I've discussed Comcast before, but I'd like to talk about some specific divisions in light of some recent data and trade-news items.
Industry site Deadline recently constructed a top-twenty list of what it has deemed the most profitable blockbusters of 2016. While studios on the list will obviously never confirm the data, the analysis from Deadline seems to be rigorous and fairly in the ballpark. As such, there is a big takeaway for Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) and Disney (NYSE: DIS) shareholders to be derived from that analysis.
According to Deadline, The Secret Life of Pets, made by Illumination Entertainment (an asset that is owned by Illumination's CEO Chris Meledandri and NBCUniversal, as mentioned in this profile from last year over at The Hollywood Reporter), generated $374 million in profit, and a cash-on-cash return (which the site defines as total revenues divided by total costs) of over 2, which is an excellent showing. The strength of this analysis is that an ultimate profit structure is attempted -- in other words, all costs, residuals, profit participations, post-theatrical sales, etc., are taken into account and used in the calculation. This was actually the top project on the list.
