[ELI5] How do film studios stay in business with so many bombs?

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I saw an article that the movie “I.S.S.” made 1.2 million this opening weekend. I’m no movie expert but I’m guessing it cost a lot more than that to make.

Not trying to make an argument about whether they’re good or not, but it seems that the last 4 or 5 WB/DC Super Hero movies bombed hard, too. How does WB continue to make movies if each one makes less than it cost??

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Anonymous 0 Comments

Looks like the budget for I.S.S. was $13.8m which is very low. A $1.2m opening weekend in the US means it will probably be profitable eventually once you factor in international distribution and streaming rights.

Or take some DC bombs, Blue Beetle had a production cost of $104m and a worldwide earning of $130m as of last October, that will surely be higher with additional distribution and streaming.

Now it’s not quite that simple because there are distribution and promotion costs, though these are usually assumed by a technically separate company with creative accounting… But in general a lot of “bombs” don’t really lose money, or at least not huge amounts. And with those that do, you make up for it with tax writeoffs, longer lifetime earnings and the occasional blockbuster. If you look at something like avengers endgame, it cost around $330m to make and has so far earned a lifetime revenue of around $2.8b. That covers a lot of duds.

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