Company Town Film Profit Report

This report is based on projections of total U.S. box-office gross from a consensus of industry sources and studio financial models. The U.S. returns represent only 20% of a film’s final revenue, which includes income from video, TV and overseas theatrical release. Typical industry marketing costs are factored into this profit analysis. Results for the weekend of Oct. 6-8:

Highlights

* “Meet the Parents” should be a major profit center for Universal and DreamWorks, which split costs in return for domestic and international rights respectively.

* The theatrical release for “Digimon: The Movie” is a marketing tool for its home video release, where it should recoup.

* “Get Carter” will lose its entire investment.

$$ Mega-Moneymakers ($50 million or more in profit)

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Box- Estimated office cost, in Movie title Studio rank millions Meet the Parents Universal/DreamWorks 1 $55 Remember the Titans Disney 2 30 Bring It On Universal 8 10

Projected U.S. box-office receipts, Movie title in millions Meet the Parents $105 Remember the Titans 90 Bring It On $68

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$ Moneymakers ($10 million or more in profit)

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Projected Box- Estimated U.S. box-office office cost, in receipts, Movie title Studio rank millions in millions What Lies Beneath DreamWorks/Fox 11 $100 $155 Space Cowboys Warner Bros. 12 65 92 The Exorcist Warner Bros. 4 1 40

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? Tossups ($5 million in profit or loss)

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Projected Box- Estimated U.S. box-office office cost, in receipts, Movie title Studio rank millions in millions The Watcher Universal 9 $33 $30 Nurse Betty USA 10 24 25 Urban Legends 2 Sony 7 14 22 Digimon: The Movie Fox 5 5 10

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Losers (more than $5 million in loss)

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Projected Box- Estimated U.S. box-office office cost, in receipts, Movie title Studio rank millions in millions Almost Famous DreamWorks 6 $60 $36 Get Carter Warner Bros. 3 40 15

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Notes: Cost estimates are for production only. Only half of box-office receipts come back to the studio. If you have information or comments about the chart, call (213) 237-2001 or send e-mail to company.town@latimes.com. Send faxes to (213) 237-7837.