Fired Up
| Budget: $20 million | Financed by: Sony (Screen Gems) |
|---|---|
| Domestic Gross: $17,231,291 | Domestic Distributor: Sony (Screen Gems) |
| Overseas Gross: $1,367,811 | Directed by: Will Gluck |
Starring: Eric Christian Olsen |
Produced by: Matthew Gross |
Fired Up! was financed by Sony’s Screen Gems, which budgeted this disposable PG-13 rated sex-comedy at $20 million. Two weeks into filming Fired Up, Screen Gems offered director Will Gluck a three picture deal and he would be their go to guy for comedy. Shortly after filming finished on Fired Up, Screen Gems announced in November 2008 that Gluck was hired to helm Easy A, which was far more successful than this turkey the following year. The next picture was the box office hit Friends with Benefits (2011).
Fired Up was dated for February 20 and bowed against Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes to Jail and reviews were awful. Marketing material made Fired Up look like an interchangeable direct to DVD Bring It On sequel and tracking was poor. It opened with just $5,483,778 — placing #9 for the weekend led by Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes to Jail. Fired Up saw a modest 32.5% second frame decline to $3,701,562 and continued to post small drops in attendance, but it burned out with just $17,231,291. Sony/Screen Gems would see back about $9.4 million after theaters take their cut of the gross, which would leave much of the P&A expenses in the red and the budget at a loss.
Comedies usually have difficulties overseas and Sony only released the film in Australia, which posted the highest gross at $941,069; the UK with $139k; South Africa with $286k and Nigeria with a grand total of $787. Sony sent the film straight to video everywhere else.