There is an old rule of thumb from the Studio System days called Balabans Law that says a film has to make back three times its negative cost to break even, Matt Damon says in this video that an executive has told him it is now more like four times its cost: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gF6K2IxC9O8 - so a hundred million dollar film has to make back 300 or 400 million before you make a profit. And to do that you need to get as many people to see it as possible, and to do that it cant be complex or strange or difficult or challenging or controversial it has to be very safe and simple and broadly appealing.
There is an old rule of thumb from the Studio System days called Balabans Law that says a film has to make back three times its negative cost to break even, Matt Damon says in this video that an executive has told him it is now more like four times its cost: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gF6K2IxC9O8 - so a hundred million dollar film has to make back 300 or 400 million before you make a profit. And to do that you need to get as many people to see it as possible, and to do that it cant be complex or strange or difficult or challenging or controversial it has to be very safe and simple and broadly appealing.