Discussion What do you think the budget for Episode VII will be?

100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

 

I didn't know this was an assessment. But I'll give it a go.
Directors fee $20m. (A list director est €15m I think he is above that now in the world class bracket regardless of what people think his talent is). J.J. Abrams - Film and TV Producer, Screenwriter, Producer - Born: 1966 US - Married - Children: 3
Annual: USD 36,000,000.00
Monthly: USD 3,000,000.00
Weekly: USD 720,000.00
Daily: USD 144,000.00- from pay wizard.com I expect him to get points as well.

Harrison's fee $20m. (K19 $25m) Harry will get this all day long.
Mark's fee $10m a good agent will rack up the fee though not as good as Harry's worth every penny for opening weekend BO
Carrie's fee $10m

Rest of cast $10m but depends on status. Early rumours suggested Bradley Cooper $15m for Hangover 3 not that I believe or want him just an example)

CGI Fx $100m (extensive effect work, as in Avatar or The Lord of the Rings can easily cost up to a hundred million dollars)
DOP $1m

Running total $171m

Producing fees $20m
Screenplay $1m


$79m studio time, foley, editing, screenplay, sets, hotels, insurance, flights, costumes, score, John Williams, food etc etc etc


Avatar was officially budgeted at $237 million. Other estimates put the cost between $280 million and $310 million for production and at $150 million for promotion total $387m

Avengers $220m budget.

Indy IV budget $185m (Kathleen production)


So putting together reports of other budgets and adding expectation and inflation I came up with that number.

Hollywood accounting will always be a mystery after all Coming To America posted a loss despite grossing $128m on a $38m budget- it went to court when Art Buchwald claimed he wrote.

So I didn't just pluck the numbers out of the air. You can dispute the individual figures but the budget won't be far off the numbers I put up. Disney will throw the kitchen sink at this one because they need it to set up a mega franchise and they will get back that fee in endorsements. TPM had a reported $100m tie in with Coke In 1999.

 

Sure as heck didn't when you take into account inflation. It beats TPM in terms of ticket sales.

Actually, all three of the original Star Wars movies beat TPM in terms of inflation. AOTC made the least.

 

Still not true when adjusted for inflation - Empire beat Jedi.

 

Pfluegermeister
Regarding Doug Trumball ....

He's A Recluse
All the better.
His technique won't be poisoned by the status quo.
And you do know he was handpicked by The Maker, because of his unparalled pedigree, to do the OT, don't you?
But he was headhunted away from Lucasarts by Viacom to do "Star Trek: The Motion Picture".
So one of Doug's deciples, a man by the name of John Dykstra, filled in his stead.
But, I'm sure I'm just telling you stuff you already know ....

He's Out Of Touch
My friend, every FX operation you see today was pioneered by Doug Trumball.
Out of touch?!?
Doug Trumball wrote the damn book ....

He's 71
????
And ....?
He did an interview Harry Knowles over at "Ain't It Cool? news.
Looks fantastic.
Sharp as a tack.
I have no idea where you were going with making an ageist remark like that.



yodasbum
Lowballing Mark & Carrie -- all 3 should get paid the same -- notwithstanding,
I still don't see how it costs $100 million to get ILM.

1] Lucasarts is making this Lucasarts is a wholly owned subsidiary of Disney.
2] Like I said before: how much does a farm of MacPros & multiple copies of "Maya" cost, anyway?
How do they justify 100 million beans?

 

Here is all the money adjusted to 2012.


A New Hope
Domestic Total Gross: $307,263,857
Inflation adjusted: $1,147,779,065
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=starwars4.htm

The Empire Strikes Back
Domestic Total Gross: $209,398,025
Inflation adjusted: $574,429,059
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=starwars5.htm

Return of the Jedi
Domestic Total Gross: $252,583,617
Inflation adjusted: $573,177,683
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=starwars6.htm

Inflation calculator: http://www.westegg.com/inflation/infl.cgi


It is very arbitrary when put into context, isn't it?

The Phantom Menace
Domestic Total Est. Tickets: 84,825,800
Attack of the Clones
Domestic Total Est. Tickets: 52,012,300
Revenge of the Sith
Domestic Total Est. Tickets: 59,324,600
A New Hope
Domestic Total Est. Tickets: 142,734,000
The Empire Strikes Back
Domestic Total Est. Tickets: 78,862,200
Return of the Jedi
Domestic Total Est. Tickets: 80,983,400

It was a different climate back then because didn't have VCRs or DVD players. The one things we can take from that data is that the first happy chapter is where the money is, not in the sad second act.

 

Jeez, happy story or no, I am positively aghast at such relatively low numbers for 5 out of the 6 movies!
Didn't people realize back then what they had in front of them?
Cinema like no other!
Dopes ....

 

I would definitely say about $200 million, at least.

 

Production budget I will guess 200 mill U.S. dollars.

 

I seem to recall Lucas saying that he and ILM were looking into new ways to make the best possible visual quality for a much lower amount of cash. It was sometime during the Live Action series rumors, if I recall correctly.
That might lower the production cost (if they managed to achieve this) or it may simply free up funds for different things.

