In the Name of the King - Budget

[AdamLevenberg 3]

There was a lot of discussion about a $60 million budget on In the Name of the King...It's bullshit, as are many budgets provided on IMDB.

 

The reality is that this probably cost under $30 million, with 5-8 million going to Statham. Uwe Boll's financing for these films is entirely international and the only basis for the claim of $60 million is a publicity and financing decision on behalf of the producer. There's NO reality to it. It's a fictitious number created to make the movie sound more appealing to distributors who have signed on and paid up before filming starts.

 

For example, "South America" is one territory. So they'll take the package which is the director, actor, script and bullshit budget to the distributors there and say "we're making a $60 mil movie starring Jason Statham directed by Uwe Boll, who wants in and how much do you want to bid?" Highest bidder wins...If they can sell it all around the world like this, they can often turn a profit before filming starts because if they bring in $38 mil in "pre-sales" and the movie costs $29 mil, they have made $9 mil profit up front. PLUS they have producing fees built into the $29 mil budget. (The South American distributors know the $60 mil is bullshit but don't care, they make a bid based on what they think Statham will bring in for DVD rentals/TV.)

 

Case in point: BATTLEFIELD EARTH was repeatedly referred to as a 70 million dollar movie in all publicity and when the financier was putting the movie together. Once it bombed, the director went public claiming it cost $14 mil below the line and $35 million total. The only entity the actual budget mattered to was the German bank that the producer was working through and they sued him for inflating budgets by up to 50% on multiple films.

[seanotron 2307]

It's entirely possible it's a garbage number, but it's the only number available so what else can they work with? Honestly, if he spent half that he still spent too much.

[ughanotherforumtogoto 3]

Franchise Pictures inflated the costs of their films in order to scam investments. It was the records that were shown in court that showed the real cost of Battlefield Earth was 44 million. 31 million was padding to scam investors such as a German based distributor. Battlefield Earth was a package deal with two other movies Wesley Snipe's Art of War and Bruce Willis's comedy The Whole Nine Yards.

 

The German company won in court and got over 121 million in damages. Franchise Pictures later declared bankruptcy.

 

The FBI in fact looked at whether independent production companies had inflated their budgets in order to scam investors.