Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

[Dback Jon]

This is one of the things that I think the writer's strike is very important for. Investors should be wanting it too. Right now the streaming services are black boxes when it comes to the numbers and they can play all kinds of games. "Sell" the movie to your own service for $300m so that the movie is in the black but the service takes the loss since the service losing money more expected in it right now but then pay the talent based on the service's numbers. It's a hell of a shell game that the studios can play to cover their behinds while screwing over the talent and investors.

Or sell for less, claim a loss on movie that pays actors percentage of profit, etc.

Yes, an area ripe for abuse.

 

[Cheesebeef]

This relates to the question I had on Elemental.

And yes, it is going to be streamed on Disney+, but they will have to assign some type of value to it (and very much an area they could play with numbers.

Based on Covert's post, Elemental on the open market could fetch $100-$200 million from a streaming service. Combined with projected box office of $450M, that takes it from a flop to a modest profit.

But it won’t be on the open market. That will go straight to Disney+. Sending it elsewhere devalues their own streaming service.

 

[Covert Rain]

One quibble here is that most big movies right now arent being sold from studios to streamer because most studios have their own streaming services that are vertically integrated (meaning the studio keeps the movie for themselves and exclusively platforms it onto its own streamer rather than sell to another).

Studios like Sony and Lionsgate are still selling to the Netflix/Amazon’s because they don’t have their own streaming services, but take Dial Of Destiny for example… Disney isn’t gonna make money selling that to a streaming service because it’s going to be exclusively platformed on Disney +.

That also said, that is just starting to change in TV. We’re starting to see the HBOMAXs of the world yank their WB owned properties off their streaming service to make more money and license those shows to streamers. But that’s not happening yet with recent movies.

Yep, I just assumed people wouldn't assume Disney is selling streaming rights to someone else. Although, some of the streaming services are not available in every single market. Plus, the TV network, cable rights, VOD, merch are also negotiated.

Point being that the movies have to be in the REALM of feasibility counting other revenue sources to stand a chance breaking even or make a profit.

 

[Dback Jon]

But it won’t be on the open market. That will go straight to Disney+. Sending it elsewhere devalues their own streaming service.

Correct. But you have to value it internally as if it was going on the open market.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Correct. But you have to value it internally as if it was going on the open market.

Particularly if you have two different profit centers, which I’m sure is the case here. It will be an internal accounting thing - common at very large multi-profit center corporations. As was previously discussed, ripe for ratf***ery.

 

[Dback Jon]

Particularly if you have two different profit centers, which I’m sure is the case here. It will be an internal accounting thing - common at very large multi-profit center corporations. As was previously discussed, ripe for ratf***ery.

Yup - if nothing else, executive bonuses are tied to profits, so no film executive is going to make their film less profitable just to help another executive look better.

In addition, most films are set up under stand-alone separate LLC's (generally wholly owned by the parent company). The accounting rules would dictate fair market sales.

I would also not be surprised if 10-20% of the stated cost of film is related to internal allocations - executive time, fees for use of lots, equipment, etc that doesn't go away if they film isn't made (while not fully applicable for an animated film, a sound stage rental, even if owned by Disney, would be charged to the film. Sound stage is a fixed cost. Also, I would be shocked if there is not some type of IP fee - generally these are set up as overseas companies in tax shelter countries like the Bahamas. Even though they are 100% owned by Disney/Pixar, they will charge 10% or so to the film for the right to use Pixar's IP (name, etc). As Dr. Jones stated in the Elemental thread, the Pixar name has value, and the parent charges the film a fee to use it.


This allows Disney to shelter income from US taxes.

 

[Town Drunk]

Just watched this on a flight. Entertaining. Definitely a nostalgic watch, lots of nods to the original trilogy. Predictable, some plot holes. Way better than the 4th film.

 

[puckhead]

Goes live on Disney+ today. I'm looking forward to checking it out.

 

[UncleChris]

Finally got around to watching this. I liked it quite a bit, every bit as much as Temple of Doom, maybe even a bit more. Lotsa nice things to say about it and only a couple of complaints (keeping in mind that Raiders and Last Crusade are miles above the other three). Nice CGI on Ford. Decent plot (no more ridiculous than the rest, except for Crystal Skull ) Thought Phoebe Waller-Bridge was somewhat irritating. The kid was okay, but a bit overdone. Wife thought there was a bit too much fighting. Great to see Sallah and Marion, albeit briefly. Good bad guys. I give it a solid 4 out of 5 stars in its genre, 3.5 out of 5 overall. However..... time to put Mr. Ford to bed, methinks. At least for any more Raiders movies.

 

[Stout]

Oh, I thought I'd gotten around to commenting on this. I did it as a free treadmill viewing. I wanted my money back. This was so, so bad. No, bad is the wrong word. It was sad. They tried to use every single possible trope in the series, and they all fell absolutely flat. Ford is far too old for the part. Wombat was an awful call back to an awful movie and brought nothing to the table. There was one good line about invading Poland and a neat bit about Indy and history, but that is really all there was to enjoy. Maybe five to ten minutes worth of good mixed in with garbage. Sad to see how the franchise fell, and they decided to keep falling.

 

[puckhead]

We watched this and enjoyed it. That said, I can hardly remember anything that stood out. Probably a good time for this to ride off into the sunset.