The DCEU profitability section was so good. Would love to see other franchises tackled, even if they've not ended

Please do this with other franchises ! This is so interesting ! Harry Potter , Star Wars, MCU , Fast n furious , Lord of the rings or Saw

It's crazy to see that Aquaman was the most popular (dollar wise) of all of the DCEU movies...Entourage really nailed it

Acctually you should probably add the cost of batgirl in your calculations as well. They did spend quite a lot of money on it, even if was binned in the end

I would love to see you do this for the MCU. Maybe break it up into phases to keep it manageable, but with the rough year Disney/Marvel just had it would be cool to see how that compares to the overall success of the MCU. Was it a big blow, or rather small in comparison to all the hits they had?

I use to work for a marketing agency that did work during the early DCEU and it should be noted that they made a crazy amount of backend revenue through Warner Bros consumer products. Just reviving these characters allowed them to turn a profit through doors that were not open before. For Super Hero movies and animated movies the long term $$$$ is in the merchandising, licensing etc.

I would kill for a profitability video like this but on the MCU, especially the more recent phases, though I know with so much exclusive Disney+ content that might be impossible.

The relief on my face when Dan said Varsity Blues was a dumb movie after explaining what an important moment it was for him

Cost of Batgirl, any spend on development of abandoned projects, and Snyder cut numbers missing but great analysis of the DCEU Dan. Loved it!

Hats off to you Dan for the DCEU Profitability Deep Dive, great work! To have only 3 out of 15 movies (20%) be profitable in their theatrical run is pretty embarrassing! Pandemic aside, a huge $185m prod budget (2nd highest ever for an R-rated movie) for Gunn's Suicide Squad never seemed like a smart decision!

Who else would do something like this? Dan is unique.

MCU analysis same time next week? Would be quite the undertaking, but very interesting.

Hey Dan, thank you for your analysis❤ Not to be that guy, but there's a problem with your math at 21:24 See, you got the profits from Deadline and subtracted from them the losses you calculated. However, Deadline had already worked in some of these losses (for example: the theatrical losses from MoS). So by substracting them again, you substracted twice. What you should do is that you only substract the losses of the films that Deadline did not list as profitable.

Once again, the most comprehensive, fact based look into the industry. Thank you.

Clarification: you say the movies made $600+ million dollars in physical media sale profits, but not all of that is profit, right? Those look like gross receipts to me, so I suspect the studios retained less than half of that when you account for the cut at retail, the cost of the actual physical production, etc. Which just further emphasizes your point: the older movies that made about $100 million, brought them another $50m in profit, which isn’t bad! But the ones only making $15 million probably only contributed a few million dollars actually towards closing the loss gap

As always, another fantastic deep dive, Dan. There's always a story behind the numbers . . . and, sometimes, even more numbers behind the numbers!

I would absolutely pay for a special long form discussion between you and Robert Meyer Burnett on film, physical media, and box office.

The Thin Red Line was great, but I could absolutely not stay awake through the whole thing. I first saw it in college, where they used to show movies for a dollar Thursday through Sunday nights. I went to like a midnight showing (maybe 1am, because I think it's long) and was knocked out during the part where the soldiers walk through a field with the fancy artistic shots. Then a few years later I saw it in Blockbuster and rented it so I could see the parts I missed, and somehow it knocked me out again in the middle of the day. Usually I'm not a great sleeper, but that movie put me to sleep twice.

The “Elseworld’s” projects for DC like Joker and The Batman brought in loads of money, and the sequels will keep bringing profit in with the films making over a billion again…

I’m wondering if WB ended up damaging the brand with the DCEU. 20 years ago, if you had asked anyone about their favorite superhero, most of the answers would have been DC characters. But after bad movies (Martha) and out of character actions (Superman killing?) , coupled with really great Marvel movies, I doubt you’d get the same results today.

So happy to see you shout out Kan-Kan!! They are super supportive of the local film scene here in Indy as well. Was just there the other day catching a screening of a film that my friend starred in and the theater was super accommodating. Whenever I finish my own film I will definitely be screening there

Everytime you say "Fall-Holiday" I hear Valhalla Day! And Im like Hel Yeah!!!

I LOVE the Kan-Kan so much! I'm glad it was included. I almost commented/tried to message so you would think about including them, they are our favorite theatre/restaurant. Thanks Dan!

