What is the cost of making a movie?

A lot of movies today are costing a lot of money films that you would not even think they cost that much.  Here are just a few expensive movies such as Toy Story, Superman Returns, King Kong, Spider-Man 3, and Titanic. Movies have a lot of money going into it but sometimes just not enough for it to go back into it again.

The development of the movie the producer has to write up a story and hire cast members to join the movie causing a lot more money. Actors such as Leonardo Dicaprio made$ 77 million dollars. Also Johnny Depp making $50 million. This is causing movie producer to go over there budge to make a movie by hiring good actors for their movie to expand in the movie theaters. Having good actors to be in your movie can cause the movie to become a good hit and gain some of the money bank that the producers had lost.

The cost for actually filming the shoots like blocking streets, food and insurance, costumes, and also having stunts people have a lot to do with making the movie. Costumes cost up to almost $80 and most producers want to buy them cheap for only $50. Insurance cost up to $2500 and it does not cover damages of the producer’s original equipment.  Stunt professional depend on the movie’s budget, but the average is $350 a day. Having all these necessities for a movie causes the movie industry to put a lot of millions into it.

Marketing also has affected the cost of a movie just like advertising and seeing part of the movie on trailers. Studios such as Disney, Warner Brothers, Sony, 20^th Century Fox, Universal, and Paramount had spent  over $34.8 million  to advertise and the earned just about $20 million. Producers also have to print out a copy of the movie and a single print cost $2,000. Also having cameras costing up to 4,500 to 40,000. Having these cost add up almost millions of dollars.

Overall, movies cost a lot of money every year. There is a lot of other things that have to be paid for also besides actors. There is a lot of money that is going into movies in today’s society. I think if producers have a budget they should use it not abuse it sooner or later they will cause inflation.

How does the movie industry adjust to not cause inflation?

http://www.chacha.com/question/how-much-do-professional-stunt-drivers-make-on-average

http://www.therichest.org/entertainment/forbes-highest-earning-actors/

http://www.anomalousmaterial.com/movies/2010/03/the-cost-of-making-a-hollywood-movie/

http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/the_hollywood_economist/2005/06/dumb_money.html

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/how-much-do-actors-get-paid.html

What job in the movie industry receives the most profit?

Talent agents are some of the best-paid professions in the film industry.  These people represent actors, directors, and producers.  Agents’ roles are all-encompassing.  They must manage travel and lodging, ticket selling, and directing marketing and advertising activities.  Talent agents use their people skills to mediate between their clients and managers, promoters, union officials, and people in charge of contracts.  These people must develop relationships with individuals and organizations to ensure their client’s success.

Because off of these activities require similar talents, most trusted agents are spread among just a few agencies. These include CAA, United Artists and ICM.  The main talent agencies employ people with little education but with lots of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and vocational training.  Most of the talent agents usually earn around ten percent of their client’s earnings according to a specific contract for a film project.  The average annual salary for a talent agent was $178,340 in 2010.

Following talent agents, multimedia artists and animators are the second-most high paying jobs in the film industry.  The mean salary for this profession in the video industry was $72,380 in 2010.  Although many believe actors are some of the highest paid people in this industry, they are down at the sixth highest paying job.  Down at number ten are producers.  The average salary for a film producer in 2010 is $109,860.

What are the costs of making a movie?

HowStuffWorks. Web. 14 May 2012. <http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/highest-paying-jobs-film-industry1.htm&gt;.

“Talent Agents.” – Details on Salary, Job Projects, Education, and More. Web. 14 May 2012. <http://www.matchcollege.com/career/13-1011.00/Talent-Agents&gt;.

Which Genre is the Most Profitable?

