Alien: Covenant Box Office Performance

[Corporal Hicks]

You're a gent. Thank you, Ingwar.

[Ingwar]

You're a gent. Thank you, Ingwar.

I don't know how legit it is but it's all we got. Besides, since you're in good relations with Fox you might ask them

[Corporal Hicks]

I don't want you all to misjudge my communication with them. I'm not privy to financial information or their super secrets plans or anything like that.

[Ingwar]

I don't want you all to misjudge my communication with them. I'm not privy to financial information or their super secrets plans or anything like that.

Hicks, I was kidding

[bb-15]

How much Studios get money/share from $215 million ?

Roughly overall, 1/2 of the box office goes to the studio.

[Ingwar]

How much Studios get money/share from $215 million ?

Roughly overall, 1/2 of the box office goes to the studio.

Domestically yes, but not from the foreign markets. It's more complex that 50/50 share.

[bb-15]

How much Studios get money/share from $215 million ?

Roughly overall, 1/2 of the box office goes to the studio.

Domestically yes, but not from the foreign markets. It's more complex that 50/50 share.

I wrote "Roughly overall". I wanted to give a short answer and imo about 50% was an OK brief description.

But as you point out box office can be complicated.
So, for you I'll be more clear with a long answer.

- It's true that the studio's share of box office varies by country where the film is being shown. 

The percentage of revenues that the exhibitor takes in depends on the individual contract for that film — which in turn depends on how much muscle the distributor has, according to Stone...

generally, how much of the domestic box office revenue goes to the studios?...
if a film only makes $10 million at the box office, the distributor will get only 45 percent of that money. But if a film makes $300 million at the box office, then the distributor gets up to 60 percent of that money...

According to the book The Hollywood Economist by Edward Jay Epstein, studios take in about 40 percent of the revenue from overseas release

http://io9.gizmodo.com/5747305/how-much-money-does-a-movie-need-to-make-to-be-profitable

- So in the end, these calculations are rough guesses.
It is possible for a studio to take in from 45% to 60% of US box office and 40% of overseas box office (which is also a guess since box office varies by country).
I don't know the specific percentages for each movie because those are secret but I'll first use a 50/40 US/overseas spit and then a possible best case for the studio of a 60/40 US/overseas split as described in the io9 article.

* 50/40 US/overseas split;
- Using that, for a film like "Star Trek (2009)" which had 2/3 of its box office in the US, that would mean about 47% goes to the studio.
With "Star Trek Into Darkness" which has about a 50/50 US/overseas box office split, about 45% would go to the studio.
For "Prometheus" where overseas box office was 68.6%, then about 43% went to the studio.
And with the "Covenant" numbers so far, where 66.2% of box office is coming from overseas, again about 43% would go to the studio.

* 60/40 US/overseas split;
- Again, for "Star Trek (2009)" which had 2/3 of its box office in the US, that would mean about 54% goes to the studio.
"Star Trek Into Darkness" and its about 50/50 US/overseas box office split, about 50% would go to the studio.
"Prometheus" where overseas box office was 68.6%, then about 46% went to the studio.
finally with the "Covenant" numbers so far, where 66.2% of box office is coming from overseas, about 47% would go to the studio.

- The actual US/overseas split I can only guess would be somewhere in this range of outcomes. 

* Considering that gantarat asked a simple question, I think that the short answer of a studio keeping about 1/2 of the overall box office was a fair reply.

[Ingwar]

Thanks mate. Do you know anything about Chinese market? I'm curious because it's gonna be Covenant's second, after US, biggest market.

For the record, Alien: Covenant is not going to be some kind of megaflop. Kudos to Fox and friends for spending just $97 million on the Alien prequel/Prometheus sequel compared to the $130m spent on Prometheus. But the film is a huge domestic disappointment. It will earn around $75m in North America from a $36.16m debut weekend. It will make less in raw dollars than the original Alien ($79m back in 1979) and will be the smallest domestic grosser in terms of tickets sold outside of Alien vs. Predator: Requiem ($42m in 2007). But it has done better overseas, with $142m outside of North America, including a $29m debut in China. It currently has $215m worldwide.

Like X-Men: Apocalypse, it earned less in North America than the very old original film yet will be one of the bigger entries worldwide. And like that 2016 offering, it will leave its respective Fox-distributed/Michael Fassbender-starring franchise at a crossroad. That big China debut is impressive, especially when you consider that the film was allegedly hacked to bits by censors who removed most of the violence, gore, creature scenes and a kiss between two male characters. But word-of-mouth isn't great and with Transformers: The Last Knight set to make $45 zillion in China starting on Friday (slight exaggeration), Alien: Covenant should consider $60m a gift. It's an okay showing, but it won't be enough to make the film into a big hit.

