At the movies - profits vs return on investment

Earning a return on capital employed of >655,000% is pretty good going. And when I saw the trailer for this movie I put it down as a definite “won’t see”, my marginal utility for movies that are designed for maximum scariness is definitely negative!

While perhaps it is not surprising that Avatar is the most profitable movie ever with the studio raking in over a billion dollars, it doesn’t come close to the highest return on investment. That honour goes to Paranormal Activity with a budget of US$15,000 but total box office receipts of nearly $200 million. And coming in at number 4 is Super Size Me, a great movie to show when discussing demerit goods and the desirability of government intervention.

The full list of most profitable in absolute and relative terms can be found here (scroll down to lists 3 and 4).