MovieChat Forums > From the Earth to the Moon (1998) Discussion > How did the miniseries do financially?

How did the miniseries do financially?

posted 11 years ago by sakarasusi
3 replies | jump to latest

I just finished watching the miniseries on DVD, an amazing, huge piece of work. The budget of the miniseries seems to have been huge, for its time at least, and I came to wonder whether the financiers got back what they invested, or was the series a financial catastrophy? :)

[–] johnston.scot 11 years ago

With the caveat that I don't know all the details:

The basic question isn't really answerable, I don't think. The miniseries was originally shown on HBO, and was (I think) 100% financed by HBO. Unlike a movie (and notwithstanding the "BO" in "HBO"), it didn't have any "box office." It didn't even support ad revenues. The basic business case for making it was to drive subscriptions to HBO by (in order of declining "directness"): (i) encouraging people to get subscriptions in order to see it, (ii) discouraging current subscribers from dropping HBO in fear of missing it and similar productions and (iii) polishing the luster of the HBO brand by winning awards, critical acclaim and water-cooler discussion.

It did, secondarily, produce some revenue in the form of DVD sales, though I think that was icing on the cake from a business-plan standpoint, rather than the point of the project. Some HBO shows have also generated licensing fees when later shown on other networks, e.g. "Band of Brothers."

So it's not really possible to say how much money HBO "got back" from the series. Since it won a few Emmies, was well regarded, likely appealed in particular to an HBO-centric audience, and solidified a business relationship with Tom Hanks that later produced some particularly well-regarded shows, I suspect it could be considered a success, though maybe not a huge one.

[–] chester-copperpot-1 8 years ago

The miniseries was originally shown on HBO, and was (I think) 100% financed by HBO.
The basic business case for making it was to drive subscriptions to HBO.
It did, secondarily, produce some revenue in the form of DVD sales.
Some HBO shows have also generated licensing fees when later shown on other networks, e.g. "Band of Brothers."

I would say licensing fees are second (in time) before DVD sales. Even if it was financed 100% as a halo project for HBO, I'm sure they had international licensing in mind. When there are top notch high end productions like these made for television, every public service channel or national television network in every contry on the earth wants to license it for their viewers.

These are halo-projects for the entire global tv-industry, like Carl Sagans Cosmos. I remember both Cosmos and From the Earth to the Moon being broadcast in my country, and I come from Sweden, Europe. I don't remember the dates, but I think it was brodcast at the same time as in the US. Meaning licenses must've been sold before it was finished in the making. As soon as it had gone its way around the world on international tv, they sold it on DVD retail.

I have no figures for this series, but a general estimation is that international sales counts for at least fifty percent of sales total. Meaning, if HBO spent seventy million dollars on this thing and broke even domestically, anything on top of that would be pure profit, like licensing and DVD-sales. A low estimate is that they got the entire production financed on that alone.

[–] gruesome 11 years ago

Not sure about the official financials....

I can only speak of my personal experience.

I purchased the DVDs when it first came out. Approx $90.

Recently I bought them again because the first set was worn out. Approx $13.

So they got more than $100 of my money.