THE BEAVER

The Beaver

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  [Total: 8 Average: 2.5]
  Genre(s): Drama

• Directed By: Jodie Foster
• Written By: Kyle Killen
• Release Date: May 6, 2011
• Domestic Distributor: Summit
• Cast: Mel Gibson, Jennifer Lawrence, Jodie Foster, Anton Yelchin
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Box Office Info:

Budget: $21 million	Financed by: Imagenation; Participant
Domestic Gross: $970,816	Overseas Gross: $6,322,889

The Beaver was financed for $21 million by Imagenation and Participant.  Summit boarded the project in August 2009 to handle pre-sales and domestic distribution.  The picture sold out in most markets in a matter of days.  The Beaver was the second comeback vehicle for Mel Gibson, who had Edge Of Darkness in the can and a release date set for January 2010.  The Beaver was scheduled for a December 2010 date as a potential awards hopeful but in July 2010, another racist, misogynist and hate filled rant from Gibson went public and turned the actor and the movie into a toxic asset that no studio could possibly overcome.

Before the December release, The Beaver was expected to premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, but Summit pulled the film off their calendar.  After months of being in release limbo, it was eventually dated for March 23, 2011 and then shifted to a limited run on May 6 with an expansion planned on May 20.  The Beaver received lukewarm reviews and was booked into 22 theaters with little interest from the public.  It pulled in $107,577 with a weak $4,890 per screen average.  The Beaver expanded at its widest to only 168 theaters and the domestic run closed with just $970,816.

Interest was minimal overseas, with the film pulling in only $6.3 million across numerous distributors — even grossing just $95k in Australia, which the Gibson co-founded Icon distributed.  Director Jodie Foster paid for screeners to be sent out to Oscar voters after the nominations were announced, not for voter consideration but so that her peers could actually see her movie.