I just attended an excellent ten-hours webinar with Ed Saxon, the award winning producer of ‘Silence of the Lambs’ and ‘Philadelphia’ (recorded in 2014). He was very specific about budgets, costs and profits, especially in the studio system. So, generally speaking, the marketing costs are NOT part of the ‘budget’ which includes everything from idea/screenplay to post-production. He gave as a ballpark figure ‘$ 10 M for a release on 1.000 (domestic) screens’, which is still a moderate release, big releases being + 4.000 screens.
And yes, indeed, ‘box office’ is what the theaters collect and whereof the productions company gets merely 40 to 45%.
The globally marketed ‘ancillary rights’, i. e. DVD, rental, VOD etc., make up for 30% to 40% of the total income of the production company at the end of the day.
From other sources I know that ‘profit’ is, as Scott highlighted, a shy beast in the movie businesss. Firstly, film studios are world champions in hiding earnings and profits. For example by spending $ 10 M on PR, but these expenses go to their own subsidiaries or affiliates and stay within the holding company. Secondly, studios have, as any other company, no interest in advertising high profits. Who’s eager to pay high taxes and to pay out benefits to stakeholders and investors with profit-sharing promises in their pockets? This is the reason why getting financed has become increasingly difficult: the studios are accused of cheating investors by concealing their real profits.
BTW, the great webinar with Saxon is this one: https://www.writersstore.com/mentor-series-a-producers-guide-to-navigating-your-screenwriting-career-edward-saxon/
