Before I Go To Sleep
Rate Movie[Total: 13 Average: 2.2]
- Directed By: Rowan Joffe
- Written By: Rowan Joffe
- Release Date: October 31, 2014
- Domestic Distributor: Clarius Entertainment
- Cast: Nicole Kidman, Colin Firth, Mark Strong
Box Office Info:
| Budget: $22 million | Financed by: Millennium Films |
|---|---|
| Domestic Box Office: $3,242,457 | Overseas Box Office: $12,204,697 |
The budget for Before I Go To Sleep was $22 million, which Millennium Films financed and Millennium/Nu Image pre-sold most of the international rights in 2012, which would limit their exposure to the budget.
New distributor Clarius Entertainment picked up US rights and their sister company Clarius Capital Group financed the modest, but still expensive marketing spend. Clarius first dated the movie for September 12 and then shifted it to the sleepy October 31 Halloween frame. Clarius opted for a wide release in 1,902 theaters and it opened against the acclaimed Nightcrawler and the 10th anniversary re-release of Saw.
Reviews were mixed to poor and Before I Go To Sleep was tracking for a soft $5 million opening. It flopped with a disastrous $1,843,347 — placing far outside the top 10 at #15 for the weekend. Audiences gave the film a poor C+ cinemascore and at the time of release, it posted the third largest second weekend decline on record — after Undiscovered and Slow Burn. Before I Go To Sleep sank 82% to $331,708 and was pulled out of release at the end of its third week with just $3,242,457. As an independent distributor, major theater chains do not return the usual 55% of the ticket price that the studios command (Regal Cinemas pays out only 34% to independent distributors, for example ) and the US gross put about $1.3 million back in Clarius’ pocket — losing almost the entire marketing spend for its sister company and throwing away the acquisition amount, which has not been reported.
This was the third and final release for Clarius in 2014, after flops Legends of Oz: Dorothy’s Return & And So It Goes. Around the time Before I Go To Sleep tanked, Clarius Chairman William Sadleir went to the Toronto International Film Festival and got into a bidding war over She’s Funny That Way and won US distribution for $4.5 million with a $24.5 million P&A commitment — but Clarius only handed over $900,000 of the $4.5 million and was unable to come up with any cash to actually distribute the picture. Clarius was sued for fraud and damages. In late 2015, Clarius was rebranded as Aviron and received a massive infusion of capital from BlackRock — so they can continue to fail upwards.
Overseas grosses amounted to a poor $12.2M across numerous distributors and with the exception of a soft $5.3 million tally in the UK for distributor StudioCanal, it did unexceptional business in almost every market.