Geostorm

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  • Directed By: Dean Devlin
  • Written By: Dean Devlin & Paul Guyot
  • Release Date: October 20, 2017
  • Domestic Distributor: Warner Bros
  • Cast: Gerard Butler, Jim Sturgess, Abbie Cornish

Box Office Info:
Budget: $120 million (estimated) Financed by: Skydance Productions; Warner Bros; RatPac-Dune
Domestic Gross: $33,700,160 Overseas Gross: $187,900,000


In January 2013, disaster porn super-producer Dean Devlin (Independence Day, the 1998 Godzilla) and Paul Guyot sold the Geostorm spec script for “a record-setting sum” that was seven figures to David Ellison’s Skydance Productions.  David Ellison would be hard pressed to find a dumber script if he went dumpster diving outside SyFy Channel’s headquarters.  This high concept project was brought by Skydance over to Paramount for development, but the studio eventually put it into turnaround.  Skydance then pitched the project to Warner Bros, which boarded as co-financier and distributor and immediately dated Geostorm for March 25, 2016.  Paramount then dated their in-development movie Beverly Hills Cop IV for the same date — though that movie has still yet to materialize.  Geostorm was financed by Skydance, Warner Bros and additional coin was provided by RatPac-Dune.

Production began in October 2014 in Louisiana, where $81,927,423 was spent and a large tax credit of $23,739,049 was returned.  After production continued in numerous countries and the large expense of vfx work was factored in, the budget was over $100 million.  In December 2015, test screenings returned low audience scores and Geostorm began to be retooled into something releasable.  Jerry Bruckheimer was brought on as a consultant producer to help oversee extensive reshoots, which added at least $15 million in expenses.  After recasting certain roles, excising others and ironing out the derivative plot, which was somehow botched — the release date was pushed back to January 13, 2017 to give ample time for the salvage job.  Danny Cannon (the 1995 Judge Dredd) replaced Devlin as director for the reshoots, who according to the damage control press releases was ‘unavailable.’  Cough * bullsh-t * cough.  Eventually Warner Bros pushed the release date back again to October 20, 2017 — millions would also be tacked on from interest accrued from the delay.

According to posted iSpotTV estimates, Warner Bros spent $14.11 million on TV ads (that number was posted three days before its release date) and millions more would be spent after its opening.  After other traditional means of P&A expenses, north of $30 million was spent on selling this stinker to the public.  Geostorm was not screened for critics and the reviews that eventually posted were miserable.  The picture was tracking poorly and bowed against Tyler Perry’s Boo 2! A Madea Halloween, Only The Brave,  The Snowman and Same Kind of Different as Me.  Geostorm opened on the high end of its low expectations with $13,707,376 — placing #2 for the weekend led by Boo 2.  It sank 56.9% to $5,903,428 the following frame and declined 45.9% to $3,194,031 in its third session.  The domestic run closed with a poor $33,700,160

Warner Bros handled the majority of overseas markets and surprisingly the numbers were decent enough to keep this from being a total catastrophe, but not enough to lift the picture out of the red.  China has posted the highest worldwide gross at $65.6 million (which would return about 25% of ticket receipts) and Geostorm surprised when it bowed against Blade Runner 2049 and completely crushed the sequel.  The overseas cume was $187.9M.  The worldwide gross came to $221.6M and after theaters take their percentage of the gross, about $102M would be returned — which would likely cover the global P&A expenses, but not put a dent in the budget.

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