No idea, not my field of expertise, all of these accountant-type things, hah.

 

yodasbum
Lowballing Mark & Carrie -- all 3 should get paid the same -- notwithstanding,
I still don't see how it costs $100 million to get ILM.

1] Lucasarts is making this Lucasarts is a wholly owned subsidiary of Disney.
2] Like I said before: how much does a farm of MacPros & multiple copies of "Maya" cost, anyway?
How do they justify 100 million beans?[/quote]

I agree that the three principles should get the same fee. As a possible star you could argue that Mark should get more if he is a focal point of the film and Harrison isn't. But what they should get and what they will get are two very different things. Everything suggests that Harrison will get $20m as a fee from looking at reports of his previous salaries and he was commanding that fee in the 90's. Nothong suggests that Mark or Carrie can command that sort of fee and could only possibly get that sort of salary from Star Wars. Will they enter into parity negotiations together like the cast of Friends did- I doubt it. So I'm not lowballing them just being objective.

As for ILM if they earn an average of $30 000 each and 500 artists work on VII (about 300 worked on Hugo) for two years that would be $30m straight away on wages. If they have been working for the last 12 months then that would be 3 years and that would be $45m on wages. Thta's without even looking into the cost of computers, trips to locations, research, models (Super Star Destroyer cost $100 000 in 1980), materials, miniture sets, lighting, development of software, possible conversion into 3D, overtime when release day comes around and profit! It appears that ILM will only be working on Star Wars so they need to make profit as a buisness so they can upgarde and improve.

Interesting thing was that my school was used for some of the filming on Stormbreaker (2006). My friend who is in ICT at the school was paid £400 for the day just to stand there in case they needed him for technical advice for the computers. He sat and read a magazine all day and wasn't called to do anything and was paid £400. Also when they took a look at the room full of computers they didn't like the screens (because of flickering when filmed) and immediately bought a new set of 30 screens for a cost of about £5000. It was for shots that were on screen for about 15 secs.They mey have sold the screens on but I don't think the sell on fee would be written back into the budget because the studio wants to keep as much money as it can and the larger the budget the less they have to give away on points if the film performs well. The same way the selling of props wont be written back into the budget.

 

The Phantom Menace
Domestic Total Est. Tickets: 84,825,800
Attack of the Clones
Domestic Total Est. Tickets: 52,012,300
Revenge of the Sith
Domestic Total Est. Tickets: 59,324,600
A New Hope
Domestic Total Est. Tickets: 142,734,000
The Empire Strikes Back
Domestic Total Est. Tickets: 78,862,200
Return of the Jedi
Domestic Total Est. Tickets: 80,983,400

The one things we can take from that data is that the first happy chapter is where the money is, not in the sad second act.[/quote]

I think that bums on seats is the best way to look at the success of a film rather than box office because of the issues with inflation.

Empire was the sequel that really broke the mold in terms of Box Office because although it did drop off from dramatically from Star Wars it was far bigger than any sequel had ever been up to that point. I think that AOTC suffered because they over promoted Phantom and under promoted AOTC and also it was, in my opinion, shall we say not as loved. I thnk that Revenge suffered from the rating certainly in the UK.

 

When ILM does work for Lucas Film... ILM being a Lucas Film subsidiary (yes even with Lucas Film being owned by Disney, ILM is still a subsidiary of Lucas Film first), it's Lucas Film that carries the profit for both and if ILM needs upgrades, they can ask for cash from up the chain when needed. ILM work for Lucas Film movies is always done AT COST, which is why they can make movies cheaper than anyone else.

 

Really expensive I say.

 

_ _ _ _

In the interests of accurate accounting, I should point out that you're 57¢ out with that total.

 

the movie will cost less than 175 million, not because Disney is being cheap, but because that's what it will cost.... JMHO

 

POWER!!! UNLIMITED POWER!!!

 

I'm sorry I don't follow. "Hollywood accounting" applies to shady accounting methods. My metric applies to above the board ways to determine profit...

 

Indeed. Good post.

 

I'd say about 150 mil, at most. Maybe even far less.

But whatever money they throw at it, I'm sure there's enough rabid fans for them to make money.

 

My guess is a cool $175 million because of the tax breaks they'll get from shooting in the UK. Let's say the movie comes with a $125 million advertising campaign, you're talking $300m total --> $600m to break-even. ROTS made $850m which I think VII will surpass.

 

Disney likes to spend money. They know they can. Even their new Lone Ranger film is reported to have a budget of upwards of 250 million. The Avengers was 220, and Iron-Man 3 was over 200 million. I think Episode 7 will be pretty expensive. About 250 million. More wouldn't surprise me. Without sounding to presumptuous, Disney knows (as does everyone else) that Episode 7 is destined to make at least one billion at the worldwide box-office. Only narrow-minded bigots think it won't reach that. Honestly, there are people over at the Box Office forum on the IMDB boards who genuinely think the reputation of the prequels have damaged the SW brand so much that Episode 7 will struggle to make one billion. Hahaha. Two billion is not beyond the realm of possibility. As a result Disney will just keep on throwing money at it.

 

One-hundred trillion dollars!!! (Dr. Evil voice)