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Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots

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Jul 12, 2017
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Orlando, FL

Universal/Mattel are developing a ‘Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots’ movie with Vin Diesel attached to star.

Wut
 
Ouija, Transformers, and Clue says hi

Transformers and Clue had built-in backstories that easily translated into a movie format. This is basically working with a blank slate. And Ouija was made on a shoe-string budget. That shouldn't even be in the same category. The aforementioned Real Steel, which this almost certainly will feel very similar to, cost over $100 million to make.

300 million in theaters. 200 million budget. With video and TV, it turned a profit.

I'm gonna need to see the evidence on this one. A movie needs to make 2.5 times the budget to break even. The $200 million figure (which sources have pegged it to be closer to $225 million) is just what it cost to make the movie. That doesn't account for the money spent on marketing, talent residuals, or the split with the theaters. And that split cuts deeper when it comes to international markets. Meaning they had to gross at the very least $500 million to turn a profit. From what I see, home media only brought in about $33 million according to IMDB (I'll be generous and round that to $40 million for potential Christmas sales).

 
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Transformers and Clue had built-in backstories that easily translated into a movie format. This is basically working with a blank slate. And Ouija was made on a shoe-string budget. That shouldn't even be in the same category. The aforementioned Real Steel, which this almost certainly will feel very similar to, cost over $100 million to make.



I'm gonna need to see the evidence on this one. A movie needs to make 2.5 times the budget to break even. The $200 million figure (which sources have pegged it to be closer to $225 million) is just what it cost to make the movie. That doesn't account for the money spent on marketing, talent residuals, or the split with the theaters. And that split cuts deeper when it comes to international markets. Meaning they had to gross at the very least $500 million to turn a profit. From what I see, home media only brought in about $33 million according to IMDB (I'll be generous and round that to $40 million for potential Christmas sales).



Can you source that 2.5x claim please?
 
Can you source that 2.5x claim please?

2x is a general rule-of-thumb from movie insiders, but some roughly use 2.5 as a new normal.




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Case in point: The Secret Life of Pets was considered the most profitable movie of 2016 with a budget of $80 million, WW gross of $875 million, and a net gain of $375 million for Universal. This, despite the year's highest grossing film Civil War resting at $1.15 billion with a budget of $250 million, only making a profit of $193 million.
 
2x is a general rule-of-thumb from movie insiders, but some roughly use 2.5 as a new normal.




Page 96-Bottom Paragraph:


Case in point: The Secret Life of Pets was considered the most profitable movie of 2016 with a budget of $80 million, WW gross of $875 million, and a net gain of $375 million for Universal. This, despite the year's highest grossing film Civil War resting at $1.15 billion with a budget of $250 million, only making a profit of $193 million.
A new normal for a ten year old movie that, to my memory, wasn't heavily promoted. I'd imagine streaming and pay TV would bring it to profitable, even under the wonky accounting of film.
 
Transformers and Clue had built-in backstories that easily translated into a movie format. This is basically working with a blank slate.

Transformers I'd give you but Clue having a built in backstory? It has an extremely basic narrative that drives the game, hardly in depth lore.

A blank slate should be a good thing. That's basically what Clue was. Inject the basic premise of robot action with memorable characters, an engaging story and popping visuals and it could easily turn into a great movie. I get the jokey nature of turning whatever nostalgic kiddie game into a live action movie but if that IP gets peoples' foot in the door there's no reason to think you can't turn it into a good movie.
 
I know Real Steal was basically a Rock 'em Sock 'em movie, but they made that 10 years ago and I don't care what anyone says, the movie was pretty enjoyable and fun. It also focused on a father son relationship, which Hugh Jackman nailed... which is exactly what this is.
 
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I know Real Steal was basically a Rock 'em Sock 'em movie, but they made that 10 years ago and I don't care what anyone says, the movie was pretty enjoyable and fun. It also focused on a father son relationship, which Hugh Jackman nailed... which is exactly what this is.
Yeah but that movie worked because Hugh Jackman is a phenomenal actor. Replace Hugh with Vin and I don’t think the emotional center would be there.
 
Yeah but that movie worked because Hugh Jackman is a phenomenal actor. Replace Hugh with Vin and I don’t think the emotional center would be there.
Oh, i'm not trying to insinuate that this will be a good movie, more that the exact movie with the fighting robots and emotional family story exists already. :lol:
 
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