Breakeven Calculator
Why movies that gross millions still lose money
Theatres keep about half of every ticket. Add marketing and studio overhead and a film has to gross roughly twice its total cost before the studio sees a dollar.
Then browse real films, run your own studio, or call this weekend's openings in FloppyMarket.
The "Hollywood Accounting" Reality
At a exhibitor cut the studio keeps none of the ticket price, so no worldwide gross ever recoups the spent. To break even on a film, it must gross worldwide. Why? Because after spending in total (including P&A and Overheads), the studio only keeps of ticket sales; the rest stays with the theaters!
Modelled theatrical result — not a studio's reported net. Excludes streaming, TV and home video.
Actual Global Gross vs your what-if costs
The Greenlight Game
Can you survive as a studio head?
You are the new Head of Production. You have 10 film pitches on your desk. Review the package, budget, and marketing costs. Decide whether to Greenlight or Pass based on required breakeven limits. Finish the slate in profit — go bankrupt or fail a board mandate and you're fired.
Your Studio Career
GREENLIGHTING YOUR SLATE
🗞️ Breaking News
No more scripts on your desk.
Advance the quarter until all productions are released.
Production Slate
Welcome to your new role. The board expects bigger results.
- Studio Overhead is now .
- Exhibitors (Theaters) now take of gross.
- You must manage up to concurrent Board Mandates.
Excellent Work.
Current Bankroll
Profitable Films This Slate
You're Fired.
Your run as Studio Head has ended abruptly.
Career Duration
Profit/Loss
Termination Reason:
Your Social Score
Global Run Stats
Career History
Slate Portfolio
Final Performance Review
You walked away, so this run didn’t post a leaderboard score. The trophy is yours.
Your Social Score
Global Run Stats
Career History
Slate Portfolio
📖 Studio Handbook
Directed by
Starring
Adjusted to . Dollar figures below are scaled by avg. ticket price (×) — source ↗. ROI is unaffected.
More films that surprised people
Think you could have called it?
Two ways to find out — run a studio and greenlight your own slate, or predict what this weekend's films open to.
Real Films
real films. What each one cost, what it grossed, and whether the studio actually made money.
Box office
Tom Holland
The highest-grossing actor of all time.
- Domestic
- International
Worldwide box office from Box Office Mojo; click any figure for its source. The total counts credited roles, voice work included.
Settings & Reference
Reference Glossary
Detailed definitions for industry terms like "Waterfall", "P&A", and more.
Appearance
Dark Mode
Toggle dark mode interface.
Support the Creator
If this simulator helped you, consider leaving a tip! ☕
Sunday Scaries
Weekly writing on the business of movies and podcasting — box office, media deals, and how the money actually moves.
Other Tools by Professor Perlstein
ValuatePro
ValuatePro is an advanced financial modeling suite built specifically for the music industry. It allows rights-holders and investors to calculate the market value of publishing and master catalogs.
Open ValuateProLocal Storage
Your progress and calculator inputs are automatically saved to your browser.
Danger Zone
Erase all saved data and reset the application to its default state.
Your account
You sign in with and your PIN.
Playing on this browser only. Sign in to keep your record across devices.
A studio name and a PIN carry your picks, pins and trophies to any device.
Add one and you can always get back in with an emailed link. After that you sign in with the email instead of your studio name.
FloppyMarket ·
Open →No settled calls this season yet. Your line in the standings shows up after your first weekend is scored.
Pins — closest call of the weekend
No pins yet. Call a weekend closer than anyone else and it lands here.
The Greenlight Game
No runs yet. Your studio career shows up here after your first game.
The 2027 Box Office Draft
Your slate →
Trophy case
/
Every distinct career ending you’ve reached — plus a few for going off the lot. Hover or tap one to see what it means.
Oracle · every trophy revealed
Backups and wiping this browser’s saved data live in Settings.
Runs on this browser aren’t saved to an account
- · ·
These were played on this browser. Make an account to keep them.
Leaderboard
The hall of fame for the world's most profitable studio executives.
Play today's slate →Most badges
Across the game, FloppyMarket and everything else on the site.
No results found.
| Rank | Studio Executive | Net Profit | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 👑 |
You
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Now call a real one
FloppyMarket runs on actual box office. Call what this weekend's films open to — your best three calls are your score — and see where you land against everyone else.
Call the opening weekend
FloppyMarket
Guess what each film opens to this weekend. Your best 3 calls each weekend count.
One number per film: its DOMESTIC opening weekend — US and Canada, Friday to Sunday, three days only.