Genre can be a touchy subject among fans of movies with many people who swear by a few choice subjects. While which genre is the best can be argued and debated, in terms of profit, which one reigns supreme? In order to figure this out, I will look at the genres of the ten all time highest grossing movies of all time, of all time adjusted for inflation, and the ten highest grossing from last year, their budget, the average gross and budget of other movies of wide release in the same genre in the same year for the summer season, and the average percent of their budget that is returned. For genre I will focus on separating them into fantasy/sci-fi, horror/thriller, action/adventure, romance/drama, and comedy. Even though it is a valid and important group of film, I did not include documentaries. I will use the rate of return formula of (Vf-Vi)/Vi where Vf is the gross and Vi is the budget.

Films I categorized as science fiction and fantasy dominate the highest grossing films lists claiming five of the ten all time highest grossing films, and three when adjusted for inflation. They tend to have a larger budget and higher gross at the box office, but does that mean they are necessarily profitable? The highest grossing film in this genre, Avatar raked in about 2,782,275,172 with a budget of $237 million for a total profit around $2.54^9 and a 1073.9% rate of return. However for April to June 2011 there were only seven wide-release fantasy/sci-fi films released. Together they had an average gross of $418,402,212.60 and an average budget of $90,214,285.71 for an average profit of $328,187,926.89 and a rate of return of 363.8%. Horror and thriller had the smallest sample size with only one, Jaws, being in any of the top ten lists, specifically adjusted for inflation. April-June 2011 had only three horror or thriller movies during the time range, which could easily be due to the limited time-frame I selected from, however, does this mean that they are avoided for being unprofitable? Jaws grossed about $470,653,000 with a budget of $9 million to make a profit of $461,653,000 and a rate of return of… 5129%. Okay… so, assuming I did my math right and got correct statistics, Jaws had a higher profit per dollar of budget then Avatar. Alrighty then, well, the average gross of horror and thriller of April-June last year was $113,826,844.3 and the average budget was $24,500,000 for an average profit of $89,326,844.3 and a rate of return for 364.6%. Action films seem to hold up reasonably with three in the top ten highest grossing films of all time, however when adjusted for inflation this number sinks down to zero. There were only four released April-June of 2011, three of which were on 2011’s highest grossing list. The highest grossing action film, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, grossed about $1,123,746,996 and had a $195 million budget for a profit of $928,746,996 and a rate of return of 476.2%. For April-June (which includes Transformers: Dark of the Moon) the average gross was $702,707,871.3 and the average budget was $140,833,333.3 to make an average profit of $561,874,583 and a return rate of 399.0%. There is only one romance or drama in the top ten highest grossing films, however when adjusted for inflation there are five. The highest grossing without adjustment would be Titanic at $2,175,898,861. It had a budget of $200 million to make for a profit of $1,975,898,861 and a return rate of 987.9%. There were four released during April through June of 2011 with an average gross of $59,140,301.5 and an average budget of $29,000,000 to make a profit of $30,140,301.5 for an average rate of return of 103.9%. This may be thrown off by The Conspirator, which only grossed $14,996,313 for its $25 million budget. Like drama and romance, there is only one comedy in the top ten highest grossing of all time. There are three in the highest for 2011, however there are none in the highest adjusting for inflation. There were 14 released April-June of 2011, which is twice as many as fantasy and sci fi, a genre which heavily populates the highest grossing lists and three times as many than action films which so far have the highest average profit, what is going on here? The highest grossing comedy film of all time is Toy Story 3 with a box office gross of $1,063,171,811 and a budget of $200 million for a profit of $863,171,811 and a rate of return of 431.6%. The average gross of comedies for April-June was $193,348,908.7 while the average budget was $51,435,714.29 and an average profit of $141,913,194.41 and a return of 275.9%.

There are so many comedies released probably because they have a much lower budget than action and fantasy films so more of them can be made for the same amount of money, and even though they may not pull in as big a profit as big budget action and fantasy flicks, they aren’t as much of a gamble as a drama. By investing a (comparatively) small amount of money in a comedy, studios can almost guarantee to bring in a profit and still have enough money to diversify by investing in other films or saving it.  On top of that, since it was made on a lower budget, if a comedy becomes popular, it can bring in much bigger profit than a big-budget film with the same ticket sales.  Unfortunately, what this means for audiences is that awful lazy comedies are not going away anytime soon.

