Rumor Has It
| Budget: $70 million (estimated) | Financed by: Warner Bros; Village Roadshow |
|---|---|
| Domestic Gross: $43,000,262 | Domestic Distributor: Warner Bros |
| Overseas Gross: $45,933,300 | Directed by: Rob Reiner |
Starring: Jennifer Aniston Kevin Costner |
Produced by: Steven Soderbergh |
Rumor Has It was originally budgeted at $40 million by Warner Bros and Village Roadshow, but the film had a troubled start when screenwriter Ted Griffin was fired after eight days in his first directing job. Warner Bros head Alan Horn quickly hired Rob Reiner to replace Griffin and keep the project from folding and the film ended with an estimated budget at $70 million. Rumor Has It opened in the US in a very crowded end of the year Christmas market, with a glut of new openers: Fun with Dick and Jane, Cheaper by the Dozen 2, The Ringer, Wolf Creek and the wide expansion of both Memoirs of a Geisha and The Producers. Warner Bros had low exceptions for the film at the box office and what was originally developed as a prestige pic, received mostly terrible reviews. It would also be competing with The Family Stone in its second weekend for similar auds and Rumor Has It came in within those low expectations with $7,515,531 in 2,815 theaters. It placed #10 over the holiday frame. Rumor Has It saw a second week increase to $11,790,273 over the New Year’s frame and saw a modest 39.1% third weekend decline to $5,702,435 but the film closed its run with $43,000,262 — which is troubling for a film with a $70 million price tag and tens of millions more to market. Warner Bros distributed the film in most overseas territories, where it pulled in mostly weak numbers. WB saw a soft $4.4 million in the UK, an OK $7.3 million in Germany and Village Roadshow distributed in Australia to an ok $6.2 million. The overseas cume was $45,933,300 bringing the worldwide total to $88.9 million, which would leave WB with about $48.8 million after theaters take their percentage of the gross, which would not cover the worldwide P&A costs and leave the budget in the red. Domestic home video sales were $21 million (less after resellers take their cut and manufacturing costs).