One little trick and scheme that Hollywood always used to make things look better than they really are is to give out the gross sales of their movies, rather than profits.
For example with the "Superman Returns" movie, it has pulled in $84.2 million so far in overall sales, which may seem like a lot, except the costs are so enormous that in reality it is a disaster.
While studios always hide the costs of production and its hard to get reliable numbers, estimates for the cost of the "Superman Returns" film are $220 million for production, with $40 million to develop it along with another $50 million to promote it.
With the relatively small gross sales figures, this is a financial disaster. With total costs of around $310 million, it will take a lot to make this film work.
Yet this is not the exception but the rule with movie studios. There is very little oversight and checks and balances in place in regard to spending money. The old "artistic integrity" junk is thrown around when you get around to expenses.
I'm not sure of what the motivation behind those that finance these films are. For decades its been the equivalent of gambling, even though some have shown the way by producing relatively low-budget films and making decent profits on the picture, rather than trying to hit a home run everytime they attempt to make a film.
The Hollywood business model is a financial disaster for the great majority of what it offers, but they still just keep on doing the same thing over and over again.
A huge part of the problem is the huge disconnect between producers and what the public wants to see. They could use a few lessons from Tyler Perry.
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