Inkheart

Budget: $60 million Financed by: New Line; Royal Bank of Scotland
Domestic Gross: $17,303,424 Domestic Distributor: Warner Bros
Overseas Gross: $45,146,937
Directed by: Iain Softley
Starring:
Brendan Fraser
Produced by: Cornelia Funke

inkheart box officeInkheart was co-financed by New Line Cinema with a $69 million gross budget and after tax breaks the net budget was reported as $60 million.  The Royal Bank of Scotland also provided some capital after they set up a $350 million fund in January 2007 to invest in New Line’s slate of films.  New Line had hopes of spawning a franchise and pre-sold international rights to pay for the majority of the production.  Inkheart began filming back in 2006 and New Line originally scheduled the pic for March 18, 2008 but claimed that they pushed the release to January 23, 2009 because they couldn’t market the film properly in time.

Shortly after New Line delayed the movie, parent company Warner Bros absolved all of New Line’s distribution responsibilities.  Inkheart was tracking poorly and opened in the US with little hype or buzz into a crowded market from expanding Oscar nominees that were just announced and also family fare — Paul Blart: Mall Cop and Hotel for Dogs.  Inkheart bowed against Underworld: Rise of the Lycans and received mixed to unfavorable reviews.  It pulled in a poor $7,601,379 — placing #7 for the weekend led by the idiotic family film Paul Blart: Mall Cop.  Inkheart declined 51% in its second weekend to $3,721,492 and fell a steep 66.9% in its third weekend to $1,231,458 and closed its domestic run with only $17,303,424.  Warner Bros would see back about $9.5 million after theaters take their percentage of the gross, which would not cover the P&A costs.  Even though Warner Bros/New Line did not have much financial exposure after the foreign sales, the weak numbers would kill off the would-be franchise.

Overseas the film saw mixed results, with Warner Bros releasing in Germany which posted the strongest gross at $10.1 million and Inkheart played soft for the numerous distributors who overpaid for the film during pre-sales, with a $45.1 million cume.

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