Is it worth it to people to make open movies? If I directed an open movie could I still make enough money off dvd sales and theater showings to pay my employies?
Answer in one word - Yes.
EDIT - We are also working along the same theme, but do not intend to make any money out. Do check out our site.
kbot,
YOU are brave (to say “yes” to such a loaded question)!
coryalantaylor ,
i would say that all depends …
About 10 years ago, it was expensive to produce a music CD but if a record label covered the cost there was profit in royalties, touring and … well … being in the spot light (sort of)
Today, home studios are a dime a dozen and duplication plants crank out 1000/2000/5000+ copies, shrink warped and bar coded and ready for any store that will display and sell them. A band that has the look, the talent, the sound, the drive, the vision and the luck can make money selling their “stuff”.
Maybe i’m wrong but i think the same is true for using computers to produce a movie. One thing i don’t get is the “open movie” fuss. I know of no project that has taken the Elephants Dream data which is freely available and made something different out of it.
If you have a unique story to tell, access to talent that can produce it within two to three years (from start to finish) and the funding to cover the operation, go for it 
Good Luck!
Good question, I planned now a short movie, or series… If I have money. Or I can get money by selling dvds…
I might weigh in on this one. Elephant’s Dream is the biggest open movie so far that I know of, probably the only one on it’s scale till Peach comes out. (Dont shoot me down if I’m wrong there, just going by current knowledge.
Using that as an example, yup, they covered costs, mainly from DVD sales - but also an arts grant or two and from memory some donations to help with a bit of equipment/render time etc.
I think the characters/ scenes have been used in an artwork or two around here, were made into a mobile game, and naturally put into a torrent/youtube and all the rest.
Personally, I paid for the dvd, and having all the content helped heaps as a learning resource. The generosity of the team with what they offered in this regard is probably what drove me to front up the cash - well worth it.
Also, there are varying levels of the Creative Commons licenses from what I understand, so you can have a liscense that says people are free to use content for personal use, but not to re-sell or re-distribute the content modified in any way.
At the end of the day, I’m no producer/director, so take what you will out of my response. I think it’s possible to make money of an open movie, and I’m keen to give it a go one day, but when I have more experience under the proverbial belt.
Good luck if you choose to go ahead with it! 
Is it public information how many Elephants Dream dvd was selled?
And why cant order now in blender.org e-shop?
around 2850. And there are no more ED dvd’s in the making.
That’s around 96,900 euros. And the movie was made with about 120,000 euros.
So, sponsors paid for 23,100 euros. (Well, probably mode because I think many of those DVDs went to make things such as the blender institute).
But still, wow, that’s more then I thought.
If elephants dream can do it … so it can again. Please, any other folks out there - give this idea much thought, and then . … . go for it!
Only if the movies are good and enough people hear about them. Oh, and you would need to keep the budgets of the movies sane.
If the movies are licensed under a liberal Creative Commons license, that might hurt DVD sales, but I suspect it would have minimal (if any) impact on box office sales–particularly if the movies are first released in theaters, and not released in other forms until the theater runs are over.
Then again, I’m no business expert, so I probably have no idea what I’m talking about.
Also, it seems to me that a good way to make money would be to release the DVDs, and after a year or so, allow it to be distributed on-line.
But that’s just the way I see it.
I have an idea for a short animated film, and I think if I do it then it would be good to make it open.