333: The Hulk movie still hasn't broken even with its own budget. It cost $150 million to make, and is only getting $54 million this weekend.

None of the top 4 have, the last movie to make a profit has been "Sex and the City."

/bad times for movies


It's not a bad time for movies at all. Box office has been strong since the beginning of spring (Speed Racer notwithstanding) and the rest of the summer looks good to continue the trend.

Etchy333: The Hulk movie still hasn't broken even with its own budget. It cost $150 million to make, and is only getting $54 million this weekend.

None of the top 4 have, the last movie to make a profit has been "Sex and the City."

/bad times for movies

In the first place, DVD revenues now surpass domestic box office in almost every case. Also, foreign Box Office is rapidly catching up with domestic BO revenue, particularly with movies like "The Hulk".

You want to really gauge a movies success? Leave it up to the experts. Every new release has what is called a "whisper number" which is what the studio hopes it will make in the opening weekend. If it surpasses this number it will be a success. Hulk's number was around 42 million and it is grading out as an A- approval by viewers, thus surpassing expectations and promising continued revenues. The Happening whisper number was 19-20 million but it grades out at D. Better weekend than hoped for but likely to drop off quite rapidly.

It was actually a great weekend for the industry.

johnnyq: ...but Marvel's and Universal's books will still show it losing money.

Yeah. I've heard (probably wikipedia or some shiat) that they do this sketchy bookkeeping in order to screw actors who get paid based on a percentage of "profits" rather than just an upfront fee.

The Hulk has an ace up it's sleeve, in that Marvel cut a lot of footage to make the movie more action packed. Reportedly up to 70 mins. of footage was cut. So the dvd will actually be worth buying.

I just got back from Hulk, and it's pretty good. A lot was cut, which is obvious, but it was still pretty good.

From the last numbers I heard studios make about 48 percent off of theatrical and 49 percent off dvd. The left over 3 percent is from digital distribution and video on demand.

the Dvd will deffently be worth renting if not buying... so Yeah it will walk away with money for sure. Won't be an iron man or prbobly dark night but it will do better then 03

Etchy333: The Hulk movie still hasn't broken even with its own budget. It cost $150 million to make, and is only getting $54 million this weekend.

None of the top 4 have, the last movie to make a profit has been "Sex and the City."

/bad times for movies


As has been said, that's only the domestic theatrical numbers. The international release will probably double that take, and the DVD sales will boost it again. Then a director's cut DVD, plus any merchandising, toy tie-ins, and don't forget the paid product placements and "Hulk Happy Meals" and the like.

This movie is making a crapton, ffs.

Etchy333: UNC_Samurai: But you're talking about a profit in the first week. Three months from now the Hulk will have a healthy profit margin.

The numbers of the first weekend are the biggest, movies rarely make bigger revenues its third, fourth, fifth week out.

If they can continue the $50 million weekend for three weeks in a row, yeah, sure, it'll make up for it, but that's not likely.

Case in point, Iron Man made $5 million this weekend. They've already surpassed their budget, of course, but it's only 7 weeks old. The shelf-life of comic book movies is fairly short.

In 8 weeks it will have made at or over 300 million dollars. I'd say that's a pretty good run.

Saw it. Loved it. Woman like Hulk too. Buying the DVD. Hollywood make money from me.

so can shyamalan do a movie that doesn't have a "surprise twist" in it?

Discuss...

This movie reminds me of the original X-men, which I saw in theaters 3 or 4 times just to catch all the fanboy extras.

LosinMySenses

UNC_Samurai: But you're talking about a profit in the first week. Three months from now the Hulk will have a healthy profit margin.

Yeah, from Director's cut DVDs

I purposely skipping the theatrical release for the DVD, due to the studio cutting over an hour from the original cut. I'd rather see it the way the director and Norton wanted it to be.

I = I'm

/me talk pretty some day

not-a-cute-name: so can shyamalan do a movie that doesn't have a "surprise twist" in it?

Discuss...



As I understand it, The Happening doesn't have a twist, it's just Stephen King's "Cell" with tress instead of cell phones.

