Indiana Jones not paying before $400 million

Before Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and Harrison Ford will make some money on the new ‘Indiana Jones,’ the studio has to cover its $400 million in expenses the LA Times says. In recent years, more and more bigwigs have opted for a percentage of the earnings, instead of taking an upfront fee.

Paramount Pictures will have to make $400 million to cover its production and distribution fees. After that Spielberg, Lucas and Harrison will start making 87.5% of every dollar made, while Paramount will get 12.5%. Similar deals were made with Jerry Bruckheimer, Johnny Depp and Nicolas Cage on ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ and ‘National Treasure.’

Of course, we fully expect the new ‘Indiana Jones’ to make more than $400 million. These guys aren’t stupid. They will make 87.5% after that, $1 million per every $1.15 million. One of the main reasons they can do this is because Lucas owns the rights to these properties, while other movies like ‘Spider-man’ are fully owned by the studios.