The answer is... net.

You're guilted into tithing on gross and yet the church can donate only the net proceeds of "Meet the Mormons" to charity.

What does the word 'net' mean with respect to movie proceeds? The web site claims that it means gross proceeds minus distribution costs.

So what are distribution costs? I'm sure there's more than one definition because the movie industry is full of creative accounting to ensure that a movie never makes money. That's why you should never negotiate for a share of a movie's profits: there won't be any.

Could these distributions costs include the money put into producing the film itself? Possibly. Could these distribution costs include money sucked back into the church? Very possibly. Who knows how many "consultants" and "advisers" will be involved in the whole process.

How much money will the Red Cross get? I'm sure there will be at least a token amount, or the Red Cross would make a public stink.

Will we ever find out how much is donated to the Red Cross or get an accounting of the movie's expenses? OK, this one was a little joke.

Why would the church bother with this donation thing? Try this for a scenario: some MBA at church headquarters comes up with a way for the church to put out a "we're normal" video without having to pay for it. Just stick the members with all of the costs! First make the movie, the have the Q15 "encourage" the membership to go see the movie and invite friends. Later, when the DVD comes out, invite the members to not only purchase a copy for their homes, but to give copies as gifts to potential converts and even to wayward relatives.

How much money is involved? There are probably 3 to 4 million active members in the U.S. and a good fraction will go see the movie in theaters. A small amount of non-Mormons may go as well, but the majority of the viewership will be active Mormons. Normally, the bulk of the ticket price goes to the movie owner and the theaters rely on extras to make a profit, but who knows what kind of deal the church had to make to get their turkey into real movie theaters. A theater in morridor might actually make money but, in non-Mormon areas, I'm sure the Church has done something the sweeten the pot.

Let's say that two million people see Meet the Mormons in theaters, and the church reaps five dollar for each. That's ten million dollars right there. When the DVD comes out, let's say that the church sell five million copies (lots of gifts) at $20 per copy, of which they keep $10. That's $50 million on DVD sales and $10 from theater revenues for $60 million, which should be enough to pay to produce the movie, distribute it, line the pockets of whomever can get away with that, and give a reasonable donation to the Red Cross.

The church puts out this propaganda piece without having to pay for it and, if anyone dares to think that this might be a money making venture for the church, they will be pointed to the "net proceeds go to charity" gimmick. MBA gets kudos from the Q15 and a nice bonus. All are happy.

If ONLY non-Mormon's attended this film there would be a total gate of LESS THAN $20,000.

HOPEFULLY we can see the amount TSCC donates to the Red Cross through some sort of disclosure policies on the part of the RED CROSS. Why? Because the TSCC is not going to want to tell the world that the total donation from their self-serving movie was $19,194 (estimated on my part).

PS - Love the Gross or Net question.

The Red Cross will disclose all donations. But there's nothing stopping the Brethren from topping it up for appearances. That's the beauty of financial secrecy.

If the church manages to plant 2 million butts in the seats for this, then they will have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. At $15 a seat, that's a $30M opening, which could conceivably make it the #1 movie in the country.

Top movie grosses for 9/19 releases (opening weekend):
Maze Runner, $32.5M
A Walk Among the Tombstones, $12.8M

Top movie grosses for 9/26 releases (opening weekend):
The Equalizer, $35.0M
Boxtrolls, $17.3M
[Maze Runner came in #2 at $17.5M; 2nd weekend]

There are four movies opening on 10/10 in wide (national) release. These are the projected *LIFETIME* grosses:
The Judge, $77M
Alexander & the Terrible... Day, $67M
Dracula Untold, $28M
Addicted, $18M

You've probably seen the Dracula trailers on TV. That movie is expected to bring in less during its entire theatrical run than if Meet the Mormons can draw 2 million.

Personally, I think the take will be a fraction of that, but how small I'm not prepared to hazard a guess. Anyone else want to take a shot?

Two million butts in the seats *eventually*. Certainly not in the first week. I imagine that no theaters will be showing this for longer than a week outside the morridor, so the bulk of the ticket sales will be inside it, over the course of a couple of months. There won't be enough screens to show it to so many people the opening week, so viewings will have to be gradual.

TBMs will go see this movie on dates, for family home evening and to invite their friends. Why? Because they will "feel the spirit" and because their cult leaders told them to. The buzz in the morridor will last.

You could be right. I don't know, I really don't.

I'm betting on a fast fade, though, even in the Morridor. (I don't live there BTW, I'm in SoCal.) There seems to be enough carrying capacity – plenty of theaters, multiple daily screenings – to handle the TBM crowd. The bots will do their duty of course, then they can check it off their divine to-do lists. I think they'll want to get it out of the way, and they won't go back unless told to.

When a movie has legs it's because people see it over and over. When it doesn't, theater owners aren't going to stand by losing money and will pull it quick. Now, maybe the church is paying them under the table to keep the film going. But that won't by itself put more people in the seats.

population of Utah is only 2.8 million. Even if a half of the population is somewhat active Mormon, can you get half of those to actually go and pony up for admission? That is only 700,000.

Also where do you live where tickets are $15 each? Where I live its $9-10 for adults, and the cheap Mormons will go for the matinee at $6-8.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/30/2014 01:58PM by jerry64.

I understand that you can pull all kinds of accounting tricks to make a movie look like it didn't make any money. But seriously, do you honestly think this will even break even? No way. People know what the Mormons are about. And they aren't interested. The Book of Mormon musical--which I suspect actually explains a lot more about actual Mormon beliefs--will dwarf this goofy "documentary," which no one outside the Morridor will watch.

Gross income if it is W-2 wages. Net income if you are running a business....you are supposed to pay tithing on the Net Profits of the business if you are the sole owner. Think about it, if your revenue is $1,000,000, and your expenses are $1,000,000, then you are at a breakeven. Your tithing would be 10% of -0-.

What if you had a loss? You would owe no tithing.

Back to the movie.....if the LDS has a net loss (which I anticipate), then there is no profit (take that any way you want to), and there is no payment to the Red Cross.

Here is an update as of Saturday Oct 11 on deadline.Com "the documentary Meet the Mormons, ....meanwhile, is averaging $9,700 on each of its 317 screens, likely landing it in the top 10 with a three-day debut of $3 million+, solidly eclipsing forecasts."

Its not a Church. Its a business empire. The 'Meet the Mormons' film production company is Excel Entertainment Group a subsidiary of Deseret Book.

No arms length contracts here or competitive tendering, its another way of getting money out of the Corporation's account to the families of 'church' royalty.

Bump up the production costs and the sheep pay not only for the inflated budget but also provide the net return for the 'donation' to the Red Cross.

You couldn't make it up.

"There is no 'net.'"

The arithmetic is configured so that the "net profit" disappears into the vanishing point. For example, the principals get paid out of the gross, which diminishes the net. Then other factors are further deducted, such as the conversion to DVD and associated royalties with that. The net gets continually smaller and more distant.

There is never a "net," no matter how much it makes.