5 ms·

Congrats to Tenet for hitting break-even last week, despite tanking at the U.S. box office. https://variety.com/2020/film/box-office/tenet-box-office-christoph

• ponker 6y ago
  Goes to show how 80+% of countries have basically solved Covid.
  • cwhiz 6y ago
    The US seems intent on not reopening even in places that clearly have covid under control. For example, NYC. Just what exactly are they waiting on? Has the curve not been profoundly flattened? How many cases per day until they feel safe reopening?
    • bleepblorp 6y ago
      Viruses spread exponentially. It only takes one case to start a massive outbreak. No matter how many cases there are today, anywhere that 'reopens' will have unacceptably high case numbers sooner rather than later. Nowhere can return to what used to be normal ('reopen') until enough people have been vaccinated--with a truly effective vaccine--to prevent new outbreaks from spreading. This will take years or decades.
      • XorNot 6y ago
        Also with hospital beds and an exponentially spreading virus, once you're at 50% capacity (sounds like you've got a lot of headroom right?) you're actually out of beds and over flowing by the next wave (2-3 weeks later with this disease).
      • cwhiz 6y ago
        Okay so if cases start going back up, shut things back down.
        • ceejayoz 6y ago
          There's unfortunately a pretty fine line between "oh good, we shut down in time" and "oh shit, there's an out of control growth of infections" that makes that somewhat difficult.
          • cwhiz 6y ago
            Recovering from a destroyed local economy is also somewhat difficult. Economic despair and anxiety is not without its own health consequences, either. NYC has had about the same number of daily cases for 3 months.
            • ceejayoz 6y ago
              > NYC has had about the same number of daily cases for 3 months. Given exponential growth, that’s a “stay the course” indicator, not “loosen up”.
              • cwhiz 6y ago
                Meanwhile, the city is dying. MTA debt is up to $18 billion, population is shrinking rapidly, and stores and restaurants are closing at record rates. We’ve gone from everything is closed to most things are partially open, and the rates are the same. Time to stop burning the local economy to the ground.
                • ceejayoz 6y ago
                  You're under the impression that'll be all better with an out-of-control pandemic raging through the city again?
        • toast0 6y ago
          Here's the thing, even if testing was instant, people are likely to get tests only after they have symptoms and symptoms appear after people are contagious. Basically the test numbers we get today show us what the spread was like two weeks ago. And it takes time to shut things back down. This makes it really hard to open up, unless the situation is really good, because there's a good chance of overwhelmimg system again before you have a chance to lockdown.
      • matz1 6y ago
        Yes the virus spread exponentially but for vast majority cases it either asymptomatic or only mild symptoms. Definitely does not warrant a lockdown.
        • bleepblorp 6y ago
          This kind of advice kills people.
          • DuskStar 6y ago
            Every kind of advice kills people. For instance, lockdown advice has caused a lot of "deaths of despair" in the US, and the economic damage will kill countless more in the future. That doesn't make it not worth it! But it IS a tradeoff.
        • heavyset_go 6y ago
          This is wishful thinking that borders on magical thinking.
          • matz1 6y ago
            How is it magical thinking?
• iwasakabukiman 6y ago
  There's no way that $200 million is break even for that movie. The budget alone was $200 million, which doesn't factor in marketing...which will probably be higher than normal since they had to run a marketing campaign multiple times as it was pushed back throughout the months. Often times that alone can be as much as the movie budget.
  • teruakohatu 6y ago
    With Hollywood Accounting they would have inflated the costs as much as legally possible.
  • ComputerGuru 6y ago
    But the marketing isn’t done by the studio, it’s undertaken by the distributor. Different pockets, right? You can’t reconcile line items across different accounts (although I hear Hollywood is very creative with accounting).
• EgoIncarnate 6y ago
  It didn't break even yet. Looks like's its maybe half way. The ticket price is split with the theater, so the movie only gets part. You need the box office receipts to be larger (usually 2x+) than the production + marketing costs. From the article "Given its $200 million production budget, the movie needs to reach approximately $400 million worldwide to break even and closer to $450 million to get out of the red and into the black."
• gdulli 6y ago
  There's no basis for calling it a failure (or success) since many theaters aren't open and the ones that are have a limited capacity. And there's no covid box office precedent. They clearly didn't release it thinking it might perform up to pre-covid standards. They knew they were sacrificing a big opening and they obviously figured they'd take a hit but make most of it up with a longer run, bluray, rerelease, etc.
  • magicalhippo 6y ago
    > the ones that are have a limited capacity I got to see it at a local theater capable of showing the 70mm version, and they had sectioned off two seats between any person or couples. So effectively they had less than half of the normal capacity. On the bright side for them, it's been sold out 4+ weeks in advance for quite a while now.