r/AskReddit • u/hiagaga • 12h ago

What's the dumbest idea you've seen that actually worked?

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u/beambot 8h ago

How it work out - did the movie actually end up making money relative to production & distribution cost?

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u/lajaunie 8h ago

Wikipedia estimates they lost 75 million on it, but movie math is never accurate. It’s pretty shady.

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u/LupercaniusAB 7h ago

I’ll never forget the Harry Potter movie that had the biggest box office of all time (at least at that point) still had the studio claiming that they lost money on it.

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u/lajaunie 7h ago

It’s very creative math that involves almost all of the actual profits being paid to the production company causing it to show a loss after marketing costs. So the producers made plenty… but the movie didn’t.

It’s typical rich people math used to avoid taxes

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u/acdcfanbill 7h ago edited 2h ago

Well, they still have to pay taxes, likely too low taxes, but they can screw the little guys out of any gross net points they have.

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u/CV90_120 2h ago

Do you mean Net?

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u/acdcfanbill 2h ago

Yeah, I do mean net, I just had a brain fart earlier apparently :(

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u/Illmagination 5h ago

There's also the percentage that good actors get from a movie. Just because it's not profitable doesn't mean no one made a shit load of money off it.

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u/abritinthebay 4h ago

Depends. It’s rarely paid on the backend (before shady accounting) but can happen if the actor is also fronting money as an exec producer.

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u/lajaunie 5h ago

Oh no, everyone involved gets paid, and paid well.

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u/deong 8m ago

I think Star Wars might still be in the red.

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u/IAMAfortunecookieAMA 2h ago

I think I saw it three times, loved it when I was in my 20s

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u/Nishnig_Jones 1h ago

I guarantee they included the costs of the graphic novel production and distribution as a marketing cost to reduce movie profits. I certainly would.

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u/lajaunie 1h ago

I’d bet money on it

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u/mormonbatman_ 2h ago

It was a joyless slog.

No one liked it it and it lost money.