Murder At 1600

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    [Total: 10 Average: 3.2]
  • Directed By: Dwight H. Little
  • Written By: Wayne Beach, David Hodgin
  • Release Date: April 18, 1997
  • Domestic Distributor: Warner Bros
  • Cast: Wesley Snipes, Diane Lane, Dennis Miller, Alan Alda

Box Office Info:
Budget: N/A Financed by: Regency; Warner Bros
Domestic Gross: $25,804,707 Overseas Gross: $15,300,000

murder at 1600 wesley snipes
Murder at 1600 was co-financed between Regency and Warner Bros for an unreported amount — though Wesley Snipes was commanding about $10M salaries at the time and his vehicles sported healthy budgets.  The picture likely cost between $40M – $50M.

This assembly line studio thriller was pumped out, dated for April 18, 1997 and tanked.  Wesley Snipes had hit a cold streak with a series of flops: Drop Zone (1994), Money Train (1995), The Fan (1996) and Murder At 1600, before having a modest performer with U.S. Marshals (1998) and then landing a franchise later that year with BladeMurder At 1600 was also the third movie in 1997 involving murderous presidential shenanigans after Clint Eastwood’s Absolute Power and the wreck Shadow Conspiracy.

Murder At 1600 landed mixed to poor reviews and got a little extra unwanted attention from a Zero Star review from Roger Ebert.  It bowed against the turkeys McHale’s Navy and 8 Heads in a Duffel Bag.  Murder At 1600 disappointed with $7,962,268 — placing #3 for the slow weekend led by the holdover Anaconda.  There was a second frame 39.4% decline in attendance to $4,825,209 and the domestic run closed with a poor $25,804,707.

Murder At 1600 was a non-performer overseas, where WB saw only $15.3M in theatrical receipts.  The worldwide total was $41.1M.  WB would see returned about $22.6M after theaters take their percentage of the gross — far below global P&A expenses and the budget would be all red ink.

3 Comments

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  1. Ebert panned the movie, but I believe the zero-star rating is an error with his website. The web review has its opening paragraph or two cut off (adding to that possibility) and it reads more like a generic, “This movie doesn’t really work” review than a real slam piece.

    I mainly know this movie for its trailer, where Wesley Snipes gets on a police radio and says, “I have a murder scene. Address: 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue…a place that changes all the rules.” A line that the old rec.arts.movies newsgroup absolutely had a field day with.

  2. Alan Alda in that screenshot looks like he didn’t even bother getting into costume. I’m 99% sure he showed up to set wearing that.

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