American Outlaws
Rate Movie[Total: 7 Average: 2.6]
- Directed By: Les Mayfield
- Written By: Roderick Taylor, John Rogers
- Release Date: August 17, 2001
- Domestic Distributor: Morgan Creek (through Warner Bros)
- Cast: Colin Farrell, Scott Caan, Ali Larter
Box Office Info:
| Budget: $35 million | Financed by: Morgan Creek |
|---|---|
| Domestic Box Office: $13,342,790 | Overseas Box Office: $336,123 |
The budget for American Outlaws was
$35 million and it was financed by Morgan Creek.
The company had been based at Warner Bros since 1992 for domestic distribution in a rent-a-distributor capacity and Morgan Creek paid for domestic P&A expenses and used WB’s distribution resources. In 2000, Morgan Creek added $200 million in credit from multiple banks led by Chase Manhattan, which would mostly go toward P&A expenses for their upcoming pictures.
Morgan Creek was hoping to tap into their success of Young Guns (1988) with this western and its up and coming cast toplined by Colin Farrell and Scott Caan. It was first dated for May 18, but it was moved to April 11 to keep it away from the long delayed Miramax western Texas Rangers, also aimed at similar auds, which was moving all over the calendar.
American Outlaws was dated again for August 17 and bowed against Captain Corelli’s Mandolin and Rate Race. It was booked into 2,348 theaters and received awful reviews and was dead on arrival with $4,855,475 — placing #8 for the weekend led by the holdover American Pie 2. The picture sank 58.3% to $2,026,733 the following weekend and promptly lost most of its theater count. American Outlaws flopped out of theaters with $13,342,790. Morgan Creek would see returned about $7.3 million after theaters take their percentage of the gross, far less than their P&A spend — plus their fee to WB for use of their distribution resources.
The western theme had no appeal overseas and the movie was dumped straight to video in almost every market. It cumed a mere $336,123 from a few countries and the majority of that number was from Russia with $254,019.