How To Make A Billion Dollars At The Box Office 5. Don't Squander Your Budget On Stars...
Looking at these films, you might think that movie stars don't matter anymore, and to an extent that's true: they make the difference between $50m - $500m, not $500m - $1bn. A couple of well-chosen up-and-comers (Kate 'n' Leo; Sam 'n' Zoe; Keira 'n' Orlando) are more useful here than the $20 million paycheque boys - with the bonus that you might still be able to afford them for the sequel. Now admittedly, some of the leads of these films look like stars and are talked about like stars, but generally that's come after the films' success and not before - or at least after they were cast in these roles. So Craig wasn't an A-lister pre-Bond; Evans and Hemsworth were hardly big names pre-Cap and Thor; and Daniel Radcliffe doesn't command (or need) huge salaries outside Potter. These are not Hanks or Cruises, in other words.
Have Your Say
Agree with our tips? What other essential ingredients do you think are required to make a $1 billion movie? Register or login now to have your say.
Your Comments
1
RE:
Posted on Monday May 28, 2012, 13:34 by Rebecca Juan
Posted on Thursday May 24, 2012, 23:32 by Evil_Bob
may be a historical event - but the movie is basically female fantasy. Repressed girl meets guy who opens her horizons and helps her to become the person she wants to be. They engage in a brief but passionate romance. Then he dies (meaning his memory will never be tarnished) and she struggles on becoming a better and deeper person as a result. PURE. FEMALE. FANTASY. f thats how you're definining it then there isn't a film on the entire All time box office list from 1-1000 that isn't fantasty to some description.
You know right well what they're talking about with calling Titanic non-fantasy. Apart from the obvious historical settings it features characters that have no magical powers, no extraordinary abilities, are clearly human, not animated, non-extra terrestrial and have events happen to them that while unlikely are not beyond the realm of possibility.
As saccharine as it sounds people do fall in love every day and people do have tumultuos relationships, often rendered diffiRead More
3
RE: Puny film snobs.
Posted on Thursday May 24, 2012, 17:21 by Whistler
Posted on Thursday May 24, 2012, 13:39 by Evil_Bob
"Debatable religious figures"
Presuming of course that we are talking about Jesus and The Passion of the Christ (just sneaked in as well at number 64) I would like to point out that its not debatable that Jesus is a religious figure.
He is.
Whether he existed or not is also not debatable.
He did.
What is debatable is whether he was the son of God and performed miracles etc etc
He didn't
Either way I appreciate the sentiment. I had lolz. Read More
5
RE:
Posted on Thursday January 7, 2010, 16:04 by Chrisseh
L: lona_no_friends
So basically make a film that doesn't aspire to tell a decent story or conform to any of those rules for actually making a heartfelt film and go for something that idiots will love. Good
o sh!t sherlock. This isn't a how to make a fantastic film article, its a how to make a crap load of money article. Not everyone in the world is a keen eye movie critic.
Read More
