Enemy At The Gates
Rate Movie[Total: 15 Average: 3.5]
- Directed By: Jean-Jacques Annaud
- Written By: Jean-Jacques Annaud & Alain Godard
- Release Date: March 16, 2001
- Domestic Distributor: Paramount
- Cast: Jude Law, Ed Harris, Rachel Weisz, Joseph Fiennes
Box Office Info:
| Budget: $86 million | Financed by: Paramount; Mandalay Pictures; CP Medien |
|---|---|
| Domestic Gross: $51,401,758 | Overseas Gross: $45,574,512 |
Enemy At The Gates was budgeted at $86 million and at the time of release it was the most expensive US production to be shot in Europe. Paramount co-financed the picture with Mandalay and the German tax shelter fund CP Medien. Paramount handled domestic distribution and Mandalay pre-sold the movie to overseas distributors. The big-budget prestige pic was first dated by Paramount for a December 22, 2000 release as a possible awards contender, but it was pushed back to February 23 and then dated again for March 16. German distributor Constantin pushed for the movie to premiere at the Berlin Film Festival against the wishes of Mandalay and it was chosen to open the festival in early February. Enemy At The Gates was very poorly received by critics and muted any buzz on the project.
Enemy At The Gates opened against the Steven Seagal vehicle Exit Wounds and Paramount booked it into 1,509 theaters, with the intention of adding locations in the following weeks. Despite unenthusiastic reviews and a lack of star power, Enemy At The Gates opened above its modest expectations with $13,810,266 — placing #2 for the weekend behind Seagal’s brief resurgence out of direct to video hell. Paramount added 168 theaters the following weekend and it declined 40.2% to $8,258,312 and then dipped a modest 34.5% to $5,406,959 in its third frame. Enemy At The Gates continued to post decent weekly drops and closed with $51,401,758. Paramount would see returned about $28.2 million after theaters take their percentage of the gross, which would cover most of the P&A expenses, but little to none of the studio’s exposure to the budget.
Mandalay did not fare as well, as Enemy At The Gates posted mostly soft numbers overseas. Despite being partially funded with German coin, the movie grossed just $566,888 there. The offshore cume was $45.5 million.