Torque

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  • Directed By: Joseph Kahn
  • Written By: Matt Johnson
  • Release Date: January 16, 2004
  • Domestic Distributor: Warner Bros
  • Cast: Martin Henderson, Ice Cube, Dane Cook

Box Office Info:
Budget: $40 million Financed by: Village Roadshow; Warner Bros
Domestic Box Office: $21,215,059 Overseas Box Office: $25,331,138

“I wanted to do [with] “Fast & Furious” movies what “Evil Dead II” did with horror films: do a piss-take version of it…These are stupid-ass movies. What if I made one that was really fucking stupid?”
Director Joseph Kahn


The ‘really fucking stupid’ Torque was co-financed by Village Roadshow and Warner Bros for $40 million and Warner Bros handled distribution in most markets.  According to Kahn, he wanted to helm Torque as a parody of the ridiculous Fast & the Furious movies, but Fast franchise producer Neal H. Moritz and the studio wanted a more serious Fast & the Furious on motorcycles, not a goofy comedy.  The end result was basically a less expensive goofy knock off of the Fast movies.  Torque was filmed in 2002 and was originally scheduled to open in March 2003, but WB delayed the picture for almost a year too keep it away from the similar turkey Biker Boyz, which was scheduled for January 31, 2003.  It was eventually re-dated for January 16, 2004.

The poorly reviewed pic bowed against Along Came Polly and the low budget animated Teacher’s Pet.  WB booked Torque into 2,463 theaters and it opened within its low expectations at $9,970,557 — placing #4 for the weekend led by Along Came PollyTorque fell a steep 54.9% the following weekend to $4,492,005 and sank 66.8% to $1,489,491 in its third session and then promptly lost most of its theater count.  The domestic run closed with $21,215,059.

Overseas, Torque pulled in mostly weak numbers and Roadshow distributed in their home country Australia to $2.1 million.  $2.6 million from Germany was the highest offshore gross and the overseas cume was $25,331,138.  The worldwide total was $46.5 million and the studio would see returned about $25.5 million after theaters take their percentage of the gross — which would not even cover P&A expenses.

In their quarterly financial report, Roadshow reported a $12 million profit in their film division, attributed to revenue still piling in from the Matrix sequels, but their profit was cut into from losses on Torque.

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