Will Comcast Profit From "Riddick"?
For Vin Diesel's Riddick, which comes to box offices next weekend, monsters and mercs aren't a problem. But a boy band? That's a different story entirely.
Vin Diesel returns in the title role in Riddick. Source: Universal Pictures.
According to Google's Trends data, Riddick is about neck and neck with the forthcoming biopic One Direction: This Is Us from Sony's TriStar Pictures:
Source: Google.
Yet even that may be good news for Comcast's Universal Pictures, which lost big on the last film in the Riddick series: 2004's The Chronicles of Riddick. That film earned just $115.7 million worldwide on a $105 million production budget.
Hollywood economics says a film needs to generate double its production budget in box office ticket sales in order to be profitable. Universal budgeted just $60 million for Riddick, increasing the odds of Comcast earning back its investment this time around.
We've seen it happen before. Pitch Black, the first film in the series, earned $53 million on a $23 million budget, Box Office Mojo reports. Low-budget horror films -- Riddick is sci-fi horror -- tend to produce huge profits for studios such as Lions Gate , which will distribute Riddick overseas. More than 41,000 surveyed at Rotten Tomatoes say they want to see the film.
Riddick opens on September 6 in U.S. theaters. Sources: YouTube, Universal Pictures.
Meanwhile, Comcast's profit picture is looking sharper thanks to Universal's surprising portfolio of 2013 theatrical winners. Box Office Mojo says the studio ranks second behind Time Warner in U.S. grosses so far this year. Investors can thank Despicable Me 2 and another Diesel film, Fast & Furious 6.
Adding Riddick to the blockbuster list seems unlikely. But with a meager budget, a big-name actor in the title role, and plenty of positive buzz, it won't need to do much to spice up Comcast's profit party.
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The article Will Comcast Profit From "Riddick"? originally appeared on Fool.com.
Fool contributor Tim Beyers is a member of the Motley Fool Rule Breakers stock-picking team and the Motley Fool Supernova Odyssey I mission. He owned shares of Google, Netflix, and Time Warner at the time of publication. He was also long January 2014 $50 Netflix call options. Check out Tim's web home and portfolio holdings or connect with him on Google+, Tumblr, or Twitter, where he goes by @milehighfool. You can also get his insights delivered directly to your RSS reader.The Motley Fool recommends and owns shares of Google and Netflix. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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