Deep Rising
Rate Movie[Total: 40 Average: 3.1]
- Directed By: Stephen Sommers
- Written By: Stephen Sommers
- Release Date: January 30, 1998
- Domestic Distributor: Disney (Hollywood Pictures)
- Cast: Treat Williams, Famke Janssen, Kevin J. O’Connor
Box Office Info:
| Budget: $45 million | Financed by: Disney; Cinergi Pictures |
|---|---|
| Domestic Gross: $11,203,026 | Overseas Gross: N/A |
The budget for Deep Rising was $45 million, which was equally financed by Disney and Cinergi Pictures.
This silly schlock pic was one of numerous box office flops that led to Cinergi shuttering just a few weeks after this opened. The final Cinergi production was released just three weeks after Deep Rising, the disaster An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn. Disney handled domestic distribution (through their Hollywood Pictures label) and Cinergi took international, which they tapped Summit to sell off overseas markets to distributors. Deep Rising also marked the third and final movie director Stephen Sommers helmed for Disney after he landed a two-picture deal once he completed the low budget The Adventures of Huck Finn (1993) for the studio — The Jungle Book (1994) was the second pic.
Disney originally planned on a fall 1997 release for Deep Rising, but it was pushed back to the January graveyard on January 30, 1998. The trailer and TV spots tried to sell this campy horror comedy as a more serious shocker in tone and showed no vfx money shots for this pricey monster movie and the half-assed marketing materials made this look like low budget fare. The print ads had pushed the vfx angle plastering “From the ‘Special Effect Team’ Who Made ‘Total Recall’ and ‘Star Wars’ “.
It bowed against the bombs Great Expectations and Desperate Measures and landed mostly poor reviews. Buzz was nonexistent and Deep Rising pulled in a terrible $4,737,793 — placing #8 for the weekend led by Titanic in its 7th frame. Auds gave the pic a poor C+ cinemascore and it declined 46.9% the following session to $2,517,485 and it sank 58% to $1,058,485 in its third weekend. The domestic run closed with only $11,203,026. Disney would see returned about $6.1M after theaters take their percentage of the gross. In their quarter investor report, the mouse house took an unspecified, but huge loss on Deep Rising, Kundun and Krippendorf’s Tribe.
Overseas numbers are not available.