Entertainment Weekly blurb saying the sequel to "Anchorman" (2004) has been scuttled for now.
Primary reason: first movie cost $25M and grossed $85M domestic but only $5M overseas. Paramount is apparently concerned about that.
Kind of stunning to read. Usual rule: if movie costs $X, then--worst case--you double that figure for promotion and that's how much you need to earn for a profit. So the first movie should have cleared $40M. Not huge, but a moneymaker.
Still, if the movie did the usual overseas box office (equal or better than domestic), then the profit would have been more like $120M.
The sequel is expected to cost round $50M, so if it got the same BO, it would lose money--unless the overseas take somehow saved it.
Thus the logic of fearing low international appeal.
So we already see globalization placing some new rules back on Hollywood.