The thumbnail should've said, "Did the DCEU make *WAVES* after all?"

The Suicide Squad led to a Peacemaker spinoff tv show that was a hit and definitely made more money too

Great varsity Blues story Danny! Had the same experience trying to double feature 21 jump street and goon in grade 9

I've typed this on a previous video before but I'd love to see a deep dive on the current budget of movies at the top end vs yesteryear. Some of the movies that people remember for their budget (Waterworld or Cleopatra for instance) just don't measure up to the movie budgets today when adjusted for inflation.

The losses are generally calculated, and written off as a business expense in order to bring down the overall tax burden for the studio, or the parent organization. In addition, hard assets, like sound studios - which are used for future productions - are also written off as "production costs" against the first movie to be shot there. It is all a shell game. The actual cost for most movies is actually much less, but the studios live for the buzz surrounding big numbers. It generates hype, plants expectation, and creates desire to see the film.

Kan Kan shout-out! My favorite theater in the Indy area. Truly a great theater

the amount of work put into this video is insane, even for Dan standards! It does not go unnoticed dude, thanks for the vid :)

Hey Dan, if the box office news is slow enough in the coming months that you have time to do all this for the MCU and even break it down by Saga then that'd be great. Maybe when they announce casting for F4 or the recasting of Kang then you can tie in that story with the profitability of the Multiverse Saga and compare that with the Infinity Saga to see if it can catch up. Just a suggestion, but great episode this week.

Kan Kan in Indy is such an exceptional arthouse! So cool to see my local theater referenced on the show.

Andrew from NJ, you started talking numbers and you have my attention.

It would be interesting (at least to me) to hear people’s ‘movie memories’, maybe using the Mint Mobile Hotline to collect and compile them.

The Batman and Joker franchises are just bringing in more eyes on DC and making them more money with the wins…the spin-off shows in The Batman universe will do great as well…and James Gunn’s DCU will bring success as well

James Gunn’s DCU will bring in big money

Great analysis as always Dan. What I'll say is I believe that most DC execs will also include the non-DCEU films from this past decade (Joker, The Batman) into the overall profitability. By 2017's Justice League it's pretty clear to me the studio just went back to making mostly standalone movies, to the point where it stopped feeling like a universe. It's well known that internally WB didn't have the total cohesion that Marvel Studios had, and mostly greenlit films independent of each other. So, adding in the profits of Joker and The Batman would likely inch the overall result much closer to profitability.

I have to say, the Mint Mobile sponsor section is smart, throwback advertising. Good work.

I actually was planning to see ISS and probably still will, it looks more interesting than mean girls....and i love musicals.

Brilliant video Dan, so interesting as always!

Great show. Never change that “Price is Right”/“Legend of Zelda” sound effect on the inflation button! 🎉

Hahaha....as someone who loves his own work spreadsheets that I created myself, your bit about how you do your work was awesome. Thanks Dan!

I have a very similar memory to you with Varsity Blues. When I was 16 I went out with a few friends to see Ted (2012). Here in Australia the movie is rated MA15+, and we were all 16. But one of my friends didn't have their student ID on them, and the cinema staff wouldn't sell her a ticket. What we ended up doing was going for a walk (since the movie wasn't supposed to start for a while), and then when we came back, we gave her one of our tickets so that she could go straight into the theatre. Meanwhile the rest of us went through the candy bar queue, buying an extra ticket in the process. In the end we all got in to see the movie, and it was a really fun time. I haven't seen any of them in years unfortunately, since we all went our separate ways soon after. But it's a total core memory for me, and I think about that day every time I watch Ted.

Some sterling detective work there Mr Murrell, well done and thank you.

Loved the DCEU profit breakdown!

Hey Dan! Thanks for everything you do. If you need another deep dive segment, I know that you talked a bit about the secret musical tactic, but it would be cool to look into the day to day box office comparison for different musical movies that chose different marketing strategies.

Thanks for the quality content man

The profit headlines were all gold. Each one gave me a chuckle. Also, holy crap that's a LOT of money lost, theatrically. Also, The only DC movies I have on physical media are The Dark Knight, Killing Joke, Joker, and The Batman. Not a single DCEU film.

