Could Disney make a sequel without Bruckheimer?
No Disney gave Bruckeimer the movie rights to
Pirates. Disney cant make a movie or television without buying the rights back (and Jerry aint that stupid). He also has the rights to anything created for the movies Davy Jones, the
Black Pearl, The Pirates Lords, etc. Disney has to pay Bruckheimer for the rights to use those elements in the rides now (its said thats way the
Wicked Wench in the ride wasnt renamed. Bruckheimer said no to call the ship attacking the fort the
Black Pearl).
Its the price Disney had to pay to get a high-powered producer to make the movies.
...I just don't think it is accurate.
If you can do better please try. Real Hollywood financials are a closely guarded secret. Its so bad that even people involved with the movie have to go to court just to find out whats going on (search the Internet for all the articles surrounding the recent lawsuit about
Sahara).
Basically a studio receives (on average) 55% of the box office take. The theaters and distributors keep the rest. So you can essentially cut the revenues nearly in have. Its known the Bruckheimer has a significant cut of the first dollar because he was the producer that made the movie. Rumors around town range from 15%-25% of every dollar that Disney brings in. Several other people, namely Johnny Depp and ILM (who did the special effects) are also said to have cuts as well. Its likely the director has a cut on the sequels as well, even if he didnt on the first one (sequels are just an excuse for the original creators to blackmail the studios). All in all, a rough estimate has Disney actually seeing about 1/3 of the box office actually flowing into Disney.
From that, of course, Disney has to recoup all the costs to make, market and distribute the flick. Here too, the actual costs are a closely guarded secret because most board of directors freak out when a single movie costs more than a cruise ship. The public estimate of
At Worlds End is $300+, although most street estimates put the cost between $345 - $370 million. The film was significantly behind time throughout production and there was a huge last minute scramble to finish the special effects all of which adds to costs (and stuff like Mr. Depps villa, entourages, Mr. Richards special dietary needs, etc.)
All of those costs are just to get a single negative of the film created. Now comes other expensive parts. For a large summer blockbuster, its estimated that a studio will spend an amount equal to the films negative costs. The more expensive a movie, the more marketing you need to guarantee a films success. At this point its hard to say how much Disney spent on marketing, but form all the TV ads, billboards, special appearances and red carpet premiers at
Disneyland it was a significant sum. Besides just marketing, theres the distribution costs as well getting the film into the theater. A single print of the movie can cost over $75,000, and when you see that
Pirates was being shown on over 4,000 screens, that adds up. Disney is somewhat lucky that they used a lot of digital theaters and saved some money, but its a small compared with all the other costs.
All of this is just to point out that making and releasing a big studio summer movie is a hugely expensive endeavor. For all the dazzling box office numbers you see, there are equally stomach turn expenses that the studio doesnt want to talk about. Disney let
At Worlds End get out of control; they cared more about the marketing of the movie than the actual quality of the movie itself.
So Disney produced a very expensive bad movie. Theyre paying the price for it now with disappointing box office and a lack of interest in any more
Pirate movies. This is a recurring problem with Disney theyve lost all interest in quality and instead believe they can buy an audience if they show enough ads with the word magic used in them.
Theyre wrong.