Joy Ride
Rate Movie[Total: 40 Average: 4.5]
- Directed By: John Dahl
- Written By: Clay Tarver, J.J. Abrams
- Release Date: October 5, 2001
- Domestic Distributor: New Regency (through FOX)
- Cast: Steve Zahn, Paul Walker, Leelee Sobieski
Box Office Info:
| Budget: $23 million | Financed by: New Regency |
|---|---|
| Domestic Box Office: $21,974,919 | Overseas Box Office: $14,667,919 |
The budget for Joy Ride
was $23 million and it was financed by New Regency and they also paid for the domestic P&A expenses.
Regency’s output was handled by FOX, which received a fee for use of its distribution resources. Joy Ride went before the cameras in September 1999 and a fall 2000 release was planned, but studio interference saw the picture languish in post-production for almost two years.
Director John Dahl edited the film for over a year and was sent back to reshoot the ending twice. Joy Ride was eventually dated for October 5, 2001 and was accompanied by a poor marketing campaign that sold this as a witless generic teen thriller. Little buzz trailed the movie into release and it had the air of damaged goods from the studio tinkering and the delay — but Joy Ride landed strong reviews.
It bowed against Training Day, Serendipity and Max Keeble’s Big Move and even with a slight uptick in interest after critics championed the film, Joy Ride opened with a poor $7,347,259 — placing #5 for the weekend led by Training Day. It declined a modest 33.2% to $4,905,863 in its second frame and then fell 48.1% to $2,543,786 in its third session. The domestic run closed with only $21,974,919.
For the overseas release, the picture went out in most markets as Roadkill and FOX saw mostly soft numbers. The offshore cume was $14.6M. The worldwide total was $36.6M and about $20.1M would be returned after theaters take their percentage of the gross — which would leave much of the global P&A expenses in the red and the budget untouched by the theatrical receipts. Home video sales were enough to launch two cheap made for video sequels.
Good movie.