Big Trouble
Rate Movie[Total: 10 Average: 2.8]
- Directed By: Barry Sonnenfeld
- Written By: Robert Ramsey, Matthew Stone
- Release Date: April 5, 2002
- Domestic Distributor: Disney (Touchstone)
- Cast: Tim Allen, Rene Russo, Stanley Tucci, Johnny Knoxville
Box Office Info:
| Budget: $40 million | Financed by: Disney |
|---|---|
| Domestic Gross: $7,267,307 | Overseas Gross: $1,226,583 |
Humorist Dave Barry’s Big Trouble novel was published in 1999 and quickly optioned by Disney. The project was set up for director Barry Sonnenfeld, who had just come off of the mega-budget fiasco Wild Wild West. The mouse house financed Big Trouble for $40 million. Big Trouble was scheduled for release on September 21, 2001 and $6 million of marketing expenses were already spent, when Disney yanked the picture after the September 11th attacks, as the broad comedy had a terrorist subplot. In December, Disney rescheduled Big Trouble for April 5, 2002. Bad Company was another Disney release removed from the calendar and pushed into 2002 after the attacks.
With the new date approaching, Disney decided to dump the movie, giving Big Trouble a very small marketing campaign and the delayed pic had no buzz going into release. Reviews were mixed, leaning negative and it bowed against High Crimes and National Lampoon’s Van Wilder. Big Trouble was dead on arrival with $3,545,204 — placing #9 for the weekend led by the holdover Panic Room. Audiences gave the movie a poor C+ cinemascore and it sank 53.5% in its second frame to $1,647,057 and promptly lost most of its theater count. The domestic run closed with just $7,267,307. The mouse house would see returned about $3.9 million after theaters take their percentage of the gross, which just about covers the cost of striking release prints for theaters and leaves the ad spend in the red and the budget at a loss.
Disney did not do much in the way of releasing Big Trouble overseas, where it grossed a mere $1,226,583 in a handful of markets and went straight to video in most countries.