This Men In Black Secret Will Blow You Mind (For The Worst Reasons)

Men In Black And Hollywood Accounting - Why Net Profits Rarely Materialise

What Solomon highlighted here was the dark art of "Hollywood Accounting", a process where studios creatively twist the numbers to make it seem as if a film hasn't turned a profit. By doing this, they get to avoid pesky things like paying taxes to governments and residuals to creators set to benefit from net profits, thereby keeping more moolah in their coffers. The practice has been going on for decades and continues to deny creators with net points in their contracts a share of a film's success. This is how we end up with the farcical situation where a billion-dollar franchise can still somehow be in the red - as is somehow the case with Men in Black.

Solomon is far from the only creator who has been affected by these practices, which, while legal, are deeply unethical. Darth Vader actor David Prowse famously didn't receive any residuals for Return of the Jedi, while filmmakers Peter Jackson and Sylvester Stallone even took studios to court over alleged profits owed on The Lord of the Rings franchise and four action films - including Demolition Man and Tango & Cash - respectively.

The practice is endemic in Hollywood, and despite public controversy and potential legal challenges, the studios seem quite content to stay the course - partially due to it just being how things are done, but also because of the tax benefits, and the fact few writers have the weight or legal resources to make it an issue in the first place.