Untraceable
Rate Movie[Total: 4 Average: 1.8]
- Directed By: Gregory Hoblit
- Written By: Robert Fyvolent, Mark Brinker, Allison Burnett
- Release Date: January 25, 2008
- Domestic Distributor: Screen Gems
- Cast: Diane Lane, Billy Burke, Colin Hanks
Box Office Info:
| Budget: $32 million | Financed by: Lakeshore Entertainment; Screen Gems |
|---|---|
| Domestic Box Office: $28,687,835 | Overseas Box Office: $23,971,759 |
Untraceable was co-financed by Lakeshore Entertainment and Sony’s Screen Gems for $32 million. Lakeshore handled international pre-sales, which kicked off at the 2006 American Film Market and Screen Gems would handle domestic distribution. Untraceable was first dated for September 7, 2007 but was pushed back to January 25, 2008.
This disposable genre effort that looked like a cross between Saw and any of the dozens of police procedurals on TV, was tracking poorly and the studio hoped Untraceable would reach double digits opening weekend. It bowed against the anti-funny spoof Meet the Spartans, Rambo and How She Move and received lousy reviews. Untraceable opened on the high end of its low expectations with $11,354,069 — placing #5 for the weekend that American moviegoers awarded the #1 box office spot to Meet the Spartans. Untraceable sank 55.3% to $5,076,537 the following frame and dipped a modest 31.5% in its third session to $3,475,325. The domestic run closed with $28,687,835. Screen Gems would see returned about $15.7 million after theaters take their percentage of the gross, which would not cover their P&A expenses.
Universal acquired major markets UK, Germany and Australia and after the movie tanked in the US, they revamped the marketing campaign to push the torture porn angle. Universal launched a stunt on Facebook targeting UK auds with the marketing company Picture Production Co., which ended up causing controversy and getting the page banned. The page mirrored a plot point where the more users view the page, the more of a torture sequence is shown. The stunt did little to bolster audience interest and it grossed $3.5 million in the UK, which was the highest offshore gross. The overseas cume was $23.9 million across many distributors.