Why the cost of movies increased

During the mid-2000s economic boom, Wall Street hedge funds partnered with investment banks to push $15 billion into Hollywood films. A new payment structure gave outside investors a slice of a film's total profits over its product's lifetime, such as box office sales, video on demand, DVDs, TV licensing, in-flight movies, product placement and toy licensing.

This meant that studios could spend less of their own funds while making more expensive movies.