It's relatively finished in most of the world, save for Cambodia in August and Japan (where Prometheus made $21 million back in 2012) way down the line in September.  So, barring a fluke, we're probably looking at a $240-$260 million worldwide total. That's not bad for an R-rated horror movie, but it's not the sort of thing that inspires confidence in whatever might come next, especially when contrasted with Prometheus's $405m worldwide take. So here's the question that's been on my mind since the film opened (in North America) one month ago today: Would the picture have performed better had it been sold as a Prometheus sequel instead of an Alien prequel? After all, Prometheus is the movie that made $400m+ worldwide, while Alien is the franchise that hasn't had a breakout hit (aside from the somewhat unique Alien vs. Predator) since 1986.

If we argue that part of Prometheus's appeal was its existence as an original, big-budget, star-filled (Charlize Theron and Idris Elba were added-value elements), R-rated sci-fi horror spectacular when such a thing was something of an event, then we should note that the would-be connections that Prometheus shared with the Alien series may have been incidental to the film's worldwide appeal. And, as such, the choice to more explicitly tie the next chapter not to Prometheus but to Alien may have been a fatal mistake. Yes, Alien: Covenant is more Prometheus 2 than Alien 0.75, but the marketing, from the title to the poster art to the trailers, sold the picture as another stroll down the Alien road. Maybe Prometheus: Covenant (or just Covenant) would have been a better sell than a film sold not as a continuation of a five-year-old hit but as a prequel/riff on a long-running franchise that peaked 30 years ago.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2017/06/19/alien-covenant-is-the-x-men-apocalypse-of-the-alien-series/#e309cae4d17b

[Nightcrawler]

Wonder how much money Covenant would have more made if it has been released in 3d?

[SuicideDoors]

Scot medlezon makes a fair few points the old cockerel.

[0321recon]

So here's the question that's been on my mind since the film opened (in North America) one month ago today: Would the picture have performed better had it been sold as a Prometheus sequel instead of an Alien prequel? After all, Prometheus is the movie that made $400m+ worldwide, while Alien is the franchise that hasn't had a breakout hit (aside from the somewhat unique Alien vs. Predator) since 1986.

If we argue that part of Prometheus's appeal was its existence as an original, big-budget, star-filled (Charlize Theron and Idris Elba were added-value elements), R-rated sci-fi horror spectacular when such a thing was something of an event, then we should note that the would-be connections that Prometheus shared with the Alien series may have been incidental to the film's worldwide appeal. And, as such, the choice to more explicitly tie the next chapter not to Prometheus but to Alien may have been a fatal mistake. Yes, Alien: Covenant is more Prometheus 2 than Alien 0.75, but the marketing, from the title to the poster art to the trailers, sold the picture as another stroll down the Alien road. Maybe Prometheus: Covenant (or just Covenant) would have been a better sell than a film sold not as a continuation of a five-year-old hit but as a prequel/riff on a long-running franchise that peaked 30 years ago.[/b]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2017/06/19/alien-covenant-is-the-x-men-apocalypse-of-the-alien-series/#e309cae4d17b

He's right. Selling this as an Alien film than what it actually is, 'Prometheus 2' doomed the film. They should had kept the original title of Paradise or Paradise Lost. 

In addition, in trying to sell it as an Alien film, besides David 8, Fox went ahead and cut most of the connective bits from Prometheus i.e. the engineers and Dr Shaw.

Crossing my fingers that Fox is taking notice of this and if its still possible to course correct for the final film - try at best to close the Dr. Shaw's narrative via flashbacks and explore the engineers.

[Jango1201]

I noticed Japan gets it in a couple of months. Are films subject to censorship there as well?

[Jonesy1974]

I noticed Japan gets it in a couple of months. Are films subject to censorship there as well?

I very much doubt it, most of the Japanese films I've seen are sick as hell.

[Salt The Fries]

I noticed Japan gets it in a couple of months. Are films subject to censorship there as well?

I very much doubt it, most of the Japanese films I've seen are sick as hell.

I love Tetsuo for example.

[Jonesy1974]

I noticed Japan gets it in a couple of months. Are films subject to censorship there as well?

I very much doubt it, most of the Japanese films I've seen are sick as hell.

I love Tetsuo for example.

That's was one of the films I was thinking of (and it is good) along with Ichi the killer and visitor Q, which I didn't enjoy. All these films are far more messed up than anything in Covenant, it's tame in comparison.