# Movie earning to cost site **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 8, 2005, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-earning-to-cost-site/283689 "2005-01-08T02:59:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2005, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-earning-to-cost-site/283689/1 "2005-01-08T02:59:56Z")
I am looking for a site that shows the ratio of the cost of a movie to its earnings. For instance, everyone seems to hate Van Helsing (which I kinda liked.) I’m wondering what the cost was VS. the earnings (and whether or not there will be a sequel. Of course, that is speculation based on the ratio.) Does such a site exist? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2005, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-earning-to-cost-site/283689/2 "2005-01-08T03:07:34Z")
[Here’s a site](http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/records/allbudgets.php) that gives the budgets and earnings of some movies. It doesn’t give ratios, but it shouldn’t be hard to figure out. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2005, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-earning-to-cost-site/283689/3 "2005-01-08T03:09:05Z")
Crap! It [does give some info](http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/records/budgets.html). Just scroll down. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2005, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-earning-to-cost-site/283689/4 "2005-01-08T05:39:06Z")
Just look the movie up on the IMDb. On the left of the main page for the movie is a list of pages. Click on the “box office & business” page. Here, for instance, is the page for the movie _Van Helsing_: [http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0338526/business](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0338526/business) ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2005, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-earning-to-cost-site/283689/5 "2005-01-08T12:57:52Z")
Deep Throat vs Blair Witch??? When **The Blair Witch Project** completed its theatrical release I remember it being said that it was the most profitable movie of all time (Earninigs/Cost). Now there’s a new documentary coming out called [Inside Deep Throat](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0418753/) which is all about the famous porno, **Deep Throat**. The poster for the documentary lists various facts about the original film. Among these facts is that it was the most profitable film of all time. I was curious to compare the two films so I was glad to see **Mr. Blue Sky** ’s link to **the-numbers** website. But they don’t list **Deep Throat**. So I thought I’d follow **Wendell Wagner** ’s advice and look up the “box office and business” info on imdb. But, imdb doesn’t list **Deep Throat** either. If anyone can help I’d like to know how the two films compare. **the-numbers** website reports this for **The Blair Witch Project** : Cost: $35,000 World Box Office: $248,300,000 This doesn’t seem to include Home Video. So, we need: Blair Witch: home video earnings Deep Throat: Cost, Box Office, Home Video So do the producers of the documentary stand on firm ground with their claim that **Deep Throat** was the most profitable film ever? Who’s up for the Ignorance-Fighting challenge? ---
**Author:** ![scotandrsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@scotandrsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotandrsn)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2005, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-earning-to-cost-site/283689/6 "2005-01-08T15:13:59Z")
> [@bienville](#): > > But, imdb doesn’t list **Deep Throat** either. Here’s the IMDB Box Office and Business page for [Deep Throat](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0068468/business). They have plenty of info on adult material, but you kind of have to finagle your way around the site in order to access it, it’s not linked up to their regular search page. I did a [Power Search](http://www.imdb.com/list) on films with an “X” rating, then narrowed the results to the US, and scrolled down the list. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2005, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-earning-to-cost-site/283689/7 "2005-01-08T17:55:15Z")
[Profoundly Disturbing : The Shocking Movies that Changed History, by Joe Bob Briggs](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0789308444/qid=1105207116/sr=8-4/ref=pd_csp_4/104-5392588-1419936?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) has a revealing chapter on _Deep Throat_. Seems that the mob took over distributing the movie and the grosses simply disappeared into their hands. IIRC, he estimates that the movie made several times as much as those Blair Witch figures, but nobody will ever know the truth. [www.boxofficemojo.com](http://www.boxofficemojo.com) has loads of information on cost vs. gross for films. It’s the most inclusive site I know of. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-earning-to-cost-site/283689/8 "2005-01-09T08:43:27Z")
> [@Exapno Mapcase](#): > > nobody will ever know the truth. :eek: Not even the SDMB communtiy!?!?!? BoxOfficeMojo lists the same earnings for Blair Witch but put the cost at $60,00 rather than $35,000. They don’t have a listing for Deep Throat (unless they have a special “dirty search” function like imdb!). **scotandrsn** ’s imdb link for Deep Throat Box Office only list a Gross for Sweden. perhaps we, in fact, _will_ never know! ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-earning-to-cost-site/283689/9 "2005-01-09T09:21:04Z")
There’s also the matter of adjustment for inflation. Especially when dealing with porn movies, one must always adjust for inflation. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-earning-to-cost-site/283689/10 "2005-01-09T17:54:52Z")
Part of the problem is deciding what the real cost of a film is. It cost $35,000 for _The Blair Witch Project_ up to the point that they showed it to distributors. Many people working on the film had deferred any payment, deciding that they would chance it on being paid only when the film got sold. After the film got sold, it cost something like another $100,000 for the distributors to clean up the sound and look of the print enough to show it. Besides, if you figure the cost of the film in the way that an ordinary studio film is figured, you would have to count in the money that the actors, crew, writer, director, etc. got in their deferred payments, since an ordinary studio film counts those as part of their cost. I think that, in that sense, _The Blair Witch Project_ cost a little more than $1,000,000.