“The summer movie release schedules show around 25 “major” productions poised for release – most on a near-simultaneous global rollout, to foil the pirates – at an average cost, we’ve worked out, of $85m. It must be remembered that actual box-office takings are now a minor part of a film’s income-generating potential: it’s taken as read that individual movies now act as a brand, developing ancillary products from soundtracks to video games to DVDs that – if all goes according to the business plan – will far dwarf what cinemagoers themselves fork out. The pressures to get it right are now so huge that one thing is clear: Hollywood is deeply reluctant to get involved with anything that hasn’t already proved itself.”