POMPEII

Pompeii

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  [Total: 6 Average: 3.7]
  Genre(s): Action

• Directed By: Paul W.S. Anderson
• Written By: Janet Scott Batchler, Lee Batchler, Michael Robert Johnson
• Release Date: February 21, 2014
• Domestic Distributor: FilmDistrict (through Sony TriStar)
• Cast: Kit Harington, Kiefer Sutherland, Carrie-Anne Moss, Emily Browning
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Box Office Info:

Budget: $100 million	Financed by: Constantin Films
Domestic Box Office: $23,219,748	Overseas Box Office: $94,611,883

The budget for Pompeii was $100 million and it was financed by the German based Constantin Films.  Summit handled worldwide pre-sales and took the project to Cannes in 2011 and Pompeii quickly sold out in every territory.  The successful pre-sales to distributors covered the bulk of the movie’s financing.  Even with distributors paying through the roof for this would-be blockbuster, Pompeii posted a $6 million loss for Constantin (which also came from their animated Tarzan, which wasn’t released theatrically in the US) after its weak global box office take.

Summit was originally set to distribute the picture stateside, but the company was absolved into Lionsgate in January 2012 and FilmDistrict eventually acquired US rights.  In late 2013, FilmDistrict was shuttered and absolved into Focus.  FilmDistrict used Sony’s distribution resources (under the TriStar label) with all P&A expenses covered by FilmDistrict, to release Pompeii.

Pompeii was dated for release on February 21 and bowed against 3 Days To Kill.  Terrible reviews, coupled with generic marketing that pushed the disaster spectacle and showed little of characters or anything audiences could connect to, resulted in soft tracking under $15 million for the weekend.  Pompeii posted a poor $10,340,823 — placing #3 for the frame led by The Lego Movie in its third session.  It sank 58.1% in its second frame to $4,331,431 and sank 63.2% in its third session to $1,593,629 and promptly lost most of its theater count.  The domestic run ended with only $23,219,748.  FilmDistrict would see back about $12.7 million after theaters take their percentage of the gross, which is far less than their P&A spend.

Pompeii did mediocre business in most overseas markets.  Bona distributed for the China release and it made an ok $15,630,00 and a gross of $11,318,555 in Russia were the only respectable showings for Pompeii.  Constantin distributed in Germany to a poor $3.5 million.  The offshore cume was $94,611,883, across many distributors.