Pirates' Amazing Figures

[MemereMouse]

POTC Dead Man's Chest just went over 400M domestic and 500M international. AMAZING!!!!

 

[Kitty 34]

awesome

 

[alyssa810]

we helped by finally seeing it this weekend!!

 

[MJMcBride]

I beileve its the 6th biggest movie of all time, right?

 

[vonpluto]

POTC Dead Man's Chest just went over 400M domestic and 500M international. AMAZING!!!!

They're going to need a bigger chest.

 

[MemereMouse]

Here's what they have to say:

Disney's unstoppable smash Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest ranked eighth this weekend with $5.2M in its seventh voyage. Down only 28%, the Johnny Depp adventure broke the quadruple-century mark and pushed its cume to $401.3M in North America making it the seventh biggest domestic blockbuster ever trailing the $403.7M of 2002's Spider-Man. Worldwide, the Pirates sequel cruised to a staggering $924M this weekend and will break through the $1 billion barrier soon allowing it to join only Titanic and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King in the ten-digit club.

 

[Golter]

It will be #3 all-time, WOW... didn't see that coming.

 

[All Aboard]

The numbers are indeed fantastic, but some of the all-time greats suffer in this comparison due to the fact that ticket prices were considerably lower when they were in theaters.

On an inflation-adjusted basis, POCDMC is hovering around the 20th position. Still ahead of it are the likes of: Batman, Beverly Hills Cop, Home Alone, Independence Day, Spider-man, Shrek 2, Ghostbusters, Grease, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Lion King, Forest Gump, Jurassic Park, Titanic, ET and 4 Star Wars flicks.

This is a domestic list, of course, and includes revenue from re-releases for the original Star Wars Trilogy and ET. POCDMC probably ends up at number 19 on that list, overtaking Batman soon.

As for inflation-adjusted worldwide gross, I've not seen a very good list.

 

[G8RFAN]

I wonder how much of the gross revenue goes back to the studio after the distribution channels get their share? We see theaters going out of business all the time over the years, so they must not be getting to keep much of actual ticket sales. I never really took the time to understand the industry.

 

[truebelievers]

Go Pirates go! I saw it 4 times in the first week, so I've done my part. Ahem.

 

[Another Voice]

I wonder how much of the gross revenue goes back to the studio after the distribution channels get their share?

The great mystery of Hollywood accounting.

In the United States, although each distributor negotiates its own deal with a theater, in general the split works out to be about 50-50. The split is generally more to the distributor side (say 75-25) for a movie’s first week. And the split is more lopsided the more popular the movie is supposed to be. The split then shifts over time to be more in the theater’s favor. This is supposed to encourage the theaters to keep the movie around longer. Over time the spilt should average out to about 50/50 or maybe 60/40.

No one knows what the split was for Pirates 2, although I would guess it might have been 80/20 or 90/10 the first weekend. It was the most “buzzed” movie of the summer and it was definitely Disney’s market to sell in. There was almost certainly a slider clause, which in the long run, hurts Disney. By now the theaters are certainly keeping more money then they send to Disney. My guess would be that Disney ends up with a 60/40 split at the end.

Internationally the general rule is that the theaters/distributors/the governments keep most of the money. In a lot of regions a film will be sold to a distributor for a fixed price – the distributor keeps all the money they get after that. Disney has their own distributors in many of the major countries, but each one has it’s own set of practices.

One special note about Pirates is that Jerry Bruckheimer really owns the movie. In addition to the cut the theaters take, he gets another giant (and unknown) slice for himself (as producer) and for his company (as the production company). And it’s almost certain that Johnny Dipp and others were given pieces of the movie too – Johnny’s may talk about "art", but his wallet says "pay for my French castles".

In short, although the box office numbers for Pirates are definitely impressive, the real dollars that will flow down to Disney’s corporate bottom line aren’t going to be anywhere near what you’ve been reading. For all the changes in Hollywood, the town is still structured to make individuals rich at the expense of corporations.

We see theaters going out of business all the time over the years, so they must not be getting to keep much of actual ticket sales.

The main reason is a lot of the theater chains borrowed heavily to buy up each other and overbuild 50 screen megamultiplexes in everytown with 50 or more people. Too many screens and too much debt is really hurting. The other trend is the so many Hollywood films these days last just a single weekend. The means more money going to Hollywood, but the local theater never gets a chance to make it up in the later weeks.

 

[G8RFAN]

Thanks AV for the insight. You are right about the overleveraged theater operators. I had forgotten about some of the higher profile failures and the lenders involved. There's a lender or hedge fund for every deal out there no mater how pie in the sky it is.

 

[Dsnyfam]

Has anyone seen the new "amazing figures" at the POTC ride in Disneyland? That's what I thought this thread was about!!! (LOL).

We are planning a short trip to the MK in September, if all goes well. We can hardly wait to see the new animated characters added to the ride. I would like to know if the changes are noticiable, or do you really have to look to find/see them? Will the kids notice? I just hope they are not like the hidden Mickey's, those things are hard to find!!

 

[MemereMouse]

Countdown to $1B worldwide -- it's at $928M Worldwide with openings still in Greece and Italy. Hope it makes it!!!

 

[2angelsinheaven]

We also added to the numbers yesterday by seeing it again. Can't wait for the DVD.

 

[MemereMouse]

They're saying it should hit $1B this weekend. Hooray!!!!

 

[MemereMouse]

Worldwide: $1,002,597,000
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Congratulation!!! Jack Sparrow, you made it.