Okay, forget that 11.8 N.Y. Times/Michael Cieply estimate about Avatar costing its backers close to $500 million. (A little over $300 million to make, over $150 million to market, something like that.) The budget for Avatar, a Fox spokesperson has “bluntly” told The Wrap‘s Dominic Patten, “is $237 million, with $150 million for promotion, end of story.”
Patten writes that “presuming Fox’s $387 million compounded figure is accurate, the film should have no problem getting into the black. A $400 million score at the worldwide box office — not a stretch by any means for a film of this caliber — will provide a revenue base that, when combined with home video sales, TV and other licensing, should add up to a profit. Global home-video revenues for films of comparable budgets range from $314 million for The Dark Knight to $133 million for the critically panned Spider-Man 3.”