Molly
Rate Movie[Total: 5 Average: 1.4]
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- Directed By: John Duigan
- Written By: Richard Christie
- Release Date: October 22, 1999
- Domestic Distributor: MGM
- Cast: Elisabeth Shue, Aaron Eckhart, Jill Hennessy, Thomas Jane
Box Office Info:
| Budget: $21 million | Financed by: MGM |
|---|---|
| Domestic Gross: $17,650 | Overseas Gross: $0 |
In May 1997, MGM acquired the Molly spec script by Richard Christie for $700,000 against $1 million and the project was set up as a potential directing assignment for Amy Heckerling, who passed on helming this but remained as a producer. The budget for Molly was $21 million and MGM financed this turkey.
Molly was first set for release on April 16, 1999 but the lion knew they had a stinker on their hands and the cash strapped studio delayed the movie. MGM announced a potential August release, but eventually pushed it back to October 22. The studio nixed the wide release and decided to dump the movie in a handful of theaters with no marketing support. MGM execs thought so little of this picture, that they never even bothered to change the date that the movie would begin to play on airlines. The airline date was set from the canceled April release and Molly became the first movie to be released straight to airplane in September — over one month before the fleeting theatrical run.
The airline version was 102 minutes, but MGM cut the film for theaters down to 89 minutes. It remains a mystery whether the truncated runtime was to save on the cost of striking prints or to have mercy on paying audiences.
Molly was booked into 12 theaters and landed bottom of the barrel reviews. It pulled in $9,683 with an awful $806 per screen average. The brief run ended with $17,650 and MGM wrote off most of the production costs. It was sent straight to video overseas.