SO, HOW MUCH DID JOHN CARTER ACTUALLY COST?

Disney’s announcement on Tuesday that it expects John Carter to lose $200 million will likely place it at the undesired top of the list of biggest Hollywood losers, Reuters observed today (Wednesday). That list is currently headed by the 1995 Geena Davis-Matthew Modine pirate flick Cutthroat Island, which, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, lost $147 million. Disney’s announcement appeared to raise questions about what the film actually cost to produce and market. Originally, it was estimated that the film had cost $300-350 million. While it has already earned about $184 million worldwide in just two weeks, it would have to earn $700 million just to break even (given a 50-50 split of the gross with theaters.) But Hollywood accounting is an art form unto itself. As Keith Simanton, managing editor of the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) told Reuters, “You never really know what a budget is for any of these films because Hollywood isn’t very open with its numbers.”