Skip to main content

MOVIE TALK on Yahoo! Movies

'How Do You Know' Price Tag: $120 Million, $50 Million Just for Talent
Oscar-winning filmmaker James L. Brooks doesn’t work often, and he doesn’t work fast. And when he does work, he commands a budget as jaw-dropping as his history of brilliant work (Terms of Endearment, Broadcast News). When many studios are shying away from star-driven adult dramedies, Sony lavished a budget on Brooks’ How Do You Know that even has talent reps with clients in the movie marveling.
STORY: How much TV stars earn
THR has learned that the film, which centers on a love triangle, cost $120 million to make, though the studio drove that down to about $100 million thanks to tax rebates from Pennsylvania and D.C. One reason for the price tag is old-fashioned salaries for the pic’s talent: Reese Witherspoon ($15 million), Jack Nicholson ($12 million), Owen Wilson ($10 million) and Paul Rudd ($3 million) received their quotes, and Brooks will earn about $10 million plus backend for writing, producing and directing. That’s about $50 million for the major talent alone.
VIDEO: How female stars in Hollywood balance work and family
The cost also was high because of the time Brooks devoted to production and postproduction and his decision to reshoot the beginning and end of the movie. “He’s slow and meticulous,” a person familiar with the production says.
Another challenge: How Do You Know opens Dec. 17 against Tron: Legacy, Gulliver’s Travels and Yogi Bear. “That’s a big weekend,” sighs a talent rep with a star in the film, which could have the slow-but-steady adult space to itself. Brooks’ 1997 holiday release As Good as It Gets rode Oscar buzz to $314.2 million worldwide, but his most recent December effort, 2004’s Spanglish, fizzled. “They thought it would do a couple hundred million worldwide,” a source says. “It did $55 million all-in.”
But Sony hopes How Do You Know will perform like It’s Complicated, an $85 million-budgeted Universal pic from Nancy Meyers.That film pulled in nearly $220 million worldwide last winter.
PHOTOS: A famed director on set
See an exclusive clip of 'How Do You Know' below: 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

China Gas Truck Explosion

BEIJING: At least 20 people were killed and 14 others injured on Friday in an explosion caused by a leak of an oil tank truck in south China s Guangdong province.'The explosion, which sparked a massive fire, took place on an expressway in the provincial capital of Guangzhou around 5.15am local time, a spokesman with the city s public security bureau said.He said 20 people were killed in the explosion.State-run Xinhua news agency reported that the 14 others who were injured in the incident have been hospitalised.The fire caused by the blast was brought under control around 8.30am local time, according to firefighters.
Post a Comment
Read more

Washing Machine Accident

An Oregon family is devastated after a tragic accident took the life of their toddler. Tiffany Hebb was doing laundry, while her 21-month-old Ollie kept her company. When she left the room briefly, he crawled into the washing machine and drowned. A frantic Hebb found her son minutes later trapped in the water-filled basin and tried desperately to resuscitate him. After suffering severe brain damage, he died the following day in the hospital. "It was the worst day of my life," the grieving mother told a local Fox affiliate through tears. Now Tiffany and her husband Chris are on a mission to educate parents about the dangers of the seemingly innocuous household appliance. "I want to make mothers and fathers aware that it's a possibility," she said. Read more: Toddler's trauma highlights laundry room dangers Between 2005 and 2009, two children under the age of five lost their lives in laundry room accidents , according to a report by the Consu...
Post a Comment
Read more

Plane Crew Thwart Hijack China

BEIJING: Crew and passengers traveling on a plane that had just taken off from a restive city in China s far-western Xinjiang region on Friday thwarted a hijack attempt by six people, authorities said.The plane returned safely to the airport and the six have been detained, a brief statement on the Xinjiang government s news website said, without detailing who the hijackers were.
Post a Comment
Read more