Domino
Rate Movie[Total: 10 Average: 2.5]
- Directed By: Tony Scott
- Written By: Richard Kelly
- Release Date: October 14, 2005
- Domestic Distributor: New Line
- Cast: Keira Knightley, Mickey Rourke, Edgar Ramírez, Delroy Lindo
Box Office Info:
| Budget: $50 million | Financed by: Metropolitan Filmexport |
|---|---|
| Domestic Box Office: $10,169,202 | Overseas Box Office: $12,775,300 |
Domino Harvey sold her life story to Tony Scott in 1995 for $360,000 and he planned on making Domino as his follow up feature to the flop The Fan (1996). Elisabeth Shue was first announced as the lead. Scott had a first look arrangement at FOX, but the studio declined to be involved with the movie and the project was put aside while he helmed Enemy of the State (1998), Spy Game (2001) and Man On Fire (2004).
Eventually Scott found financing from France based Metropolitan Filmexport. The budget for Domino was $50 million and New Line acquired US rights for $15 million. Summit Entertainment and Davis Films sold the film to overseas distributors, except for in France, where Metropolitan would distribute. Keira Knightley landed a $2M payday for Domino.
New Line originally scheduled the movie for an August 19, 2005 release, but pushed it back to November 4 and then Domino Harvey overdosed and died on June 27. One day later New Line moved it back to November 23. Focus then dated the Keira Knightley starrer Pride and Prejudice for November 11 and Domino was moved forward to October 14.
Domino was tracking soft and was not expected to reach low teen numbers opening weekend. The death of Domino Harvey was barely media fodder for a few days and basically forgotten. The story of spoiled Hollywood royalty who self destructed from drugs and had spent time as a bounty hunter mostly going after low level drug addicts — was a movie that had no marketable audience. And this narrative was almost entirely fabricated and was savaged by critics.
Domino was booked in 2,223 theaters against The Fog remake and Elizabethtown and was dead on arrival with $4,670,120. It placed #7 over the slow weekend, led by The Fog. Audiences did not like the pic any more than critics and gave Domino a poor C+ cinemascore. It sank 51.3% in its second frame to $2,275,531 and promptly lost most of its theater count and was pulled from release after only four weeks with a total of $10,169,202. New Line would see returned about $5.6 million after theaters take their percentage of the gross, which would barely put a dent in their P&A costs and cover none of their acquisition expense.
Metropolitan saw Domino flop in France with only $1,127,327. Entertainment saw the highest overseas numbers in the UK with just $2,220,079. The overseas cume was $12,775,300 across numerous distributors.