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Hollywood's $100 Million Benchmark Not What It Used To Be

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MICHAEL HOLMES, WORLD NEWS: Well, $100 million used to represent astronomical earnings for a Hollywood film. But this, of course, is an age of mega budget films and high ticket prices.

And CNN's Paul Vercammen reports that the benchmark isn't what it used to be.

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CAST (singing): Climb every mountain.

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PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): "The Sound of Music" climbed the mountain first, earning $100 million at the U.S. box office. A record 21 movies did it last year. On top - "The Phantom Menace," $431 million domestic, and of course it made more overseas.

GEORGE LUCAS, FILM-MAKER: I think just more people are going to the movies now, and more people are going to the movies because there are more movie theaters and it's -- you know, it's -- the film industry is very robust.

VERCAMMEN: Even small-budget "American Pie" reached the milestone, baking up $102 million domestic.

JASON BIGGS, ACTOR: It was such a great feeling, that $100 million mark, and at the same time a little scary, because you know what? It may not happen again.

VERCAMMEN: But rising ticket prices, more movie theaters, more film showings make $100 million more attainable. When "The Patriot," starring Mel Gibson, bursts onscreen later this month, the producers expect it will blow away the benchmark.

MARK GORDON, PRODUCER, "THE PATRIOT": It would be disappointing for us to not cross the $100 million mark when we have a picture that we believe is so great, and also we have an actor who is one of the, if not the biggest box-office draw in the world, Mel Gibson.

VERCAMMEN: So far this year, "Mission: Impossible 2," "Gladiator" and "Erin Brockovich" have entered the $100 million club. "Dinosaur" will join in this week. But crossing the barrier doesn't assure great profit margins as production costs spiral.

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UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: I'm not a lady, I'm a U.S. marshal.

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VERCAMMEN: "Wild Wild West" made $113 million domestically last year and was branded a bomb because it reportedly cost more than $170 million to make.

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FRANKIE MUNIZ, ACTOR: Go get them, Skip.

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VERCAMMEN: You want huge profits. Take "My Dog Skip" - $5 million to make. It's earned just under $35 million.

MARK JOHNSON, PRODUCER, "MY DOG SKIP": Give me that $35 million against a $5 million negative cost any day over a $100 million movie that costs, you know, $92 million to make.

VERCAMMEN: In 1967, with the average movie ticket costing $1.22, the "Sound of Music" crossed the $100 million benchmark. It took almost two years after being released in various stages. Last year, with the average ticket price at $5.08, "The Phantom Menace" obliterated the $100 million mark in the U.S. in a record five days.

Paul Vercammen, CNN Entertainment News, Hollywood.

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