No Cure For <i>Phantom</i> Flu

So how much does a movie like The Phantom Menace cost?

Hundreds of millions to make, $9 or $10 to see, and as much as $300 million in lost productivity from absent employees on the opening day alone.

An estimated 2.2 million people will, one way or the other, miss work when the movie opens Wednesday, CBS News Correspondent Richard Schlesinger reports. It might be a vacation. It might be an unplanned absence. It might be the blue flu.

John Challenger runs an employment consulting firm in Chicago. He's done the math, and he figures if all those workers get what's called the "Phantom Flu," it will cost American businesses an astronomical sum.

"The amount of absenteeism, the loss of $300 million is for Wednesday alone," Challenger says. "[And] this is obviously affecting employers [for] more than just one day."

Fans have already lined up, laid down and forked over for opening day tickets. And some employers, whether they know it or not, have already felt the effect of this Phantom Menace. Plenty of employees have already called in sick, so they could wait in line to get tickets.

Some bosses know it's going to be that kind of week for their Star Wars obsessed employees. At Edelman Financial Services in Virginia, chairman Ric Edelman has thrown in the towel. To keep his employees in the tent, he asked them to show up for work in costume. To keep them working on Wednesday, he'll pay for their tickets and take them to the movie on Friday.

"I don't think we're going to have any absenteeism on Wednesday, because people know that we're going to take them to see the film on Friday," he says. "So if they go Wednesday, not only will they miss a day of work, they'll have to pay for the movie."

However much the economy loses, it is sure to be forgotten before this is all over. Some estimates say this film could make $2 billion. That makes the $300 million in lost productivity hardly worth mentioning.