I didn't respond to the first article because it says $350 million it loses $95 million but at $450 million it is cash even and that is just poor writing. Many points in the article are correct based on what we have seen in other articles for movies, however they all say the same thing. % returned to the studio is a week by week basis and on contract. That means a studio could get 100% or 60% the first 1-2 weeks of a film based on how well it is intended to do and the companies behind it. Think of it as lobbying drugs to politicians except only theater chains/countries. When it goes foreign those amounts drop mostly due to the middlemen in the process who distribute it to the screens.
On the same note, I initially estimated they spent over $50 million on advertising. It turns out that figure is $100million or more than the cost of the film which is just pure stupidity on Universals part. Unless they had some super marketing deals for this they will have trouble recouping that cost. I haven't seen any Mummy pizza boxes or Cruise drink cups but I haven't checked around either. A movie like this will typically bring in 40-60million in BR/DVD sales of which they get I think around 25% for the first year or so. Plus the handful of millions from places like Netflix/Amazon/Premium selection like Starz and so forth.
The article claims 2 significant figures. One is a $195 million production cost and a $150 million advertising budget.
The listed estimated production costs on other sites including Box Office is $125 million and $100 million advertising/marketing.
That is a swing of $125 million dollars and I've noticed a trend of the sites who generally shit on Cruise are higher figures than the sites who appear to not care/favor him.
Still, due to that high marketing $225 million will be hard to pull off. $175 million would have been possible.
Spronks article claiming $345 million production/marketing would require far more than the article claims to break even. The numbers don't add up using mine nor Spronks figures. That would be a $700 million to break even point and even Universal wouldn't spend that sort of money on Cruise and the Mummy given the sales figures of the previous movies which hovered around the $400 million mark initially. No way Universal spent what Deadline claims, if they did they deserve to lose money.
Initial claims $195+$150 million-
‘The Mummy’ Will Lose $95M: Here’s Why
reported $125 million production(No marketing cost)-
The Failed Launch of 'The Mummy' and the Danger of Franchising Too Soon
$125 estimated (no marketing cost )
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=main&id=mummy2016.htm
Claims $190 +100 million
Tom Cruise Blamed For The Mummy's Failure At The Box Office
Claims $125 million based on initial reports
http://www.the-numbers.com/news/222...mes-Alive-Internationally-with-140-76-million
Other data and speculation
https://mic.com/articles/179088/so-you-think-the-mummy-will-flop-think-again#.V9XwvTnZn
This article actually breaks down Spronks Deadline information to make more sense but uses the high numbers to do so
The Mummy Is a Huge Flop That Could Cost Universal $95M
Sales to date
The Mummy (2017) - Financial Information
So the real question remains. Did they spend $225 million including marketing or did they spend $345 million. That is a VERY wide gap that would require 200-350 million more in sales to break even.