Best Movie Studio Distributor

[sarcasm_made_Easy]

lol, i was being sarcastic man, SARCASM heh. 

[BathTub]

hehe, harsh man, harsh. 

[mrbasehart]

well I gotta say that I disagree with your numbers here... Jackson made at least 250 million alone... something in your production numbers seems off (unless salaries dont count as production?)

I'm pasting them directly from www.boxofficemojo.com.  Jackson's 250 would've come as gross points: profit made from the film, not before their release.

[Minnesota]

meh, technicalities & industry terms, I'm curious which salaries "officially" count as production? say you have a hypothetical movie wherein Tom Cruise gets "gross points"(?) and nets 50 mill... in that same movie the other actors get set wages which I assume count as production ... technicalities in my opinion (as far as I'm concerned that money is production/salary/rights whatever; when it comes to discussing the cost of the LOTR films there are dozens of considerations, consider that IMDB tidbit I mentioned, then add up Jacksons salary, promotions, advertising budjet... movies are expensive, no reason to pretend that LOTR didn't cost HUNDREDS of millions  (dare I say a potential billion?) dollars ... it only seems fair when compairing "profits" to "production" that the details get added in the equation too

I guess what I was basicaly trying to originaly say is that LOTR wasn't exactly made 'on the cheap' like some numbers and websites claim

[sarcasm_made_Easy]

yeah i thought it was made "on the new zealand"

[roguescout]

Well, since United Artists isn't on the list, I'll have to go with MGM in the battle of the big boys.

[BathTub]

yeah i thought it was made "on the new zealand"

Yeah that was the idea, the exchange rate comes into effect.

[mrbasehart]

I guess what I was basicaly trying to originaly say is that LOTR wasn't exactly made 'on the cheap' like some numbers and websites claim

I agree, but even if the trilogy was made for a billion dollars all in, it still tripled New Line's investment.  That's the kind of money Scrooge McDuck swims in.   

[Petey Wheatstraw]

Well, since United Artists isn't on the list, I'll have to go with MGM in the battle of the big boys.

United Artists doesn't exist anymore. It went under in the early 1980s after the Heaven's Gate fiasco (the famous movie bomb, not the cult), and was bought out by MGM. After MGM was bought out by Sony, references to UA disappeared completely.

[Minnesota]

Doesnt Tom Cruise own United Artists?  (I'm serious by the way)

[Petey Wheatstraw]

Doesnt Tom Cruise own United Artists?  (I'm serious by the way)

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Artists#The_Cruise.2FWagner_Era:

On November 2, 2006, MGM announced that actor Tom Cruise and his long-time production partner Paula Wagner were resurrecting United Artists. (This announcement came after the duo ended a fourteen-year production relationship at Viacom-based Paramount Pictures earlier that year). Cruise and Wagner acquired a small stake in the studio, with the approval by MGM's consortium of owners.

The deal gives them control over production, from development to the "green-lighting" of films. Wagner was named CEO of United Artists, which will have an annual slate of four films with different budget ranges, while Cruise serves as a producer for the revamped studio as well as serving as the occasional star.

Guess I was wrong.

[scottrkrv]

Well, since United Artists isn't on the list, I'll have to go with MGM in the battle of the big boys.

United Artists doesn't exist anymore. It went under in the early 1980s after the Heaven's Gate fiasco (the famous movie bomb, not the cult), and was bought out by MGM. After MGM was bought out by Sony, references to UA disappeared completely.

As long as "we're" bringing this subject up:

Miramax is owned by Disney
New Line is owned by Time/Warner
Columbia/Tristar (not on the list) and MGM is owned by Sony

These are just from the top of my head, and I could do a more thorough search but am too lazy.

[sarcasm_made_Easy]

Yeah that was the idea, the exchange rate comes into effect.

Oh sure turn my bad pun into some sort of "actual" useful comment, i feel used

[Sharktopus]

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Artists#The_Cruise.2FWagner_Era:

On November 2, 2006, MGM announced that actor Tom Cruise and his long-time production partner Paula Wagner were resurrecting United Artists. (This announcement came after the duo ended a fourteen-year production relationship at Viacom-based Paramount Pictures earlier that year). Cruise and Wagner acquired a small stake in the studio, with the approval by MGM's consortium of owners.

The deal gives them control over production, from development to the "green-lighting" of films. Wagner was named CEO of United Artists, which will have an annual slate of four films with different budget ranges, while Cruise serves as a producer for the revamped studio as well as serving as the occasional star.

It's nice to see UA going back to its roots in a way. United Artists was founded by movie stars Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, and director DW Griffith during a time when movie studios were dominated by men more interested in making money than art (Not that things are so different now...) thus the name United Artists. When I was little we went to a UA cineplex, so every movie I saw for years had the UA logo in front of it. That, combined with the Bond movies, has given me a bit of a soft spot for United Artists.

[roguescout]

Well said. UA has always been something special in Hollywood.