Part 6/10:
Why Most Big Movies Struggle to Turn a Profit
Now, let’s examine what happens if the studio doubles or triples its marketing budget—a common strategy to maximize blockbuster potential. Increasing marketing to, say, $200 million on top of production costs skyrockets the total expenditure.
In that scenario, a superhero blockbuster might need over $800 million globally just to recover costs, let alone turn a profit. For context, most films do not gross that much, and studios tend to be conservative in their claims of profitability. When they do talk about success, it’s often relative—a “win” can be modest compared to the enormous costs.