Economics of movie theaters

Quote: ams288

I read somewhere that Hugh Jackman took a pay cut in order to get the studio to allow an R-rating for Logan (I'm sure he'll make it up and then some on the back end).

Well it paid off extremely well. Supposedly his pay for X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) was $20M. I suspect that Hugh Jackman will make another Wolverine movie. That kind of box office success virtually guarantees that he can earn $50M to $100M for another film in the franchise.

Once the points are paid on Logan,Jackman may make $50M for this movie.

Worldwide millions
X-Men: Days of Future Past $747.9
X-Men: Apocalypse $543.9 (cameo)
X-Men: The Last Stand $459.4
Logan $444.9 (12 days in release)
The Wolverine $414.8
X2: X-Men United $407.7
X-Men Origins: Wolverine$373.1
X-Men $296.3

Dafne Keen (b 2005) who plays the mutant Laura (X-23) in the 2017 film has a golden opportunity for an 11 year old. She should end up incredibly wealthy by the time she reaches her 20's.

Quote: Pacomartin

Development of Logan began in November 2013.

I stand by my cynical assessment.

Quote: Nareed

I stand by my cynical assessment.

Well you are correct about success breeds copies. In the early 1970's there was a string of R-rated hits competing with the PG movies

R-rated (movie tickets sold)
M.A.S.H. Fox 53,684,200 1970
The Exorcist WB 103,208,600 1973
The Godfather Par. 78,646,400 1972
Blazing Saddles WB 63,227,500 1974
The Rocky Horror Picture Show Fox 55,069,400 1975
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest UA 53,685,400 1975

PG-rated (movie tickets sold)
The Sting Uni. 89,142,900 1973
Jaws Uni. 128,078,800 1975
Star Wars Fox 142,734,000 1977

Quote: Pacomartin

Well you are correct about success breeds copies. In the early 1970's there was a string of R-rated hits competing with the PG movies

K: We'll neuralize the whole town. It's not as though we haven't done it before
J: So that's why they keep making the same movie!

That's clever and funny, but wrong. The real explanation is found in:

Pinky: How about if the brash, young mouse learns from the older mouse?
Producer: That's brilliant!
Brain: But you said you wanted something different.
Producer: Different enough so we don't get sued.

I've always had the presumption that the big movie theater chains (AMC, Cinemark, Regal, etc) all charge similarly egregious prices for tickets. Perhaps there might be a buck or 2 difference here or there, but in general there's no point in shopping around 'cause you're gonna get screwed no matter where you go.

I was wrong.

Or at least I was wrong when it comes to daytime matinee shows. My local AMC charges over twice as much for matinees as my local Century (owned by Cinemark). That's a remarkable difference considering that the product is virtually identical. (On an unrelated note: parking at my Century is free, whereas there's a fee to park at AMC, though I blame that on the shopping center management, not the theater.)

Tickets for the night time shows are slightly less than $2 different between the two chains, so the key here is to find an early show. Frankly, Century/Cinemark should be advertising these matinee prices rather aggressively to woo over the price-sensitive customers.