CHAIN OF FOOLS

Chain Of Fools

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  [Total: 3 Average: 2.3]
  Genre(s): Comedy

• Directed By: Traktor
• Written By: Bix Skahill
• Release Date: February 15, 2005 (video premiere)
• Domestic Distributor: Warner Bros
• Cast: Steve Zahn, Salma Hayek, Jeff Goldblum, Elijah Wood
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Box Office Info:

Budget: $20 million	Financed by: Bel-Air Entertainment
Domestic Gross: $0	Overseas Gross: N/A

Chain Of Fools (formerly titled Shiny New Enemies) was originally going to be financed by Newmarket Capital for $10 million, but the project moved over to the newly formed Bel-Air Entertainment and its budget was increased to $20 million.  Bel-Air was formed in March 1998 as a 5-year equity partnership between Warner Bros and the French conglomerate Canal Plus and WB retained worldwide rights for the films, except for France, Spain and Germany, which went to Canal.

The film was directed by a Swedish group of six people known collectively as Traktor and Chain Of Fools completed production in 1999.  It was slated for release by Warner Bros in the fall of 2000, but no release materialized.  WB then tentatively scheduled a late 2001 release, but that also never happened.  WB did strike 10 release prints for a 2001 bow in Sweden, but no numbers were reported.  Even with a decent cast of Steve Zahn, Salma Hayek, Jeff Goldblum, Elijah Wood, Tom Wilkinson and more, Chain Of Fools sat in the Warner vault collecting dust, until it was quietly unloaded on DVD six years after it was completed, without a peep from the studio.

After a string of box office disappointments from Bel-Air: “Pay It Forward,” “Sweet November,” “Proof of Life,” “Rock Star,” “Collateral Damage” and the shelved Chain Of Fools, Canal Plus pulled out of the arrangement in 2002 and Bel-Air shuttered.