Otago Museum director Ian Griffin said final invoices and sales for the "Challenging the Deep" exhibition, which finished on February 22, were still being worked on.
The shortfall was likely to be about $50,000, before taking into account extra sales of combo tickets, merchandise in the shop and sponsorship contributions.
That was considered to be close to breaking even.
Just under 22,000 tickets were sold to the exhibition, with a split of 76% adult and 24% children.
In context, the museum’s large internally-produced exhibitions, for which there was usually no charge, cost the museum about $100,000 to stage, and last year’s "Dare to Be Wise" exhibition, celebrating the University of Otago’s 150th anniversary, had cost more than $100,000.
The museum had been "very happy with the amazing profile we got" from the exclusive New Zealand staging of a major international exhibition, at an overall lower cost than staging an exhibition generated by the museum itself.
"We see this an excellent result, given the huge PR generated and other benefits to the museum, and more importantly to Dunedin," Dr Griffin said.
Bringing Mr Cameron to the museum in association with the "Challenging the Deep" exhibition had also been good for the museum and Dunedin, and the links developed with him could also have further positive benefits in future.
The national profile of the show might also help its continuing campaign to gain Government funding to support its collections.
The museum has declined the provide the overall costs of staging the James Cameron exhibition, citing commercial sensitivity, but it is understood the budget was at least several hundred thousand dollars.
A recent museum treasurer’s report for the two months to December 31 shows the museum generated additional income of $198,134 in admission charges from the exhibition.
The exhibition was also supported by sponsorship from Otago Community Trust, Niwa and other sponsors.
Museum commercial director Murray Bayly said that the exhibition had also sparked increased turnover in other parts of the museum, including the cafe, the shop, commercial venue bookings and education programmes (about 1000 pupils came through the exhibition).
