WHERE THE MONEY IS

Where The Money Is

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  [Total: 9 Average: 3]
  Genre(s): Comedy

• Directed By: Marek Kanievska
• Written By: E. Max Frye, Topper Lilien, Carroll Cartwright
• Release Date: April 14, 2000
• Domestic Distributor: USA Films
• Cast: Paul Newman, Linda Fiorentino, Dermot Mulroney
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Box Office Info:

Budget: $20 million	Financed by: Intermedia; Pacifica Film
Domestic Gross: $5,661,798	Overseas Gross: $1,581,871

The budget for Where The Money Is was $20 million and it was co-financed by Intermedia and Pacifica Film.  The tax shelter company, Intermedia also handled international sales to distributors.  Sean Connery was originally set to star, but dropped out in late 1997 to join the cast of Entrapment and Paul Newman committed to the project.  Polygram Films acquired domestic rights and production was completed in early 1998.  Polygram’s Gramercy division was set to distribute the picture, but Gramercy merged with October Films and the combo minted USA Films.  Where The Money Is was then dated for April 14, 2000 where it bowed against 28 Days, Keeping The Faith and American Psycho.

Reviews were mixed and the picture had little buzz going into release.  Paul Newman did the usual PR rounds and marketing tried to court older auds, but Where The Money Is opened with a dreadful $2,513,530.  It placed outside the top 10 at #13 for the weekend led by holdover Rules of Engagement.  In regards to the awful opening, Paul Newman told the latimes: “The release date? Distribution strategy? And maybe, we simply didn’t have enough explosions and enough body mutilations and enough frontal nudity and enough sodomy and enough self-abuse. I don’t know. Maybe I can’t carry a film anymore.“

Where The Money Is declined 51.4% in its second session and promptly lost most of its theater count.  It lasted only five weeks in theaters and closed with $5,661,798.  USA Films would see returned about $3 million after theaters take their percentage of the gross, leaving almost all of the P&A expenses in the red.

The film saw a fleeting theatrical release in a few markets overseas and cumed $1.5 million across a few distributors.  This was the second to last movie Paul Newman appeared in — he nabbed an Oscar nomination in 2002 for Road To Perdition and then retired from the big screen.  The notoriously difficult Linda Fiorentino found herself unemployable after Where The Money Is.