Not Every ‘Big Budget’ Feature Film is a Success
Why some Films flop at the Box Office

By Tom Richards, staff writer

As a novel and screenwriter by profession, I’ll watch at least five feature films every week. By reviewing the ‘Good, the Bad and the Ugly’ I continue to learn my craft by studying great screenwriters, directors, producers, actors and many crew members.

As a novel and screenwriter by profession, I’ll watch at least five feature films every week. By reviewing the ‘Good, the Bad and the Ugly’ I continue to learn my craft by studying great screenwriters, directors, producers, actors and many crew members.

be more than $10m higher. With marketing costs stacked on top of that, says Variety, One Battle After Another “is tracking to lose $100 million”.

One hundred million U.S. dollars is a great deal of cash for even a Hollywood Production Company.  While Hollywood protects its IP Projects with sequels and Major Franchises, smaller Independent Filmmakers can’t afford to take a loss on any Project. To paraphrase the above writer of the BBC review, if no one is going to pay for a ticket to see DiCaprio, what will an audience pay for?

One area that continues to show staggering growth, high profits and a high Return on Investment is Animation. Within that large segment of the Film Production Market, Animated Family Comedies show the most potential due to the fact that that smaller sub-segment is continuing to show skyrocketing growth to meet continuing Demand. It is for that reason that I made the decision to put off a Live Action Feature Film that was in late Pre-Production and instead focus our company’s meagre financial resources on a new Product which is now in Production. Lost Lovers…or Why My Fiancé Lost Me 3 Times on My Wild Journey Around the World! is a rip-roaring Family Comedy which has already received Bankable Support from the State of Illinois in the form of a Film Tax Credit. While the small company Board continues to search for other sources of Investment Finance, this writer is responsible for rewriting Acts Two and Three in order to precisely meet the Demand for a Global Audience, rather than the Audiences of only a few countries.

Animated Feature Films have been in high demand ever since Walt Disney first animated Mickey Mouse in Steamboat Willy. At that point, Disney had not idea he was creating a ‘Wave’ of fun that would someday lead to the development of Animated short films, cartoons and Feature Films that were – and are still – watched by Audiences around the world. One thing led to another, and now the Walt Disney Corporation is one of the largest Entertainment businesses in the world.

The CEO of my company has no idea at this point if the launch of our first Animated Comedy Feature will lead to profits or not. Disney himself had no idea when he first put pen to paper to draw a little black mouse. If our Feature Film does as well as we hope it will do, the profits generated will finance our first Live action film. If that does well? You know the rest. We won’t ever be a Disney Corporation but we could end up being a larger Independent Film Production Company. So could any small Independent Production Company. All we need is a break now and then and one heck of a lot of luck.

Big Budget Blockbusters truly can miss their Revenue and Profitability targets. After watching the entire big budget Feature on Netflix, A House of Dynamite, I immediately logged onto Rotten Tomatoes. Giving his horrible Feature Film a 1.5, I wrote that I couldn’t understand why some well known Stars had ever attached themselves to this horrendous film about Nuclear Warfare and possible Global Annihilation. Without revealing the end of the story, I’ll only say the Director and Writer never gave viewers a final denouement. While a very clever way of telling a story, this feature film was less than satisfying. Few will be satisfied when watching this however, if you’re a student of Cinema as I am, you’ll watch it to the bitter end.