What effect to special effects have on the profitability of a movie?

Links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest-grossing_films http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_in_film

http://www.investopedia.com/financial-edge/0410/Movie-Genres-With-The-Best-ROI.aspx#axzz1udLOk729

How did the movie industry stay afloat during the Great Depression?

It is assumed that movie attendance would drop considerably during times of economic hardship. A ticket to the movies is considered a luxury, something that is not essential to survival. However, in taking a closer look at movie ticket sales during the Great Depression, one can conclude that economic hardship did little to diminish success of the movie industry.

Though the movie industry met success during the Great Depression, it had to go through a period of adjustment in order to successfully adapt to the plummeting economy. In 1933, when the Great Depression reached its peak, close to a quarter of the United States was unemployed.  In the early days of the Great Depression, the movie industry was under fire for its debt. Converting from silent films to ones that incorporated sound, the movie industry suffered from debt reaching roughly $410 million in the late 1920s. Movie ticket sales had fallen by 40% by 1933. However, the movie industry pushed to stay afloat.  Cutting employees’ salaries and closing nearly one third of theaters across the nation, the movie industry looked to decrease their factors of production.

 In order to attract customers, theaters offered incentives. Theaters offered consumers raffle tickets for cash prizes as well as reduced ticket prices in an effort to lure them into buying movie tickets.  Implementing these benefits, the movie industry made movie tickets more available and accessible for a wider audience. In fact, 60 – 70 million Americans purchased movie tickets per week during the Great Depression. In broadening their market of consumers, the industry was able to stay afloat despite the economic turmoil.  

In cutting the prices of their factors of production and providing movie goers with incentives to buy tickets, the movie industry was able to maintain its success through the Great Depression.

 

What was the opportunity cost of purchasing a movie ticket during the Great Depression?

 

Work Cited

“Digital History.” Digital History. Web. 11 May 2012. <http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/historyonline/hollywood_great_depression.cfm&gt;.

What is the opportunity cost of watching a movie?

In the old days movies cost from .50 cents up to a $1.10. This use to be a lot of money to the people back then because they wouldn’t make that much money. The money they used to pay for a movie ticket they could have used for something the needed at home or better. And at times the whole family would go to the movie theaters together and had to pay up to $5.00 which was more. Some families wouldn’t even go watch movies because they would use their time/money for other stuff better then watching movies which was spending time with their families. Only young teenagers would go and spend their time/money on movies then using that for something else that used the same amount and time.

In the present day movies cost up to $14.00. A lot of families and friends go to movies even if the ticket prices keep going up. With $14 they could go out and do something productive like rock climbing, miniature golfing, etc. It would cost almost up to the same amount or less then watching movie. When you go to the movies you pay for your ticket and you also pay for food and beverages. So at the end you will pay up to at least $25 and watch a movie for 2-3 hours. Instead they could have saved that money for something else and more fun then just sitting and watching a screen for two hours, or something productive and useful.

In the end, people still go out to watch movies for 2-3 hours and paying up to $14. Instead of doing something good for themselves and their lives. The opportunity cost of seeing a movie is the foregone value of a similar activity. 

Why do people invest in movies?

http://www.wisebread.com/you-own-your-finances-how-much-people-spend-to-watch-movies

 

 

Films that impact cultural and personal values

Personal values and culture revolve all around today’s society threw radio, television, and other media. Through the movie industry it changes and changes society everyday to how people began in that type of culture such as impact of Star Wars. That impact had thousands of people who began in that culture and personal values. Some movies had brought social issues forward and the changes through society then and society now such as the move The Help.

Star wars had a lot of effect on people’s culture. People’s personal values began into place going to convention and watching and buy these Star Wars movies.  People in the 20^th century had uprising the blockbuster $100 million in three months. This film not only had an impact in the United States but also in the UK. This just shows that all around the word Star Wars had an impact and culture today’s society. Having this movie grown so big in the movie industry has changed people’s personal value and there culture.

