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With regards to the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy: Cathleen Blackburn, lawyer for the Tolkien Estate in Oxford, recounts ironically, "These hugely popul
by kqr2 14y ago
With regards to the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy:
Cathleen Blackburn, lawyer for the Tolkien Estate in
Oxford, recounts ironically, "These hugely popular films
apparently did not make any profit! We were receiving
statements saying that the producers did not owe the
Tolkien Estate a dime."
In "Hollywood Accounting", a $19 million movie can make $150 million and still not be profitable.
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20121018/01054720744/hollywood-accounting-how-19-million-movie-makes-150-million-still-isnt-profitable.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20121018/01054720744/hollyw...
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2010/05/the_friday_podcast_angelina_sh.html http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2010/05/the_friday_podcast_an...
- pm90 14y agoWe all know what high ethical standards the movie industry adheres to. The lawyers they hire must be experts in these accounting shenanigans
- vidarh 14y agoTheir lawyers don't need to be experts: It's trivial. It boils down to buying services and rights from other companies you control, such as production companies for past movies you didn't grant royalties for to channel the revenue straight out again.
- Evbn 14y agoIf the transactions aren't arms length, he IRS and SEC can punch right through them and see that there was a large gift made from one side to the other, for purposes of tax evasion. But for whatever reason, the courts don't give the same protections to private counterparties.
- tsotha 14y agoIsn't it amazing how wildly successful films like The Return of the Jedi never made a dime, and yet Hollywood seems eager to make more every year?
- TheAmazingIdiot 14y agoI'd like to see this used as evidence that the movie viewing may cost 12$ for a ticket, the movies are actually worth negative dollars. Use their own tax cheating against themselves.
- ojbyrne 14y agoJust to be somewhat fair, the next paragraph describes the Tolkien estate filing a lawsuit and getting 7.5% of the actual profits. Yes, it's still horrible, but it's not that different from Silicon Valley or any other US business.
- curiousdannii 14y agoIf films aren't making any profit then how are they being hurt by file sharing?
- nikcub 14y agoyou are combining two very broad generalizations there
- curiousdannii 14y agoThat is how most attempts at humour come about...
- chris_wot 14y agoIt's also how Hollywood can demonize file sharing!