You may have been thinking to yourself “Oh boy, The Smurfs 2 only made $18 million in its first weekend and cost $105 million to make! Considering The Smurfs cost $110 million to make but made almost $564 million worldwide (seriously, people, how did THAT f’n happen?!) the sequel must be considered a massive failure already, and never again will we have to accept someone making one of these atrocious money-grabs, right? Right?!”
Unfortunately, this is not the case. Not at all. You see, Sony Animation, the studio behind The Smurfs franchise, has a little something something up their sleeve. And that little something something is called corporate advertising. Sony has deals with over 100 partners—including McDonald’s, WalMart, Toys ‘R’ Us, and Macy’s—all of which will deliver over $150 million to the studio.
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