Charlie St. Cloud
- Rate Movie[Total: 6 Average: 1.8]
- Directed By: Burr Steers
- Written By: Craig Pearce, Lewis Colick
- Release Date: July 30, 2010
- Domestic Distributor: Universal
- Cast: Zac Efron, Kim Basinger, Donal Logue
Box Office Info:
Budget: $44 million | Financed by: Universal; Relativity |
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Domestic Box Office: $31,162,545 | Overseas Box Office: $17,028,159 |
Shortly before the publication of Ben Sherwood’s The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud (2004), a bidding war was underway for the theatrical rights. Universal landed the option in May 2003 for $500,000 against $1M. Joe Johnston was tapped to direct, but the project never made it out of development stages and eventually he went off to helm Universal’s mega-budget box office disaster The Wolfman. Burr Steers, who had just directed the Zac Efron vehicle 17 Again (2009) signed onto helm this melodrama.
Universal and Relativity co-financed Charlie St. Cloud for $44 million. The picture was dated for July 30, 2010 and it bowed against Dinner for Schmucks and Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore. Universal gave the movie an expensive marketing push, with a promotional campaign entirely centered around Efron’s appeal to younger female auds.
Critics panned Charlie St. Cloud and it was tracking for a modest $12M – $15M opening and came in on the low end of expectations at $12,381,585 — placing #5 for the weekend led by the holdover Inception. The film had dropped 31.9% in attendance from its opening day on friday to Saturday, which did not bode well for its longevity in theaters. Charlie St. Cloud plummeted 62% to $4,700,490 in its second frame and sank 55% to $2,113,930 in its third session and promptly lost most of its theater count. The domestic run closed with a poor $31,162,545.
The overseas numbers were only $17M, lifting the worldwide cume to $48.1M. Universal would see returned about $26.4M after theaters take their percentage of the gross — leaving much of the expensive worldwide P&A spend in the red and the budget untouched by the theatrical receipts.