The Tempest
| Budget: $20 million | Financed by: Miramax |
|---|---|
| Domestic Gross: $277,943 | Domestic Distributor: Disney (Touchstone) |
| Overseas Gross: $127,918 | Directed by: Julie Taymor |
Starring: Helen Mirren |
Produced by: Julie Taymor |
2010 was not a banner year for director Julie Taymor, beginning previews on her ill fated broadway Spider-man: Turn off the Dark, which would lead to her dismissal and her critically panned The Tempest barely made a blip at the box office. Budgeted at $20 million the film was to be released through Miramax before Disney closed it down and the long shuttered mouse house division Touchstone was reinstated to release a few of the remaining films at Miramax. In a case of clearly dumping the film with as little money to spend on ads as possible, Disney opened The Tempest in 5 theaters to $42,436 and a weak $8,487 per screen average. The Tempest expanded the following weekend to 21 theaters to a poor $58,136 with a $2,768 per screen average and never expanded further and it closed its brief run with just $277,943. Icon handled foreign sales, where there was little interest and the the film was theatrically released briefly in a few countries to $127,918 and went straight to video in almost every major market.