MovieChat Forums > Kill the Messenger (2014) Discussion > Question about budget

Question about budget

posted 10 years ago by jonhopper217
4 replies | jump to latest

I noticed there is no budget listed for the movie and it appears it was a huge flop financially. With all these big name actors in bit parts and the resulting product, it make me wonder about it's filming. Did they simply run out of money? I'm well aware that movies aren't filmed in sequence normally, but this film completely fell apart in the last 20-25 minutes. It went from steamrolling throw the story, letting every little detail out, to some TV movie, false reconciliation garbage. I was stunned that this movie didn't get more solid press, but the final 5-6 scenes are downright silly. Couple that with the way the ending was resolved, led me to believe this was purely a budget move and one that inevitably killed the movies effectiveness.

[–] pmcintire71 10 years ago

I just rented this and looked up some info. It said its budget was $5 million and only made $2.5 million.

[–] zea_miri 10 years ago

This film was purchased for distribution by Focus Features before the merger with Film District. The new management (from Film District) then purchased the Theory of Everything and apparently used the marketing budget of KTM to promote Theory of Everything and Eddie Redmayne's run for the Oscar.

The movie's gross was only tracked by the new Focus for 9 weeks with the largest distribution of 427 sites for 1 week, 327 sites for 1 week and the remaining weeks at less than 75 sites. The total number of TV ads for the movie was less than 300, compared to Theory of Everything at over 4,000.

The US domestic gross for the film at the end of tracking for the US BO at 9 weeks was $2.4m, and the International BO was around $1m. The movie has opened in other countries since tracking ended. Estimates with home rentals, additional tracking, etc. lands the film at a break even status.

As far as the ending of the movie goes, the producers/director did film the sensational 'two bullets to the head' suicide with full autopsy recreation, but elected not to use that ending in respect for Gary Webb's family.

Would it have mattered? Not likely, with the change in management from the Indy, Statement driven team to the "White House Down"/Fifty Shade of Grey" team, the film wasn't a good fit and didn't receive the promotion it needed to make money.

[–] jonhopper217 10 years ago

Wow! Thanks! I can honestly say I didn't know any of that. While I know movie companies use money for one movie to promote another, I didn't realize the connection between KTM and TOE. Interesting stuff, especially about the final scene. Would, in my mind, made a difference to the movie as a whole.

[–] joe16vind 10 years ago

zea_miri

very true what you posted

remember too marketing what little there was of it has to be taken into account when considering a film's profitabilty

it was a shame that there wasn't more of marketing push as this could have been this generation's The Insider-an opportunity lost

irony abounds once more as early Oscar tracking suggests Focus will throw their weight once more behind a little film - The Danish Girl w/Eddie Redmayne!!!!

annie