http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread1199288/pg1

So I just heard that this new animated movie had an estimated budget of $50 million! This is basically the length of 4 cartoon TV shows rolled into one. Given that animation has largely been automated since early 2000, I have a very difficult time believing that it cost any where near that amount of money to produce a movie such as this. Before when there were actual films and shooting a film was expensive because there was the cost of the physical medium, the development, the cutting/editing, etc not to mention all the cost of building sets.

Now we have CGI for A LOT of the sets, with green screens and digital video recording (no cost for film) and digital editing. Voice overs are much easier than they used to be and can be timed automatically with software. Much of the production effort seems to have been removed compared to what was previously needed yet we keep seeing the cost of movies going up.

Now I know actors get paid a lot more than they used to, but that still doesn't account for the huge increase while production costs should be decreasing at a very steep rate.

What I see is an industry that got used to laundering a lot of money through their films and once they got hooked on those big pay days (of 'tax free money'), like an addict, they had to keep going and going bigger while getting less for the larger 'dose' (meaning less production cost, less people paid for work, etc), while the studios are clearing larger and larger amounts when the costs should be much lower.

The real give away is when you see foreign films from Europe, China, India with $50,000 budgets that are as good, if not better, than many hollywood movies costing millions! Then you have the student films or independents (Sundance??) that even rival big budget Hollywood films.

So, I'm wondering where the money is coming from that they need to launder. Is this money skimmed from state, local and federal governments or is this maybe from sales of illicit and illegal goods (drugs and arms)? If you think they are laundering money, where do you think the source of the money is? With the stories circulating (think of profits stemming from the activities surrounding Corey Feldman's allegations and other possible sex/prostitution rings??)

What do you people think? Are these costs of movies legit and if so, please explain the breakdown of the production costs because when I did it, I found a massive amount left to be explained.