'Halo 3' guns for $150 million

In terms of cost, "Spider-Man 3" weighed in at about $400 million to make and release in 107 countries. Producing and marketing the DVDs cost an additional $100 million, and Sony spent tens of millions on such expenses as overhead, profit participation and residual payments. In addition, stars Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst and filmmaker Sam Raimi are believed to get portions of the box-office tally.

The total cost to Microsoft for "Halo 3": a little more than $60 million. Development costs will probably be just above $30 million, given an elite team of 300 full-time artists and programmers working for three years on the game at Bungie, the internal Microsoft studio that created the games, said Michael Pachter, an analyst at Wedbush Morgan Securities. Bonuses to key developers and artists will probably add $25 million to the tab, Pachter said. Though about $15 million to $20 million in television marketing will be spent promoting the game, the majority will be footed by marketing partners such as Pepsi, Burger King and Pontiac that want to ride the "Halo 3" hype.

Significantly, Microsoft has avoided paying costly licensing fees because it owns the rights to the "Halo" franchise. And because Master Chief and his crew are digital, Microsoft is also spared having to write six-figure Hollywood paychecks.

When it comes to revenue, "Spider-Man 3" again is expected to smack down "Halo 3." After shattering the opening weekend box-office record, the movie ultimately grossed $890 million worldwide. From those ticket sales, Sony will pocket about $450 million. The title is expected to be a top seller on DVD and in Sony's high-definition Blu-ray format this holiday season. Sony will reap $750 million from the video disc sales, analyst Baine said. Television and video-on-demand rights around the world are expected to generate nearly $170 million.

Altogether, Spidey's third outing will probably bring in $1.366 billion in revenue for Sony.

Master Chief's take-home pay isn't expected to be as lucrative. The game may sell as many as 10 million copies at an average retail price of $70 for a total of $700 million in sales, said Colin Sebastian, an analyst with Lazard Capital Markets. Of that, Microsoft will get about 80%, or $560 million.