Revenue
From ForcaWiki, the simple encyclopedia
| In one sentence | All the money an organization earns by selling its goods or services. |
|---|---|
| Category | Finance |
| Related | Profits, Costs, Box Office Receipts |
Imagine adding up every single dollar your lemonade stand took in from customers over an entire summer, before subtracting anything you spent on lemons or cups. That total is your revenue: everything that came in the door.
Revenue is exactly that for any organization: money earned through the sale of its goods and services related to what it actually does. For a movie, revenue includes Box Office Receipts, streaming and television licensing fees, and every other way it earns money.
How it is different from profit
Revenue is not the same as Profits. Revenue is everything earned, full stop, before subtracting anything. Profit is what is left over after subtracting all of the Costs it took to earn that revenue. A movie can bring in huge revenue and still end up with very little profit, if its costs were high enough.
Fun facts
- News headlines about a movie "making" a certain amount of money are usually talking about revenue, like box office receipts, not the movie's actual profit.
- A business can have enormous revenue and still be in financial trouble, if its costs are eating up almost all of it.
- Revenue is the very first number in the equation that eventually determines a movie's profit, and how much trickles down through its waterfall.