The movie “The Help” had a culture impact in 2011. This movie helped today’s society views the culture world in the civil rights era (early 1960s).  People had views but I think this was the movie that had open peoples personal values and had seen people’s culture back in the 1960s.  The help had grown up to $169,708,112 in North American and $41,9000,000 in other places but all together it adds up to a total of $211,608,112. This shows that this movie must have had an impact on people that had wanted to watch this movie.

Over all, the impact of personal values and culture effect people today threw movies and other multimedia. I think movies will keep affecting people’s cultures and personal values as we get in the future.

What movie monopoly industry has an impact in today’s society?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_impact_of_Star_War

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Help_(film)

http://garydavidstratton.com/2012/02/26/oscars2012-all-time

http://www.toptenz.net/top-10-movies-that-changed-the-world.php

Encouraging consumption: the deception of entertainment

Surely the technological innovation and art form of film has brought a tremendous impact to the world in many aspects. It has now established itself as a crucial part of not only the national economy but also our lives. The film industry garners its revenue from ticket and DVD sales, and surprisingly even in a backward pacing economy, the market reached 1.7 billion in ticket sales in 2009, revenue higher than the year before. Theatres are now a core part of entertainment, for their entertainment value as well as for social reasons. Aside from the size of the films industry, the films produced indirectly affect the economy. The toys industry, Netflix and Blockbuster are all partly if not completely reliant on the performance of the films industry for obvious reasons. With technological innovations that enable efficient mass distribution, the possibilities relating to the films industry is endless. The United States is well known for Hollywood worldwide, and its films are well received relative to foreign films. Globalization is opening many doors for the film industry, and with technological innovations it is catering to an audience with exponential growth. Product placement in movies cannot be neglected when discussing the economic impact of movies. Films generally utilize goods from sponsors of the movie, and this can include all sorts of commodities such as food, automobiles and clothing. Transformers by Michael Bay for example, only use General Motors vehicles for filming to promote them in exchange for advertisement fees. Films were once only a form of art but now penetrate into many sectors of our economy to encourage consumption and pave the way for new markets.

How do films impact cultural and personal values?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/01/movies/01films.html

http://articles.businessinsider.com/2010-03-05/tech/30041618_1_apple-computers-apple-logo-mac-business

Which movie genre received the most profit in the past century?

In the past decade animation became the nations most profitable movie genre.  According to SNL Kagan, the first single source for in-depth analysis and proprietary datat on the media and communications industry, sci-fi/fantasy films came in a close second place in their analysis of financial performance for the last 10 years. There are all different kinds of deals studios have with theaters that help determine how profitable certain movies are.

SNL Kagan considers a film profitable if it makes at least 75% more revenue than the costs they are able to calculate. Movies with at least 40% are called “on the bubble” while movies below that are most likely losing money.  During the past decade 1,444 movies were considered on the bubble.  They had average costs of $133.3M and a worldwide revenue of $216.6M which results in a 63% margin.  The five most profitable movies overall were animated ones that had a budget between $90M and $100M and had a 292% margin.  The worst investments were western movies with a budget of $50M or less and the costs ran 80% above revenues.

There were 101 animated films in the past decade that ran 108.4% ahead of costs.  DreamWorks Animation’s Shrek 2 made the most profit; with a 462% margin.  The 71 sci-fi/fantasy films of the last decade had a margin of 108.1%.  Fox’s Avatar was the most profitable in this category, which ran 554% ahead of costs.  Romance, action, comedy, and drama were the genres in the bubble which horror, western, and thriller movies lost money with revenues above costs by 33% or less.

Although Shrek 2 made the most profit of the decade and was classified in the sci-fi/fantasy category, cartoons had the most revenue on average. It is clear that animation films became the countries most profitable genre while western films became the least profitable in the past ten years.

