Explaining Hollywood vs. Indies

Another article in an excellent series in Slate.com on how the movie biz works:

Due to the high cost of worldwide marketing, the cost of the studios' average product, which in 2004 exceeded $100 million, greatly exceeds what they get back from their share of the box office. Fortunately for the studios, a few films each year perform much better than average, and it's these Midas-touch movies, such as Spider-Man, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Mission Impossible, on which the studios now earn almost all their profits. Since the publicity campaigns for these mega-blockbusters have proven effective in the popcorn economy, studios recycle their elements into endless sequels, and leave originality, and all the joy that comes from it, to the indies.