Making and marketing a movie can cost as much as erecting a substantial skyscraper. But investments in the movie business are typically far riskier than those in real estate—or even wildcat oil-drilling.
The average Hollywood movie now costs about $60 million to make and another $30 million to distribute and market. Most movies don’t recover their costs at the box office. Movie studios manage to survive because a handful of films strikes it very rich, making up for all the losses.