Hollywood has gone money crazy within recent years and has suffered many losses for putting too much money into film projects. The average summer blockbuster actually loses money, and the reason they are made in the first place are to be sure-fire cash flows. .
Within the last 30 years Hollywood has been obsessed with the summer blockbuster. Every summer every major film studio pumps millions of dollars into movies in hope to lure bored teenagers into theaters over and over and over again. It's all about the money and it has not been any other way since 1975 when Jaws was released. Millions of moviegoers crowded the streets in hope of a good scare. It was the first movie to make over 100 million dollars. That was just the beginning. .
Jaws didn't cost all that much to make, not even 12 million. That is what a summer blockbuster should be made for. Jaws was a great movie, made for a small sum, and grossing millions. With a profit like that, it is a mystery to why Hollywood doesn't contribute that money to other societal problems. Since then however, summer blockbusters have been progressively losing money. .
In the summer of 2003, the average summer movie cost over 100 million dollars. Each one was supposed to be a sure-fire hit because most of them were sequels, but to Hollywood's surprise, most of them failed to live up to expectations. The Hulk, which cost over 120 million, only reached par and suffered poor reviews. The 180 million-dollar Terminator 3 barely made it. Blockbusters aren't making the excess of millions they used to. Even though they still make money, too many are put out at once to produce any real profit. .
Film budgets come in all different packages. There is the independent budget that is usually less then 10 million. The studio budget now is usually about 50 million, and the average blockbuster is over 100 million. With so many movies being produced for the summer season, each movie can only gross a percentage of what it could make a few years back.