Box office figures: pure Hollywood spin.

Sony Pictures wound up being the top-ranked studio in 2002, with its slate of films led by "Spider-Man" reaching $1.6 billion in domestic box office. Its prize? A hike in 2003 membership fees to the Motion Picture Association of America, the Hollywood trade group that uses the previous year's box office gross to calculate how much it charges each studios.

"In the coming year, Sony will likely be the largest contributor," said Richard Taylor, the organization's vice president of public affairs. He would not elaborate.

It's one of the peculiarities in the annual tally of box-office receipts that offer bragging rights -- and extended job security -- to a small number of executives. But generating the biggest box office take doesn't always mean generating the biggest profits.

"The whole thing of box office is all fluff. It has no genuine value as an economic indicator of success and ends up being more about spin than substances," said Rob Fried, a film producer and former chief executive of Savoy Pictures.

Dan Fellman, president of theatrical distribution at Warner Bros. Pictures Distribution, said that domestic box office tallies don't mean all that much for investors, either. "It's generally something the trade papers have concocted," he said. "It doesn't really matter."

Not quite. Box office performance can determine how a film is booked on the studio's balance sheet -- and that can influence the pay-out for other venues, such as videocassette and DVD sales, broadcast and cable rights and sequel opportunities. At a time when risk-averse media giants own all the major studios, such additional revenue streams are no small consideration.

"The only reason revenues are important is that the box office sets the pace for what a film is worth," said Harold Vogel, president of Vogel Capital Management, an investment firm. "What will be paid in television or how it will perform in home video and DVD."

"Spider-Man," the year's top-grossing film with more than $400 million in domestic box office, has spun that box office success into another $348 million in home video and DVD sales, the third largest grossing title of the year, according to Daily Variety.

But then there's Walt Disney Co.'s Buena Vista Distribution arm, which was forced to restate its fourth quarter earnings downward by $47 million within a few days of the release of its latest animated feature, "Treasure Planet," which only grossed $35.8 million between its Thanksgiving release and the end of the year. (Disney out-grossed the competition six times in the last decade, but it's been shut out of the top spot for two years.)

Accounting vagaries

To be sure, a box office bomb doesn't always doom a film's bottom-line chances, but a blockbuster can translate to a strong home video/DVD release -- as well as providing the leverage to charge cable outlets more for a particular film. In the vagaries of movie accounting, that can mean the difference between a break-even performance and significant profitability.

Getting big box office numbers requires, first and foremost, a popular, well-made film. But it is also a function of marketing muscle and bankroll. Though there are exceptions, like last year's surprise hit "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," huge receipts is a matter of the buying eyes.

Entertainment industry sources estimate that film prints (the actual reel that plays in a theater) can cost as much as $5,000 each. A studio that can afford to blanket the nation with a film can effectively buy a greater box office gross.

That explains why the same six media conglomerates -- Sony Corp., News Corp., Vivendi Universal, Viacom Inc., AOL Time Warner and Disney -- are the ones slugging it out for top market share.

"Spider-Man" was initially released in 3,615 theaters (two weeks later it was in 3,876), according to Baseline-Filmtracker Inc. The second-highest grossing film of 2002, "Start Wars: Episode II-Attack of the Clones," grossed $310 million and was released in 3,161 theaters in its first five weeks.

"Some people feel since a studio generates such high numbers it is very efficient, and the impression is given that all good projects should gravitate to the studio with the highest rank," said Vogel. "So bragging rights are great because they get you publicity and headlines, and announce to the general public that the studio is dominant."

The exceptions, however, often produce the most profitable films.

Just behind Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc., which grabbed this year's No. 10 spot, was Cablevision Systems Corp.'s IFC Films, which took $242 million at the box office, $228 million of which came from "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," which cost just $5 million to make.

Dominant view

While its level of profitability remains guarded, Sony Pictures did have a phenomenal year.

It had five films grossing more than $100 million in 2002, more than any other studio. Besides "Spider-Man," it released "Men in Black 2," which grossed $190 million, "XXX" ($141 million), "Mr. Deeds" ($126 million) and "Black Hawk Down" ($109 million).

"That says our business is very robust," said Sony spokesman Steve Elzer.

In 2002, Disney's Buena Vista Distribution arm had 28 films in release that together grossed $1.2 billion. The successes of "Signs," which grossed $228 million and "Lilo & Stitch," ($146 million), helped Buena Vista edge out Warner Bros. Domestic Theatrical Distribution, third in box office with $1.07 billion on 31 films in release.

Warner Bros.' best performers were "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" ($240 million) and "Scooby-Doo" ($153 million).

News Corp.'s Twentieth Century Fox had 29 films playing last year, including "Star Wars: Episode II-Attack of the Clones" ($310 million) and "Ice Age" ($176 million), to grab the fourth spot with $1.06 billion total box office. (Last year was the first in which each of the top four studios grossed more than $1 billion at the domestic box office.)

So what about this year? Much like opening day of the baseball season, everybody has high hopes. Much of the buzz is about Universal, which has "The Fast and the Furious 2," "The Hulk" and "The Cat the Hat" in its lineup. Fox is also going the superhero route, with "X-Men 2" and "Daredevil." For blockbuster potential, it's hard to overlook Warner Bros., which has two "Matrix" sequels and "Terminator 3" scheduled for 2003.

"People try to predict but it's really a crapshoot," said Paul Dergarabedian president of Exhibitor Relations. "When you look at a studio's schedule as a whole, there will always be some hits and some bombs."

Disney Stalled

'Signs' led Disney to second-place finish.


'93  Warner Bros.
'94  Disney
'95  Disney
'96  Disney
'97  sony
'98  Disney
'99  Disney
'00  Disney
'01  Warner Bros.
'02  Sony

Sources: Variety, Hollywood Reporter

Note: Table made from bar graph