Great work, Dan! Would love to see similar content around the 'Burtonverse' since merchandising supposedly sank that creative direction at WB. A Nolanverse would be nice too to get additional data around merchandising. IP-related revenue.

Thanks Dan. years on from Charts, I still like tuning in.

When I was a kid in the Bronx, our neighborhood theater never seemed to care about selling tickets to R-rated movies to kids under 17. When I was in my early 20s, I was living in Albany, NY. My then 16-year-old brother was visiting me, and we decided to go to the movies. We went to Crossgates Mall to see the Lou Diamond Phillips classic The First Power. After we bought tickets, the woman at the box office asked my brother how old he was, and he answered 16. When she then said he wasn't old enough to see the movie, our jaws dropped in shock. But perhaps in a preview of my future occupation as a lawyer, I told the woman: This is my brother. He is staying with me, which makes me his guardian, and I am accompanying him so he can see the movie. She let him in. It's been a while since I thought about that. Maybe I should find a DVD of The First Power that I can give to my brother for his birthday. He'll be 51 in October. That's old enough to see an R-rated movie, right?

The Kan-Kan is awesome, nice to see it get highlighted.

I’ll always be a little curious how much Black Adam would have made in China. Aquaman’s getting a big boost to its worldwide total from there.

Well put

I would love to see a MCU profit/loss breakdown.

That kid who Narc'ed on you when you went to see Varsity Blues, what a kill-joy.

I love these franchise breakdowns! Please do some more.

Happy to see the independent theater segment back. Don't know if these have been mentioned, but I would check out The Main Cinema in Minneapolis and Zeitgeist Zinema in Duluth. I recently moved to Minnesota and fell in love with these two theaters to provide great movie experiences. ❤

I love DC and their films. Not all of the DCEU films. But I love what you did here. Thanks for doing all of this work.

I enjoy your work and am happy no F bomb's etc so I've subscribed.

Your charts and power points are pretty good! Most people can't do that and I'm sure it takes a lot of your time. One of my sense memories is seeing Lawrence of Arabia on one of the old screens that is now gone with my High School BFF when we were home on break in 1991.

Thin Red Line is actually one of the few movies I have very clear, very distinct memories of seeing in theater. Because it remains the only movie I walked out of for a break, because I was so bored I was falling asleep.

What about a) Batgirl and b) Merchandising?

37:36 growing up in the late 90s, it felt like the high school teen movies were everywhere: American Pie, 10 things I hate about you, election, shes all that and of course varsity "I dont want your life!" blues !

More videos like this please 🙏

The amount of work put in this video is insane. Well done Dan

Still GREAT VIDEO about the DCEU, will re-watch it again😊

Thanks Dan!

21:37 I’m confused here. If you are looking at total profitability numbers, would that include box office losses? It’s usually Topline - Expenses = Profit/Loss vs Profit - Losses. Were those profits only considering items after the box office window? Great work though as always. Long time fan since you were at SJ. Keep up the good work!

Let’s hope things go better for DC moving forward with Gunn. It’s really sad and frustrating for WB’s superhero division to keep tripping over itself while Marvel [at least until late 2022 and all of 2023] can do no wrong regardless of quality.

I went and saw The Beekeeper on Dan’s sorta recommendation, and throughly enjoyed myself. It was hysterically bad but I needed a good laugh

Surely a full analysis of the profitability of the DCEU should include the production costs of Batwoman.

great break down. please do this for MCU and Disney Star Wars!

Dan, your answer for the Ferrari question was so damn informative. I mean wow dude, you are the shyt.

And obviously DC brought in loads of money from Superman 1978, to Tim Burton’s/Michael Keaton’s Batman movies, to The Dark Knight trilogy, and still going on today

Fantastic breakdown. Makes you wonder if the general audience did enjoy snyder’s aesthetic, despite the critic reaction. Especially since Aquaman and, to a lesser degree, Shazam, were the last theatrical films to contain major explicit ties to the DCEU Snyder canon. Fascinating that all the DCEU films in Hamada-era of WB/DC (post-Shazam anyway) were massive losers, despite the studio trying to course-correct from the previous aesthetic and tone. The more they tried to change, the more failure they encountered. Of course, COVID factors into the Hamada era, but Covid still wouldn’t impact merch sales like it did theater sales. Hopefully things improve for WB/DC starting in 2025.