Each call scores up to 100 points for how close it lands. Twice too high and half too low cost the same, so a $6M horror opener counts as much as a $200M blockbuster.
Your best 3 calls each weekend are your score, and your weekends add up across the year. Calling more films can only help — a weak extra call never counts against you.
The closest call on each film takes the 🎯 pin, which breaks ties. Where the trades have published a forecast it’s on the card as a hint. Land on the right side of it and you get a small ✓ beat the forecast — bragging rights, not points.
Free, no money involved. Changed September 14, 2026: scoring moved from over/under records to best-3 points, and every past weekend was rescored the same way.
Make a call on any film below — you only need a name once you want to save it.
No films open for picks right now. The next slate posts midweek.
Nothing in this month matches that filter.
· opens
Call it cold. It scores exactly like any other call.
3-day Saved Your pick:
Saving your call on — pick a name to lock it in.
Forgot your PIN?
Only works if you added a recovery email to the account.
Nothing has locked yet. Everyone's calls stay hidden until then.
You won the weekend
from . Shared with .
Not final · Practice weekend, not counted toward the season · best 3 calls count
The films
Nobody called this one.
No settled results yet. Standings open once the first weekend is in.
Draft your best 7
Pick the 7 films that out-gross their budgets by the most, plus one bomb.
How to play
- Pick 7 films from 2027 that you think will out-gross their budgets by the most.
- Pick 1 bomb. What it loses is added to your score. If it makes money, that comes off.
7 picks. Each film scores its worldwide gross minus its budget. Your score is the 7 added up.
A score, not profit. It’s the Town’s scoring. A studio splits the gross with theaters and pays for marketing, so a film usually needs about 2x its budget worldwide to break even. The calculator does that math for any film.
1 bomb. It scores in reverse. A bomb that loses $80M adds $80M to your score. One that makes $300M takes $300M off it, so be sure. The safe play is a small film that can’t cost you much; the big payoff is a big-budget flop.
Budgets. You draft against the posted budget. Once a film opens, its reported budget is the one that counts, and it freezes there.
Moves. If a film in your slate slides out of the year or skips theaters, you get a free swap for any film that hasn't opened yet. It counts zero until you swap it.
Hidden until lock. Nobody sees anyone's slate until the draft locks. Scores move every Monday and go final with the grosses as of .
Late entry. Missed the lock? Late entry opens when the draft locks and stays open while 8 films are still to open. Pick only from those. It locks when you save, and it's ranked by its late score: your % of the best slate you could have picked that day, times (1 − half the share of the pool that had opened). Half credit for the part of the year you missed. "Everyone" on the leaderboard ranks the draft and late entries together.
Ties go to whoever guessed closest to the biggest worldwide gross of any film in the pool. Every slate is also measured against the perfect slate the year actually produced.
Free, no money involved. Your FloppyMarket name and PIN work here.
Locks ·
Practice draft. The 2027 films and their posted budgets are the real draft's. The grosses are simulated, and so are the other 240 players. Nothing here is saved to the site.
Loading the draft…
Every named US wide release of the year is in the pool. Most slates will lean on the tentpoles. The perfect one usually doesn't.
Try a practice draftThe real 2027 films, made-up numbers, and a fast-forward button.
The perfect slate so far
The best 7 and the best bomb among the films of the year in Real Films. Worldwide gross minus budget.
Slates stay hidden until the draft locks.
No slate in this draft under that name.
·
Wrapped
Your in the draft
- Best pick
- Worst pick
- Your bomb
You called the bomb of the year.
Each one counts zero until you swap it for a film that hasn't opened yet. Swaps are free, and the new film takes the same spot, so a bomb stays your bomb.
Every film left in the pool has opened, so there's nothing to swap in. This one stays at zero.
Late scoreYour % of the best slate you could have picked the day you entered, times (1 − half the share of the pool that had already opened). Half credit for the part of the year you missed, so entering in May tops out at 75.
Of perfectYour score as a share of the perfect slate: the 7 films with the best net in the whole pool, plus its worst bomb, picked in hindsight. 100% is a perfect draft. It moves all season as films open and goes final at the end.
The draft and late entries together: % of perfect for a draft slate, the late score for a late one.
This week’s movers
Nobody this week.
No slates in this draft.
The chalk
Most drafted
Most bombed
The perfect slate takes shape once films open.
Saving locks it. You’re scored against the best slate you could have picked today, at half credit for the part of the year you missed.
Your FloppyMarket name and PIN, or a new one. No email needed.
Your image is ready.