Love Ranch
Rate Movie[Total: 4 Average: 1.5]
- Directed By: Taylor Hackford
- Written By: Mark Jacobson
- Release Date: June 30, 2010
- Domestic Distributor: eOne Entertainment
- Cast: Helen Mirren, Joe Pesci, Sergio Peris-Mencheta, Gina Gershon
Box Office Info:
| Budget: $25 million | Financed by: Capital Films; Aramid Entertainment |
|---|---|
| Domestic Gross: $137,885 | Overseas Gross: $8,264 |
Love Ranch was beset by financing problems from the shady shenanigans by David Bergstein and Ron Tutor’s Capital Films, which was making a habit of backing films they couldn’t pay for (Accidental Love being one example) and leading to shut downs on numerous films. This $25 million budgeted project quickly came together in 2007 and went out for pre-sales. It was in front of the cameras in January 2008 and then the checks stopped arriving.
After five straight weeks of late payments to actors and crew, production was shut down for a day until the ironically named Capital Films could raise some capital — not for just Love Ranch but other productions they were defaulting on. The two dirtbags that ran Capital took out an $8.8 million loan from Aramid Entertainment to help pay for the cash woes on numerous productions and used Love Ranch as collateral in the deal. Capital never paid back Aramid and Aramid eventually took control over Love Ranch.
After Aramid foreclosed on Love Ranch, it invalidated all of the pre-sales with overseas distributors. Aramid put the film back onto the market, but there was little interest. The company that rescued the production from falling apart, was now stuck with an unfinished movie and they had to invest an additional $1.94 million to complete post production.
All of the studios passed on domestic distribution and Love Ranch went out in the US by eOne Entertainment, which primarily distributes in Canada. eOne spent less than $1 million on P&A. Reviews were generally awful and it was booked into 11 theaters, where it pulled in $44,220 with a weak $4,020 per screen average. The film never expanded beyond 11 theaters and closed after just four weeks with just $137,885.
Overseas, the movie was released theatrically only in the United Arab Emirates to all of $8,264. Love Ranch was sent straight to video in only a handful of markets, which picked up the film after Capital Films made the pic damaged goods. In 2014 Aramid would seek bankruptcy protection after running out of funds to pay for legal services for the multiple lawsuits against Bergstein and also Relativity.
The DGA (which Taylor Hackford was president of) successfully sued Bergstein for owing the director $237,500 of his $500,000 salary — who apparently still did not pay despite the court order.