The Gunman
- Rate Movie[Total: 8 Average: 2]
- 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 |
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Domestic Gross: $10,664,749 | Overseas Gross: $13,512,388 |
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.