> He went to their office to have a look at the accounting books and found out that they were making $80 million loss. So he looked down at the expense items an

> He went to their office to have a look at the accounting books and found out that they were making $80 million loss. So he looked down at the expense items and he noticed a big expense item of $140 million. This is how every major film works. Sometimes that offset will be for future films, sometimes it will be a charge for "marketing and promotion" paid to a child company of the studio, but no matter what you call it you don't make a blockbuster film without this kind of funny bookkeeping. Warner Brothers claimed a $167 million dollar loss on Harry Potter: Order of the Phoenix, a film that made nearly a billion dollars in theaters. https://www.slashfilm.com/insane-studio-accounting-warner-bros-claims-167-million-loss-over-harry-potter-and-the-order-of-the-phoenix/ https://www.slashfilm.com/insane-studio-accounting-warner-br... See the incredible profit/loss sheet there. Top talent – A-list stars – negotiate for gross points. Daniel Radcliffe likely made a percentage of 600 million. Secondary stars might've got a percentage of gross after the "distribution fee" (paid to the same studio making the movie). Everybody else got a percentage of negative one hundred sixty seven million.