The DCEUs top 6 were all rekeased in 2018 and before and everything after then was a drop. You can see the moment people gave up

Nuts that a studio can operate with consistent deficits.

Fascinating breakdown of the DCEU, thank you for doing it! Very curious to see a similar breakdown for the MCU (please). Maybe broken down by phase? I have to imagine the current phase would show losses but that weighed against the previous successes would be cool to think about. Any way thanks again!

What I remember about Varsity Blues was that it was in the DVD collection of every man in America because of Ali Larter. Those DVD sales were poppin'.

Holy Lord... how did 15 movies happen here??!?!?! LOLOL.... Really love this breakdown!!! Hope you take on a few other popular Franchises/IP's!!!

Man, the loss for The Suicide Squad hurts. It was by far the best superhero movie I'd seen in years. And yet, audiences didn't show up. Only The Flash did worse, and not by much.

I know it’s crazy and too much work but if it’s possible to make MCU profitability. It was so much fun. You can make dedicated video for that 👍🏻

Ayyy last week I asked if you'd cover the DCEU was profitable overall so this was great. Just shows as well how much studios have shot themselves in the foot in terms of physical media sales.

i would have seen that Queen show, i had my ticket! the heating broke in my Cineworld and all tickets were cancelled for the whole weekend. i hope it's not the last chance to see this.

Dan you should clip the DC part of this and make its own video, really interesting analysis.

Love your breakdown of the DCEU. I think that it helps illuminate a number of decisions around the DCEU in retrospect (certainly more than just hearing the twitter chatter)

You should talk about the Egyptian theater in Seattle :)

Hey dan a huge fan of your box office breakdowns. Something most don't know is that Man Of Steel made 160 million in profit because of the products featured in the film..... Information listed online and I remember reading back in 2014..... "Man of Steel" has a budget of about $225 million. And while Warner Bros will likely have no trouble getting that money back from ticket sales, it turns out that it has already recouped almost 3/4 of it. According to AdvertisingAge, "Man of Steel" was able to accumulate over 100 global promotional partners, which resulted in $160 million in product placement. There are companies like Warby Parker, which is offering Clark Kent-inspired glasses; Gillette, which created a video about how Superman shaves; and Chrysler, which placed two cars in the movie. Other companies include Sears, Army National Guard, Kellogg, Nokia, and Carl's Jr. "Man of Steel" now holds the record for the most partners, beating "The Lorax," which was released last year and have 70 partners.

Tribute used to have a free in-theatre magazine filled with entertainment stories.

That's was a great segment,it will be a great idea to the same with the MCU..

Great question that I had no idea I wanted the answer to.

I would like to nominate The Frida Cinema in Santa Ana, CA for the Arthouse Theater showcase if I can. It’s such a fun theater

Hi Dan, thank you so much for putting together some very well though out and insightful analysis as always. I had two observations I wanted to get your thoughts on. - The $668 million in physical media sales is revenue rather than profit which given physical production, packaging, retailer cut and shipping costs is probably less than 50% to the studio. - I believe the known losers are based on the box office losses but we also have to bear in mind royalty arrangements with actors, directors, etc. which are based on revenue usually and not profit. So, even though they turned a loss, the loss is even higher when these folks get paid and it'll take even more to turn a profit. Lastly, I'm just sad that my favourite DCEU movie, The Suicide Squad, made a big loss while my least favourite one, Suicide Squad made money 😟 Keep up the great work, Dan!

Several days late, but still here for the charts!

For Aquaman to be the star is wild. But honestly do you think they sold 1.2 billion in toys from the movies to make it worth wild in licensing??

I would like to see a series like this on all major blockbusters over the past couple of years. The box office is REALLY at a change point, and movies that could be relied upon to be a hit, only 24 months ago, are flopping left-right-and-center. Even in that DCEU break-down, you can see how quality of film doesn't affect profitability, as some of the more entertaining movies are financial disasters and the weaker ones would make profit.

Be great if you could do this as a standalone for the MCU as it stands today. Can we find out how much global airlines pay for these movies?

It is crazy that around 5-6 years ago Star Wars, Marvel and DC were all dominating pop culture to various degrees and all 3 have struggled, went into decline all at the same time. Of the 3, I think DC has the best chance of a come back.

Classy Oscar backdrop, my friend!