How do they figure how much a movie makes when it’s released? I figure each theater has to pay $X to the studio. Does this figure vary according to the movie? Also, is the ticketing computerized so the studio gets their fair share of the tickets sold? What’s the split between the theater and the studio? I read a mid-day report of the “Passion” proceeds, and they already had an idea what they were going to rake in. Is there some kind of automatic reporting that they can tap into to see how the day is going?
The studios poll a sample of the theaters showing their movies and ask about ticket sales, then extrapolate based on the total number of theaters showing the movie. I don’t know if these polls are computerized or if they simply call and ask.
When a movie is first released, the studio gets the bulk of the ticket revenue (sometimes 90%). The longer the movie stays in theaters, the higher a share the theater gets. So after a couple weeks, the studio take may drop to 70%, then 60%, then 40%, and so on. That’s how dollar-theaters can stay in business – they only show movies that are a year old.