The Spy Who Dumped Me

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    [Total: 44 Average: 3.2]
  • Directed By: Susanna Fogel
  • Written By: Susanna Fogel, David Iserson
  • Release Date: August 3, 2018
  • Domestic Distributor: Lionsgate
  • Cast: Mila Kunis, Kate McKinnon, Justin Theroux

Box Office Info:
Budget: $40 million Financed by: Lionsgate
Domestic Box Office: $33,562,069 Overseas Box Office: $41,758,611


The Spy Who Dumped Me was in development at Imagine Entertainment, which packaged this project as a vehicle for Mila Kunis and Kate McKinnon.  The property then went out for studio bids and Lionsgate outbid the competition for the hot project in March 2017.  Lionsgate immediately dated the unfilmed movie for July 6, 2018.  Two months after landing the project, the mini-major brought it to Cannes for pre-sales to international distributors.  The budget for The Spy Who Dumped Me was $40 million and per Lionsgate’s usual financing model, overseas sales accounted for the majority of the expenses, which reduced their risk on the picture.

After The Spy Who Dumped Me tested well, Lionsgate moved the film to August 3rd, away from its original date where it was positioned as counter-programming to Ant-Man and the Wasp.  The Spy Who Dumped Me now bowed against Disney’s Christopher Robin and The Darkest Minds.  Liongate aided the domestic release with an expensive marketing campaign, spending over $15.19M on TV ads (as per iSpotTV) and millions more on other traditional P&A costs — with a spend north of $30M.  The Spy Who Dumped Me landed mixed reviews and tracking was pointing to a mid-teens opening.

The pairup of Mila Kunis and Kate McKinnon certainly had the potential to breakout, but the marketing was just a series of seen it all before action clichés and fish out of water stupidity.  It came in below expectations with $12,103,043 — placing #3 for the weekend led by the holdover Mission: Impossible – Fallout.  Spy declined 46.6% to $6,462,612 in its second frame and then sank 59.5% to $2,617,298 in its third session.  The domestic run closed with a disappointing $33,562,069.  Lionsgate would see returned about $18.4M after theaters take their percentage of the gross — leaving much of the P&A expenses in the red.

The Spy Who Dumped Me pulled in a soft $41.7M across many distributors.

7 Comments

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  1. Just watched on Amazon Prime. Wow the Best thing about the film was the ‘SILVER PORSCHE’ the rest was so bad it’s not worth my time leaving a reply.

  2. I think many people who went to see it were fans of Sam Heughan who wanted to seem him in a action-comedy role. Heughan displayed talent and charm in this genre.

    • McKinnon has made so much of her sexuality while on SNL that all I thought was, “Mila Kunis and the lesbian from SNL…nah, we’re good. What else is playing?”

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