I have no idea how this infographic ended up on MySpace but hat tip to Katey Rich at Cinema Blend for pointing it out.
If you’ve ever wondered how your movie dollars get divided up — this is a great primer. It shows how ticket sales flow from the theaters to the studios and eventually to the actors. The one thing missing is how actors end up getting paid.
The top actors (like Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp) get a hefty advance fee up front. Then they get a percentage of the gross depending on how well the film performs. If an actor gets first dollar gross (which is increasingly rare) he earns a percentage of the money flowing into the studio. If an actor earns gross at “cash break zero,” he gets paid after the studio has earned back its marketing and production costs.
