The Gunman

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  • Directed By: Pierre Morel
  • Written By: Don MacPherson, Pete Travis, Sean Penn
  • Release Date: March 20, 2015
  • Domestic Distributor: Open Road
  • Cast: Sean Penn, Idris Elba, Javier Bardem

Box Office Info:
Budget: $40 million Financed by: StudioCanal; Anton Capital Entertainment; ICAA; ICEC
Domestic Gross: $10,664,749 Overseas Gross: $13,512,388

the gunman 2015
The budget for The Gunman was $40 million after an 18% tax incentive from Spain.  StudioCanal financed and received some capital from their slate investment partner Anton Capital Entertainment, which had inked a €150 million pact into Canal’s movies in 2011.  The production also received a small investment from the Spanish Film fund ICAA and the Catalonia Film fund ICEC.

StudioCanal pre-sold the hot project very well at Cannes in 2013, selling out almost every market.  Buyers also viewed The Gunman as a potential franchise.  Open Road (owned by theater chains Regal and AMC) acquired US rights at Cannes in 2014 and committed to a wide release and a hefty P&A spend.  The Gunman was first dated for February 20 and then shifted to March 20 opening as counter-programming to The Divergent Series: Insurgent.

Open Road spent $18.4 million in national TV spots (as per iSpotTV) and millions more in radio, online and other marketing, with a P&A spend at least $35M.  The Gunman received terrible reviews and was tracking for a soft $8 million opening and would compete for auds with holdover action fare Kingsman: The Secret Service and Run All Night.   

The public had no interest in watching this geri-action movie with Sean Penn and it was dead on arrival with $5,028,702 — placing #4 for the weekend led by Insurgent.  The Gunman collapsed 59.5% in its second frame to $2,035,989 and it declined a huge 81.1% in its third frame to $385,194 and promptly lost most of its theater count.  The domestic run closed after six weeks with just $10,664,749, which would leave much of Open Road’s P&A spend in the red and no cash overages to flow back to StudioCanal.

StudioCanal distributed the film in the UK to a terrible $1.3 million and they also distributed in Australia to a disastrous $402,055.  The Gunman opened in France through StudioCanal and tanked with $1.1 million.  The Gunman pulled in just $13.5 million from its overseas release, across numerous distributors who overpaid for the film. 

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