buy[/i] North Korea for $230 million.
$400 million, actually. I've looked into it.
But, yes, it does seem a tremendous amount for a film that:
- Has no major stars.
Anyone here who knows finance/the film biz like to try their hand at a breakdown of this figure so that we can get some kind of idea as to how it's being spent? Hildebrand? Zorin?
Let me see.

Since April of 2006 (the mid point of CR's production, let's pretend) the US Dollar has declined 18 percent on a trade-weighted basis.
Since DAD was bugdeted at $140m and CR four years later was budgeted at $150m (inspite of saving about $15 mil from Brosnan's salary to DC's salary), a "dollar decline-weighted" number for Q0S would be about $182 million.
Add about 5 percent for inflation and you get about $191 million. Add DC's salary increase and you get to (say) $195 million.
$195 million would be the "adjusted" PRODUCTION budget. Then there is the "marketing" budget (which is not included in 'budget' numbers generally). For James Bond the marketing budget can get to, now days, about $45-55 mil. This for Bond movies is normally covered by corporate tie-in partners who pay for product tie-in advertisements and supply the production too (like Aston Martins, etc.)
So the numbers dont seem that problematic given that my early projections for QOS at world-wide box office comes in at about $750 million. A tidy profit looks on the offing given the studios normally get half of the box office. Of course, tv, dvd rentals and sales and airings on airplanes add, lets be generous, another $750 million.
And, since it's James Bond, you get to sell the back catalogue...yet again! How much is that worth?
So you spend $250 million and get back, what, $1 to (possibly) $2 billion (over the very long run)? Is that a good investment?
Was Dr No a good investment at $1 million? Was Thunderball at $7 million? TSWLM at $27 million? Moonraker at $32 million? GoldenEye at $60 million? Die Another Day at $140 million? CR at $150 million?
You bet!