FriarReb98: not-a-cute-name: so can shyamalan do a movie that doesn't have a "surprise twist" in it?

Discuss...

Probably not. His head would asplode. So, anyone want to spoil the "surprise ending" for us?

Here you go. (new window)

Shyamalan sucks. The day he stops making movies I'll do a merry jig.

What a twist!!!!

not-a-cute-name: so can shyamalan do a movie that doesn't have a "surprise twist" in it?

Discuss...

SIGNS really didn't have a twist ending.

Heroic Poser: SIGNS really didn't have a twist ending.

The whole meaning of "Swing Away" was a pretty big twist.

I support this headline.

Oy vey.

The Happening, while it sucked a giant dick, did not have a twist. Find something new to rag on M. Night for -- he gives you plenty of opportunities in this last movie. It's almost unwatchable, and the plot isn't even the weakest element.

The Hulk may smash box office competition (not that that's any indicator of quality), but these types of movies usually do.

Etchy333: UNC_Samurai: But you're talking about a profit in the first week. Three months from now the Hulk will have a healthy profit margin.

The numbers of the first weekend are the biggest, movies rarely make bigger revenues its third, fourth, fifth week out.

If they can continue the $50 million weekend for three weeks in a row, yeah, sure, it'll make up for it, but that's not likely.

Case in point, Iron Man made $5 million this weekend. They've already surpassed their budget, of course, but it's only 7 weeks old. The shelf-life of comic book movies is fairly short.

You should understand that this film is basically part 2 in a 7-8 film series. Because they're all connected you'll see a boost in sales of Hulk with the release of each subsequent movie. Marvel knows exactly what they're doing and they're doing exactly what their long-time fans want. Your reasoning that comic films have a short shelf life doesn't really apply in this case.

Gilgongo!:

Plus there's the box set and the set that puts everything in crono-order,.

not-a-cute-name: so can shyamalan do a movie that doesn't have a "surprise twist" in it?

Discuss...

To my knowledge, this movie isn't really a "twist" movie. He has an interesting reasoning, of course, but it's apparent from the beginning that it's suppose to be mother nature using plants to shake us off her back like fleas.

Hell, even Roger Ebert gave away the "twist" in his review, and he is one of the most anti-spoiler reviews I've ever seen.

In essence, he didn't make a twist in this movie, and instead made a straight forward movie. Everyone out there, expecting his movies to ALWAYS have a twist, look for spoilers of said twist. They find that plants are poisoning is into suicide, and determine that this plot point that he reveals early on MUST be the twist. The uneducated masses then judge this non-twist as a bad twist, and disregard the movie without watching it.

I'm not saying the movie is good, since I'm waiting for HBO to see it, but discounting it as a lame "twist" movie when it's not a twist movie seems pretty silly.

Tyrone Slothrop:
I purposely skipping the theatrical release for the DVD, due to the studio cutting over an hour from the original cut. I'd rather see it the way the director and Norton wanted it to be.

Then you've got no reason to skip it.

In several interviews, Leterrier said THIS is the film he wanted. Yes, they filmed more than an hour more of footage, but the released version IS Leterrier's final version. It may not be the version that Norton wanted, but it is the director's final cut.

While the additional hour will be available on Blu-Ray, it will not be re-edited into the film for some sort of 'Director's Cut'. Leterrier has said he doesn't believe in doing that -- instead, it will be included as 'additional material'. You will get to see it, but not as part of the movie.

Check out this interview and see for yourself. Talk about the 'cuts' starts about 3:50 into the interview and continues for the duration.

(SPOILERS)

I really wish they didn't cut the Captain America shout-out, especially since Marvel used the Ultimate universe's origin of the Super-Soldier experiment, rather than the main universe's increasingly unlikely origin of the "gamma bomb." Hell, before he became the full Abomination, Blonsky's moves and abilities gave us a bit of a preview of what Captain America might look on the silver screen.

I really like that they rushed through the origins in the credits to get straight to the essence of the Hulk, and that they set up the Leader for the next movie.

Happathetic: The Happening, while it sucked a giant dick, did not have a twist. Find something new to rag on M. Night for -- he gives you plenty of opportunities in this last movie. It's almost unwatchable, and the plot isn't even the weakest element.

