Emmerich's 2012 Goes to Sony
Source: Variety
February 21, 2008


That didn't last long! Just yesterday we mentioned that Roland Emmerich and Harald Kloser's 2012 was being shopped around to studios, and now, according to Variety, a heated Wednesday bidding battle ended with Sony Pictures buying the spec script for a summer 2009 tentpole release.

The trade says that several studios bid on the project, while some shied away from a price-tag that could hit $200 million.

The Emmerich-directed pic will start production in late summer or early fall.

The title refers to the apocryphal date that the world is supposed to end, and it frames an ensemble disaster epic akin to The Day After Tomorrow, the blockbuster that Emmerich sold in a similar spec sale and which turned into a global hit for 20th Century Fox.

The Emmerich-directed prehistoric epic 10,000 B.C. (co-written by Kloser) will be released by Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures on March 7.

If Emmerich could do revolutionary effects in TDAT with "only" 125M, I can only imagine what he'll do with 200 million. After all, his movies are all about the effects.

WB is so fucked.

Ya WB only has akira and the boxoffice of that movie depends on how speed racer and Dragonball does which btw are both gonna flop.

Speed Racer will break out 90m-160m and Dragon Ball will do decent 40m-55m

Wow. I thought this would be a big film for WB. They are fucked.

$200M production budget + $75M worldwide P&A (not counting any promotion tie-ins, and with the understanding that price could be lower if most theatres are digital by 2010) = ~$275M total cost

Let's say the film does $200M in the US and another $400M in the rest of the world. $600M gross, and let's say Sony gets to take 50% of that home. Already, Sony is in profit $25M.

Now, let's say Sony sells 10M units of the DVD and Blu-Ray versions worldwide, split evenly between the two. And let's say the average disc costs $4 to make and sells for $14 wholesale. That's another $100M in the coffers.

And then let's say it earns another $100M in worldwide television sales.

So, for Sony's $275M investment, they're getting back $500M. Of course, if it's a first dollar gross deal, Emmerich would be getting 25% of $800M, so he'd be getting $200M.

They are still in profit.