The Astronaut's Wife
Rate Movie[Total: 11 Average: 2.1]
- Directed By: Rand Ravich
- Written By: Rand Ravich
- Release Date: August 27, 1999
- Domestic Distributor: New Line
- Cast: Johnny Depp, Charlize Theron, Joe Morton
Box Office Info:
| Budget: $33 million | Financed by: New Line |
|---|---|
| Domestic Box Office: $10,672,566 | Overseas Box Office: $8,926,022 |
It was announced on May 28, 1997 that New Line had acquired The Astronaut’s Wife project after it was in a bidding war amongst studios. The mini-major fast tracked this Rosemary’s Baby knockoff into development and landed Johnny Depp who chose this stinker as his follow up to his gonzo turn in Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas. The budget for The Astronaut’s Wife was $33 million and New Line financed and reduced exposure to the budget through foreign sales to distributors.
Despite sporting a decent cast,The Astronaut’s Wife was a complete flatline of a movie and New Line dumped it. Their marketing material gave away all of the plot points and the picture was dated for the slow end of summer graveyard on August 27. It bowed against the troubled and delayed The 13th Warrior, In Too Deep, The Muse and Dudley Do-Right.
The Astronaut’s Wife was not screened for critics and was dead on arrival with $4,027,003 — placing #9 for the weekend led by the holdover The Sixth Sense. Audiences gave the movie a rare and hateful D cinemascore and it declined 33.6% to $2,674,972 over the Labor Day frame and then plunged 79.2% to $556,650 in its third session. The domestic run closed with a terrible $10,672,566. New Line would see returned about $5.8M after theaters take their percentage of the gross, which would leave much of the P&A expenses in the red.
New Line was a sibling of the Warner/Turner conglomerate and Turner Broadcasting’s TBS & TNT paid $1.75M to air The Astronaut’s Wife throughout a four-year licensing period.
The Astronaut’s Wife was also a non-performer overseas, where it pulled in just $8.9M across numerous distributors.