Underclassman

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  • Directed By: Marcos Siega
  • Written By: Brent Goldberg, David Wagner
  • Release Date: September 2, 2005
  • Domestic Distributor: Miramax
  • Cast: Nick Cannon, Adrian Young, Art Bonilla

Box Office Info:
Budget: $25 million Financed by: Miramax
Domestic Box Office: $5,655,459 Overseas Box Office: $224,096


The budget for Underclassman was $25 million and this Nick Cannon vehicle was financed by Miramax.   Production wrapped in 2003 and a summer 2004 wide release was planned — but it was delayed until January 2005 and then pulled from the calendar, when the Weinsteins and Disney were working out terms about remaining or exiting Miramax.  During this period, many of their completed films remained on the shelf, until Bob and Harvey Weinstein agreed to split from Disney and quickly flooded the market with the delayed movies.

After Underclassman lost its summer 2004 date and its theatrical future remained in question, director Marcos Siega went off and filmed the low budget picture Pretty Persuasion.  After Underclassman was yanked from its January date, the Weinsteins held buyers screenings, trying to sell the pic off to another studio, but it was passed over and Miramax was left with this rip off of 21 Jump Street.  

They finally scheduled Underclassman for a wide release on August 5 and producer Peter Abrams was quoted: “We basically sat on the fence for a year. They were looking for an excuse not to release the movie.”  Less than two months before August 5th, Marcos Siega said “I still don’t know when the trailer is going to come out.  And I have not received one phone call from Harvey.”  Underclassman moved yet again to the slow Labor Day dumping ground on September 2, 2005 where it would finally be released and Pretty Persuasion made it into release first on August 12.

Underclassman received miserable reviews and was booked moderately wide into 1,132 theaters.  It bowed against Transporter 2, The Constant Gardener and the troubled and long delayed A Sound of Thunder.  Underclassman pulled in an awful $2,525,364 — placing #11 for the weekend led by Transporter 2.  Underclassman fell 50.8% in its second weekend to $1,243,374 and quickly left theaters with just $5,655,459.  Miramax would see back about $3 million after theaters take their percentage of the gross, far below their modest P&A expenses.

Underclassman saw a brief theatrical release in Egypt, Russia, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates to all of $224,096 and went straight to video in the few markets where it found a release.  This was the last Nick Cannon vehicle to get a major release.

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