Charlotte Gray
Rate Movie[Total: 4 Average: 2]
- Directed By: Gillian Armstrong
- Written By: Jeremy Brock
- Release Date: December 28, 2001
- Domestic Distributor: Warner Bros
- Cast: Cate Blanchett, Billy Crudup, Michael Gambon
Box Office Info:
| Budget: $22 million | Financed by: FilmFour; Senator Entertainment |
|---|---|
| Domestic Box Office: $741,394 | Overseas Box Office: $4,581,715 |
Charlotte Gray was set up at the UK based FilmFour, which had a financing agreement with German based Senator Entertainment, that covered 25% of their investment. Charlotte Gray was budgeted at £14 million ($22 million) and at the time was the most expensive independent British film.
This was the first picture in a US distribution pact between FilmFour and Warner Bros. Under the arrangement WB would release seven FilmFour movies over three years, with budgets above £13m and WB could acquire additional international markets on a per picture basis. The only two features that materialized from the FilmFour/Warner Bros deal was this flop and the expensive disaster Death To Smoochy.
Charlotte Gray was first released in the US and rolled out overseas throughout 2002. Warner Bros positioned Charlotte Gray as an end of the year award hopeful, but it received mixed to poor reviews and faded away quickly. It was dated for December 28 and booked into 5 theaters and pulled in $46,271 with a soft $9,254 per screen average. In its third frame it expanded to 52 locations and struggled with $170,080 and a $3,270 per screen average that would nix a further expansion. Charlotte Gray was out of its stateside release with a mere $741,394.
The film posted a terrible $1.8 million for FilmFour in the UK and the recorded overseas cume was $4.5 million across numerous distributors. FilmFour lost $8.2 million in 2001 and their parent company Channel 4 folded them into their operations in 2002. The commercial failures of Charlotte Gray & Smoochy were largely responsible for the closure of Film Four.