Citation please. Whatever your sources are, no executive would peg the profitability of the movie on a vague theater revenue number, because that's not the only source of revenue. A billion dollars might have been the whisper number for expectations, but not "break even."
You're absolutely right. There are plenty of other sources of revenue. However, the "in theater" goal was $1 bn to hit "break even." now, that $100 mil has to be found elsewhere. And, with the movie under-performing by that much at the box office, pushing other income streams to make up the shortfall is not as promising. So, like I said, expect a HUGE push to sell the movie on DVD/Blu/Digital later in the year.
So, $1 bn was the "break even" number, for theaters. There are also "break even" numbers for home video, digital, toy sales, etc... All those numbers were driven by/dependent on the $1 bn number in theaters. A billion dollar movie is assumed to push later home sales to a certain level, plus push toy sales to a certain level, etc. With the movie under-performing, now the figures for all those other revenue streams have to be adjusted (down), as per trending and estimates based on the performance of past projects. However, now they need those numbers to go UP to make up the shortfall... So, my best guess, based on my experience in the industry, is that they will back off the movie and it will all but disappear (except the toys which are already out on the shelves)... And they'll hope the general public forgets the negative reviews, both critics and word of mouth... Until the push begins for home video when they'll re-sell the movie WITH ADDED FOOTAGE as *better than ever* hoping the schmos will fall for it and shell out the moolah to see it, again. (Of course, the plans for making up the shortfall is just a guess. I wasn't "lucky" enough to be involved with this disaster.* ) (Also, of course, the extra 30 minutes or so may make this a much better movie... but only if the last scene is Jor-El waking up and realizing it's all just a nightmare and they re-boot from there.)
So, to drive all those other numbers to the desired profit level, the "break even" revenue figure for theaters was $1 bn. Now, because the film did not reach that plateau, all other figures have to be reset and re-calculated. So, there are new "break even" figures on all other revenue streams which will incorporate the harder sell, because the movie did not perform as it should, and the changes in advertising felt necessary to shore up the *overall* profit after the movie moves through all income outlets (TV, Netflix, DVD/Blu, toys, soundtrack, etc...) as well as the necessity to perform better than previously estimated.
It's not pleasant to be involved in a "tentpole" production that doesn't live up to expectations. (And wonderful to be involved in one that exceeds expectations... Joss Whedon is pretty much set for life (like George Lucas) after The Avengers)
Just to make my position clear, the cast was wonderful (except Eisenberg and Adams), it was the screenplay, direction and feel of the movie that sucked.
* - And by disaster, I mean the movie itself, not the revenue stream. And by "lucky" I mean, bwah-ha-ha-ha!