Gods And Generals
Budget: $56 million | Financed by: Turner Pictures |
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Domestic Gross: $12,882,934 | Domestic Distributor: Turner Pictures (through Warner Bros) |
Overseas Gross: $41,002 | Directed by: Ron Maxwell |
Starring: Robert Duvall |
Produced by: Ted Turner |
Ted Turner put $56 million of his fortune into the production of this commercial disaster and an additional $30 million for P&A expenses and used Warner Bros as a rent-a-distributor. With no bankable stars, a three and a half hour running time and terrible reviews, the odds were stacked against Gods And Generals. The Civil War pic opened in 1,533 theaters against Old School, The Life of David Gale and Dark Blue and pulled in a weak $4,675,246 coming in #8 for the weekend led by the holdover Daredevil. The film saw a modest 37% second weekend decline to $2,946,476 before falling 53.3% in its third frame to $1,377,431. Gods And Generals closed with $12,882,934 leaving Ted Turner with about $7 million after theaters take their percentage of the gross, plus distribution fees to Warner Bros. The film pulled in all of $41,002 overseas and went straight to video or television in almost every market. Turner planned to produce a trio of civil war films, the first being Gettysburg (1993) and the third feature would be Last Full Measure and its greenlight would be contingent on Gods And Generals grossing between $20 and $40 million. After the failure of Gods And Generals that third film never materialized.
Turner would have seen back $7.1 million, which puts Gods and Generals at a loss of almost $80 million including P&A costs.