# Big budget movies - where does the money go?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-budget-movies-where-does-the-money-go/426850>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [November 17, 2007, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-budget-movies-where-does-the-money-go/426850 "2007-11-17T18:38:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![athelas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@athelas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/athelas)\
**Post date:** [November 17, 2007, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-budget-movies-where-does-the-money-go/426850/1 "2007-11-17T18:38:28Z")

</div>

When we hear that a movie cost $100M to make (Let’s say _Gladiator_, for example), how is that money usually spent? How much goes for sets, actor salaries, special effects, writers, actual filming equipment, etc.?

Also, why are foreign films often cheaper to produce than American ones? (For example, [Day Watch](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_watch), which looks like a $50-70M production, actually only cost $4.2M.)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\
**Post date:** [November 17, 2007, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-budget-movies-where-does-the-money-go/426850/2 "2007-11-17T18:41:13Z")

</div>

[QUOTE=athelas]  
Also, why are foreign films often cheaper to produce than American ones? (For example, [Day Watch](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_watch), which looks like a $50-70M production, actually only cost $4.2M.)  
[/QUOTE]

I’d imagine the dollar goes a little farther in Russia than it does in Hollywood or even Vancouver, the movie world’s favorite American city.

Star salaries cannot be discounted either. Before a dime was spent on anything else, big name stars like Russell Crowe or Will Smith get $20 million.

But I don’t care how much they make, I am _psyched_ for I Am Legend.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Shamozzle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shamozzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shamozzle)\
**Post date:** [November 17, 2007, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-budget-movies-where-does-the-money-go/426850/3 "2007-11-17T19:26:09Z")

</div>

I would imagine that it is super easy to burn money in movie production. In a large scale production you need to feed, house, and move dozens of people, rent or buy tons of very expensive equipment and move it around, construct insanely large and detailed sets, and drop millions of dollars on post-production. I imagine that the money goes fast.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\
**Post date:** [November 17, 2007, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-budget-movies-where-does-the-money-go/426850/4 "2007-11-17T20:19:57Z")

</div>

[Sample page from a motion picture production budget](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c9/Sophocles_Budget_Page.png) (despite the header, not really from _Casablanca_, which cost only $1 million to make). Post-production costs, especially marketing, add millions more.

[More from that sample budget](http://www.sophocles.net/beta/Budget.pdf).