GAMER

Gamer

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  [Total: 9 Average: 2.9]
  Genre(s): Action | Sci-Fi

• • Directed By: Mark Neveldine, Brian Taylor
  • Written By: Mark Neveldine, Brian Taylor
  • Release Date: September 4, 2009
  • Domestic Distributor: Lionsgate
  • Cast: Gerard Butler, Alison Lohman, Michael C. Hall
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Box Office Info:

Budget: $50 million	Financed by: Lakeshore Entertainment
Domestic Box Office: $20,534,907	Overseas Box Office: $21,467,122

After directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor scored a minor hit with the low budget Crank (2006), they set up their next project Gamer at the same financier, Lakeshore Entertainment.  The budget for Gamer was $50 million and Lakeshore also handled overseas sales to distributors, which would limit their exposure to the expenses.  Sales kicked off at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival.  Lionsgate had also partnered on Crank and acquired domestic distribution.  After the directors filmed Gamer, the same parties put together the backing for Crank: High Voltage — which was quickly cobbled together and was released before Gamer.

Lionsgate dated Gamer over the slow Labor Day frame on September 4, 2009 and did not screen this for critics.  The reviews that eventually posted were awful.  It bowed against All About Steve and Extract.  Gamer also opened into a market saturated with violent genre fare that was still going strong at the box office — The Final Destination, Inglourious Basterds, District 9 and Halloween II. 

Gamer pulled in a soft $9,156,057 — placing #4 for the weekend led by The Final Destination.  Audiences gave Gamer a toxic C cinemascore and it collapsed 64% in its second frame to $3,293,055.  It lasted 5 weeks in theaters and pulled in just $20,534,907.  Lionsgate would see back about $11.2 million after theaters take their percentage of the gross, which would leave much of the P&A costs in the red.

Overseas, Gamer pulled in poor numbers across numerous distributors, with $2.2 million from France and Russia as the highest numbers and its overseas total was just $21.4 million.  Gamer was dumped straight to video in Australia.  This would begin a string of flops for Gerard Butler vehicles, which would be followed by Machine Gun Preacher, Chasing Mavericks and Playing For Keeps.