What job in the movie industry receives the most profit?

http://omgghana.com/most-profitable-film-genre-named/

http://www.deadline.com/2012/04/animation-retains-title-as-the-decades-most-profitable-movie-genre-snl-kagan/

How has Netflix gained success?

The convenience and accessibility of Netflix has contributed to its success and capital gain. In April 2011, Netflix had attained 23.6 million subscribers in the United States with more than 26 million worldwide. Netflix reached $1.5 billion in total digital revenue by 2011. Netflix has revolutionized the traditional experience of renting movies. And with this revolution, Netflix has met popularity and demand, achieving a booming profit.

Netflix charges a monthly flat rate. Subscribers are able to form a list of the movies that they would like to order, putting their list on a queue online. Subscribers are allowed to keep the movies as long as they want; there are no late fees. Instead, there is a limit that places a maximum number of movies that can be loaned out to a subscriber at one time. Subscribers can increase this maximum through attaining different levels of subscription, the highest level allowing for eight movies to be loaned at one time. When a subscriber is done with their movie and ready to receive another listed on their queue, the disc is mailed back to Netflix in a prepaid envelope.

Netflix has fought to stay on top of the online rental pyramid. Blockbuster, one of Netflix’s top competitors, began an online rental service. Marking their prices at $19.95 in August 2004, Blockbuster sparked a price war with Netflix in an effort to attract more customers. In response to Blockbuster’s price, Netflix lowered its monthly rate to $17.99. Blockbuster lowered their prices to $14.99. However, this low price rose when the two companies settled for prices nearly identical to each other. Blockbuster, in a further effort to compete with Netflix, offered its customers the option to swap rentals with videos in local stores. However, Blockbuster has not been able to successfully overturn Netflix’s success.

Netflix, in order to reach out to a larger customer base, now offers other features that span beyond the scope of movie rental. Users are now able to rent television shows as well. Netflix also allows their users to watch some television shows on their computer. Instead of renting a disc of a television show, users can now access the shows on their computer, streaming them instantly.

Overall, Netflix has created a widely successful business. Convenient and accessible, Netflix has gained approval, and with it, the demand of consumers.

 

Does the positive mentality that consumers have concerning policies such as “no late fees” manipulate consumers into paying higher rates?

 

Works Cited

“Felix Salmon.” Reuters. 31 Mar. 2010. Web. 05 May 2012. .

“Netflix.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 05 May 2012. Web. 05 May 2012. .

posted by Muntz for Lussier.

What is the demand of Superhero Movies?

Today my friends and I went the movies, and planned on spending $12 to see the movie. When we got there the movie was sold out. So a friend of mine suggested that we go miniture golfing, at a cost of $6 per game for about an hour of entertainment. So we calculated that two games of miniture golf would add up to $12 and two hours of entertainment., the eqivelant of watching a movie at the cost of $12 and 2 hours of entertainment. This is a good example of opportunity cost.

Movie theaters are using this high demand to raise ticket prices and snack prices. The demand for tickets for these movies are now starting two weeks before they are released. Selling out showtimes weeks in advanced, this high demand allows movie theaters to increase ticket prices and snack prices. With the consumer continuing to pay the increases to ticket sales and snack sales this demand will only encourage movie theaters to increase prices.

With the demand in action superhero movies studios are investing millions of dollars in making these films due to the high consumer demands. This consumer demand is increasing studio revune by sometimes three-hundred to five-hundred percent. With the high consumer demand the studios are leaving the doors open for sequals or spin offs to make consumers happy. With this high demand in these types of films studios will have a good source of revunes for years to come.

In conclusion  the demand for movies over the last few years have increased tremendeously. These types of movies have a high consumer demand allowing theaters and studios to continue increasing there profits. As consumers we will continue to demand these types of movies and continue to pay what the theater demands to charge to see these movies.

What is the supply of action movies?

http://economics.about.com/od/demand/p/demand.htm

http://movies.yahoo.com/