Yep, saw it. No "twist" just a "WTF?" story with crappy acting. I went wanting to like the movie but aside from a couple bits of dialog I can't think of anything to like.

Etchy333: The Hulk movie still hasn't broken even with its own budget. It cost $150 million to make, and is only getting $54 million this weekend.

None of the top 4 have, the last movie to make a profit has been "Sex and the City."

/bad times for movies

Dude.

Variety^ is reporting that the Hulk made an additional $31 million in only 38 foreign territories this weekend, so put that in the kitty. It will definitely be in the profit column.

The Happening made it's budget back worldwide this weekend, so look for more disappointing M. Night movies in the future.

Hell, The Strangers made $45 million on a measly $9 million budget and it hasn't even opened worldwide yet. It may clear $100 million profit for the studio.

Kung fu Panda has also made back its budget.

The only movie really in the red is Zohan, which for some unfathomable reason cost $90 million dollars to make and hasn't opened worldwide yet.

Shadowknight: not-a-cute-name: so can shyamalan do a movie that doesn't have a "surprise twist" in it?

Discuss...

To my knowledge, this movie isn't really a "twist" movie. He has an interesting reasoning, of course, but it's apparent from the beginning that it's suppose to be mother nature using plants to shake us off her back like fleas.

Hell, even Roger Ebert gave away the "twist" in his review, and he is one of the most anti-spoiler reviews I've ever seen.

In essence, he didn't make a twist in this movie, and instead made a straight forward movie. Everyone out there, expecting his movies to ALWAYS have a twist, look for spoilers of said twist. They find that plants are poisoning is into suicide, and determine that this plot point that he reveals early on MUST be the twist. The uneducated masses then judge this non-twist as a bad twist, and disregard the movie without watching it.

I'm not saying the movie is good, since I'm waiting for HBO to see it, but discounting it as a lame "twist" movie when it's not a twist movie seems pretty silly.

Sixth Sense: What a twist!
Unbreakable: What a twist!
Signs: What a twist!
The Village: What a twist!
Lady in the Water: What a twist! (okay, not really)

Gee, I wonder why people people think his movies have a twist!

cheese2: Heroic Poser: SIGNS really didn't have a twist ending.

The whole meaning of "Swing Away" was a pretty big twist.

No. His wife leading the Aliens would've been a twist.
It was all a hoax. Twist.
His mom mentioning to swing a bat is hardly a twist compared to "he's been dead the whole time", "Rosebud was his sled" and "We don't really live alone, just in a park."

The opening-weekend numbers are good for publicity, but the most important use for them is for the studio to decide how long they should keep the movie in theaters. I forgot the exact percentage they hope for, but when it's higher than a certain amount they keep the movie in for awhile to milk it for what its worth through the favorable reviews and word-of-mouth. When it's lower than what they hoped for, they tend to pull it out quickly since they feel they've made all they can get from that.

Then you've got the sales from VHS, DVD, and Rentals. That can make a HUGE chunk of money. (Though not too much anymore due to Torrents and Bootlegs, but still enough that you can't scoff at it.

Don't forget merchandising either. This is something that will easily have toys, Happy Meal deals, etc. Many times movies that have lots of merchandising will make loads of money from that since kids will want it and parents will give in.

It would not surprise me if they made 2 times the budget from the merchandising alone.

Shazam999:

Sixth Sense: What a twist!
Unbreakable: What a twist!
Signs: What a twist!
The Village: What a twist!
Lady in the Water: What a twist! (okay, not really)

Gee, I wonder why people people think his movies have a twist!

Pssst... Signs didn't really have a twist as much as it had a final opinion about Higher Power, which is what the characters had been discussing. Not saying it was a good movie, but it wasn't really a twist in the "Crying Game" / "Sixth Sense" way. Unbreakable didn't really have a twist either, in that it didn't change what had been happening throughout the film, if anything it felt like a tacked-on attempt at ending the film on a tense note. And Lady in the Water didn't really have one, did it? I blocked that one out of my memory...

But we're proud of you for memorizing Robot Chicken lines anyway.