Alfie
Rate Movie[Total: 6 Average: 2.3]
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- Directed By: Charles Shyer
- Written By: Elaine Pope, Charles Shyer
- Release Date: November 5, 2004
- Domestic Distributor: Paramount
- Cast: Jude Law, Marisa Tomei, Susan Sarandon
Box Office Info:
| Budget: $60 million | Financed by: Paramount |
|---|---|
| Domestic Gross: $13,399,812 | Overseas Gross: $21,750,734 |
Paramount financed Alfie, a remake of the 1966 film of the same name, for $60 million and it was one of three high profile 2004 remakes at Paramount which all flopped — the other two were The Manchurian Candidate and The Stepford Wives. Paramount was in a three year slump and the 2004 slate of pictures were mostly bombs and on November 2 (three days before Alfie opened) the head of Paramount Sherry Lansing announced she would soon exit her post after 12 years on the job.
Paramount originally dated Alfie for October 22, but pushed it back 2 weeks to November 5, after Warner Bros vacated Alexander from the date. Alfie would play as counter-programming for adults to The Incredibles.
Alfie was booked into 2,215 theaters and was tracking poorly up to its release and received mixed reviews and tanked with $6,218,335. It placed #6 for the weekend led by The Incredibles. Audiences gave the film a poor C+ cinemascore and it declined 56% the following weekend to $2,738,931 and then sank a huge 73.4% in its third frame to $727,388. The domestic run closed with just $13,399,812.
Alfie had a heavy marketing push in the UK and grossed an ok $8.5 million, but did poorly in most markets with an overseas cume of $21.7M. The worldwide total came to $35.1M and Paramount would see returned about $19.3M after theaters take their percentage of the gross, which would leave much of the P&A costs in the red and the budget at a loss.
Generic rom-com specialist director Charles Shyer did not direct another studio project after Alfie misfired at the box office. He did direct second unit on his daughter Hallie Meyers-Shyer’s lousy rom-com Home Again (2017).