Cursed
Rate Movie[Total: 31 Average: 3]
- Directed By: Wes Craven
- Written By: Kevin Williamson
- Release Date: February 25, 2005
- Domestic Distributor: Miramax (Dimension)
- Cast: Christina Ricci, Jesse Eisenberg, Joshua Jackson, Judy Greer
Box Office Info:
| Budget: $40 million (estimated) | Financed by: Miramax (Dimension) |
|---|---|
| Domestic Box Office: $19,297,522 | Overseas Box Office: $10,324,200 |
Cursed was first announced by Miramax’s genre label Dimension on August 10, 2000 that screenwriter Kevin Williamson would pen the script, which Bob Weinstein envisioned as the start of a werewolf franchise akin to Scream. Cursed had a drawn out nightmare production that began in March 2003 with an August 8, 2003 release planned.
About one month before the shoot was set to wrap, production was shutdown to retool the last act. Filming was postponed about half a year to retool the script, plan additional vfx sequences and recast some of the key roles. Skeet Ulrich, Mandy Moore, Omar Epps, Illeana Douglas, Heather Langenkamp, Scott Foley, Robert Forster and Corey Feldman all were replaced when either scheduling conflicts prevented them from signing onto the reshoots or certain cast members were just replaced. The reshoots threw away most of what was shot back in 2003 and even after a new ending was shot, another ending was ordered and then the film was taken away from Wes Craven and underwent last minute emergency surgery to trim the gory R rated movie down to a PG-13 rating for a US release.
Dimension put up the initial $38 million funds and while the final budget was reported at just north of $40 million — that is absurd since almost the entire movie was filmed again. In November 2004, Dimension pre-sold the troubled and delayed movie quite well to international buyers at the American Film Market based on the re-teaming of Scream‘s Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson, which would reduce their exposure to the budget.
In its neutered family friendly rating Cursed was eventually dated for February 25, 2005 and Dimension did not screen it for critics. Cursed bowed against Tyler Perry’s Diary of a Mad Black Woman and Man Of The House (also not screened for critics) and it had a soft start with $9,633,085 — placing #4 for the weekend led by Diary of a Mad Black Woman. Audiences gave Cursed a C- cinemascore, which is common enough in the horror genre. Horror pics are usually front loaded and Cursed fell a steep 59.9% in its second weekend to $3,867,052 and followed that with 59.5% third weekend plunge to $1,564,363. Cursed left theaters with a terrible $19,297,522 — leaving Miramax with about $10.6 million after theaters take their percentage of the gross, which would not cover their P&A expenses or any of their exposure to the budget.
Disney saw the film’s best overseas numbers from Spain with only $2.7 million and its overseas total was a mere $10,324,200 across numerous distributors.
The movie was toplined by Christina Ricci, who also saw her long delayed Prozac Nation which was ready for release back in 2001, rotting in the Miramax vault until it was dumped straight to cable a month after Cursed flopped in theaters.