Bumblebee Deemed Profitable

In a bit of good news for Transformers franchise fans, the Viacom CEO Bob Bakish (corporate owner of Paramount Pictures) has deemed Bumblebee "solidly profitable". The info comes from The Hollywood Reporter which stated "Bakish congratulated Paramount for a successful turnaround, using the latest in the Transformers franchise as an example: Bumblebee, he said, is “solidly profitable” while its predecessor in the summer of 2017 lost more than $100 million.”

This is not entirely unexpected. The film is currently sitting at around $290 million worldwide, short of the guestimate of $340 million for break even (cost of film times 2) but then we don't have access to things like amount in tax credits, merchandising splits, marketing budget etc. that would represent the true value. Its why the 2x number is used. Its at least something to go with that is in the realm of reasonable.

What I am really questioning is that $100 million loss for Transformers: The Last Knight. Considering the estimated budget of that film was $217M x 2 = $434M against a worldwide box office of $605.4M. The discrepancy is enough of a head scratcher to make me wonder what creative accounting Paramount is doing in regards to The Last Knight to reach that $100 million loss conclusion. Break even I buy, losing some money, maybe. But that much? Its a shame that THR didn't follow up on that as I suspect it would prove interesting.

Any case a pleased CEO is always a good sign for the possibility of future movies. Not a guarantee but definitely moves the needle in the right direction.