THE BOX

The Box

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  [Total: 17 Average: 2]
  Genre(s): Thriller | Fantasy

• Directed By: Richard Kelly
• Written By: Richard Kelly
• Release Date: November 6, 2009
• Domestic Distributor: Warner Bros
• Cast: Cameron Diaz, James Marsden, Frank Langella
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Box Office Info:

Budget: $30 million	Financed by: Media Rights Capital; Radar Pictures
Domestic Box Office: $15,051,977	Overseas Box Office: $18,281,554

The Box was financed mostly by Media Rights Capital and also Radar Pictures for upwards of $30 million and Warner Bros signed on as US distributor, from a three picture deal with MRC.  Pre-sales limited Media Rights Capital and Radar’s investment risk.

Coming off the commercial and critical drubbing of Southland Tales, director Richard Kelly (Donnie Darko) set out to make a more commercial project that would receive wide distribution and have an easy marketing hook.  The Box proved the opposite, which earned a rare F cinemascore from audiences and derailed his directing career.  Judging from that audience response, test screenings must have shaken WB’s confidence, as they shifted The Box all over the release calendar.  Warner Bros originally scheduled The Box for a March 2009 release and then pushed it back to a Sept 11, 2009 release date, but then moved it back again to March 2009, before delaying it to October 30 and then pushing it back another week to November 6.

Reviews for The Box were mixed leaning negative and it bowed into a crowded market against A Christmas Carol, The Men Who Stare at Goats and would be directly competing for auds with The Fourth Kind.  It was booked into 2,635 theaters and pulled in a poor $7,571,417 — placing #6 for the weekend led by A Christmas Carol.  The movie took a large 58.3% decline in its second frame to $3,158,368 and The Box sank 84.3% to $494,345 in its third session.  The domestic run closed with $15,051,977.  Warner Bros would see returned about $8.2 million after theaters take their percentage of the gross, leaving much of their P&A costs in the red.

Overseas The Box pulled in weak numbers in most markets, grossing $18.2 million across numerous distributors and it went straight to video in Germany.