It saddens me to think of the work you must do as a Filmmaker. Give us a link to an IMDB page to one or more of your films please.
Crime Spree's budget was just shy of $12M. You see, European actors don't get the massive pay of American actors. They have to make quality work because their pay is based on the back-end of the film. A couple hundred thousand up front if you're lucky; then once the studio and production company makes all their expense back, then the actors get their % of the profits. $60M won't get you much as an American Filmmaker. More films are made cheaper in European and former Soviet markets than here. Nightwatch and Daywatch, for example, were made for $4.2M each in Russia and former USSR states, the Country's highest film budgets ever. Final Watch, the end of the trilogy, will be made in the US with an estimated production budget of $80M. That's almost 20 times more just to make a film here. But the end result in the quality of the films is not 20 times less than other "CGI Heavy" films, but equal in quality.
Europeans have a different reaction to film than Americans do. Many European films have their endings changed, err "extended/alternate endings" when coming to US shores because their endings are usually more true-to-life than "everything is okay." If this film were made by American Filmmakers Julian most likely wouldn't have died; and the budget would have been closer to your numbers.
Hollywood has nearly priced themselves out of the film market with their massive budgets.
As per your rip-off philosophy; films like this are made by combining formulas that are known to work and then adding a specific flare to it. No one claimed it was an original idea. The film also has its own unique presence. Today's Hollywood is one giant rip-off with its remakes of everything. Superman Returns, err, Superman Flops I should say. Where the heck did the $300M go? And required $600M at the box office just to break even. How's that? Their rip-off, or should I say continuation of the Chris Reeves films was totally half-ass at best. Keep what you want from the original films and kick out whatever doesn't fit YOUR vision. Filmmakers have a specific responsibility when entering a franchise. Either take the rights and create a new franchise, or honor the previous films if continuing the franchise. How many films could you make with that budget?
Crime Spree: Budget $11.677M USD, with a worldwide return-to-date of $73M + USD(including theatre, DVD/Video sales, cable licensing & rental as of Dec '05). Nearly 700% return in 3 years. Crime Spree was received well.
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