It looks like Warner Bros is in for a serious financial hit despite the awards buzz surrounding Paul Thomas Anderson's latest movie 'One Battle After Another'. According to people in the know - studio executives who spoke to film finance gurus - the film is on track to lose around $100 million at the box office, according to 'Variety'.
Although it's done okay so far, raking in $140 million worldwide, the report suggests that in order to actually break even itll need to take in a minimum of $300 million.
A huge budget and some seriously high star salaries
Warner Bros stumped up $130 million to get the film into production and then another $70 million to promote it. And then there's the matter of Leonardo DiCaprio's contract. He's one of those 'first-dollar gross' types - so Warner Bros has to take a cut of the profits before they even start getting their money back. That's obviously going to make it a lot harder to make a profit.
Studio denial and some actual successes
Warner Bros is having none of it, of course. "Weve been misquoted by anonymous sources," says their spokesperson. "All our films are doing really well this year - including 'One Battle After Another'. Weve taken in over $4 billion so far," they claim. And they're not lying - Warner Bros is the only studio to have hit that mark so far this year.
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Despite all the negative stuff about 'One Battle After Another' Warner Bros has had an otherwise pretty good year. Theyve got seven films that have grossed over $40 million domestically - that's some serious cash. Films like 'A Minecraft Movie', 'Superman', and 'The Conjuring: Lost Writs' have all done really well.
But 'One Battle After Another' has broken that winning streak - and not in a good way, either. Domestically it's taken a paltry $21 million.
Going for gold
One thing that might make Warner Bros less concerned about all this is the fact that 'One Battle After Another' is in the running for an Oscar. It's already being talked about as one of the best films of the year, and it's a serious contender for Best Picture. That kind of prestige can only be a good thing for the studio.
Pamela Abdy and Michael De Luca - the Chiefs at Warner Bros Motion Picture Group - have recently signed on for another go-round, and there are a whole bunch of big-budget films coming up next year. We're talking about things like 'Wuthering Heights' from Emerald Fennell and Maggie Gyllenhaal's 'The Bride!' - all that kind of thing.
All of which means that film analysts are saying that 'One Battle After Another' might bring some long-term benefits to Warner Bros in the form of Oscars, even if it does end up losing them some cash at the box office.