THB #421: The Scorsese Math

The Scorsese math is not very complicated.

In the last 21 years, he's directed 9 features, starting with Gangs of New York, his first film with a budget over $60m. The only film of the 9 under $60m was Silence... and even that was $45m for what was seen as a very intimate film.

media-reported budgets should be taken with a grain of salt

As you can see, the first 4 higher budget films (starting with Gangs) didn’t go beyond $110 million on budget. The first 3 of the films were released in the heat of DVD sell-thru, so they all made money. Not a lot of money. But your studio got the prestige of being in the Scorsese business and didn’t have to lose any money.

Brad Grey’s Paramount “took over” Scorsese’s housekeeping and 1st rights deal in 2006… which was not coincidental to Paramount also taking on Brad Pitt’s Plan B. Plan B co-produced The Departed, which won Best Picture after being released in 2006.