How the success of a film is measured in economic terms

The new film of ‘Super Mario Bros.’ has represented one of the most successful theatrical releases of an animated film in recent yearsmanaging to raise more than 377 million dollarsdisplacing the record held by ‘Frozen 2’, which raised 358 million dollars in 2019.

Definitely, the furor generated by the film inspired by the popular video game character from the Japanese company Nintendo has resulted in a commercial successdespite the criticism it has received from media specialized in the seventh art.

(A new streaming platform is born: HBO Max and Discovery+ merge).

However, at what point can a film be considered a commercial success? Andrés Mossos, director, producer and film professor at the Central Universityexplained to Portafolio how a film can be considered a success in monetary terms.

“From a financial standpoint, commercial success is when the cost of creation and production, including salaries, is less than what is collected from the film.”.

(Netflix, Whatsapp and other platforms preferred by Colombians).

However, according to the expert, A true financial success for a film production company has to be seen represented in how much higher that amount of collection is compared to the expenses that the entire creative and advertising process of a film product had.

“A movie can be worth a million dollars is a commercial success when, by mathematical logic, it doubles or triples its cost in earnings. That is something that is very much demanded of cinema. When a film doubles in value, it was a success, but when it triples in value, it is recognized as a commercial success.”, explained Mossos.

(Warner Bros. celebrates a century: its milestones and its mark in the industry).

Success in profitable terms is what the big American production companies aim for when launching a film. However, the revenues that can be received also have other sources, such as marketing or sponsorships.

“That happens with Hollywood movies. They have a cost of the film and consider it a success if the collection doubles or triples this value, taking into account that the income from the films is not only movie tickets. There are also other things like taxes, as well as sales to platforms and channels”, he added.

In the case of the Colombian film industry, Mossos explained that, for the local market, there have been many examples of films that have been financially successfultaking into account factors such as Law 814 of 2003known as the ‘LHey from Cinemawhich allows productions made in the country to have state financing, through the Fund for Cinematographic Development (FDC).

(These will be the premieres of the Walt Disney Company in April).

“By having a cinema that has subsidies, tax relief, sponsorships and tax reduction laws, its costs are minimized and, in this way, the producers receive much more than what a film can generate”, explained the expert.

Finally, Mossos gave several examples of Colombian films that have resulted in resounding financial successes throughout the country’s history, citing several directors with a long history in the Colombian film industry.

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“Gustavo Nieto Roa’s films, such as ‘The millionaire taxi driver’, can be a good example, as well as Jairo Pinilla’s horror films such as ‘Sinister Funeral’, or Dago García’s films, which are basically made-up novels. movies released every December 25 and that turn out to be a box office success”.

JUAN MARTIN MURILLO HERRERA
Portfolio Journalist