Do David Cronenberg's movies ever make a profit? (1 Viewer)

[MichaelBryant]

Have any of his post "The Fly" movies made money here in the U.S.? What about overseas?

 

[Seth_S]

unless a film cost $100 million and bombs at the box office, all films make money over the long haul when you take into account rentals, home video and TV.

 

[Damin J Toell]

Cronenberg both makes inexpensive films and has a large international arthouse following. While his films are certainly not blockbusters, they are most likely rather profitable.

DJ

 

[Matthew_Millheiser]

Didn't Dead Ringers do respectable if not overwhelming business?

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

He wouldn't still be making flicks if they didn't atleast break even.


EDIT: the would should have been wouldn't. Just changing that before it caused any unwanted confusion.

 

[Scott Weinberg]

Short answer:

Yes. Eventually.

 

[Francois Caron]

Being a Canadian based filmmaker, he gets plenty of government subsidies and tax credits to finance a part of his movies.

 

[MichaelBryant]

Being a Canadian based filmmaker, he gets plenty of government subsidies and tax credits to finance a part of his movies.

I didn't know this and I forgot he isn't an American filmaker but I can't get over has badly his films are received (commercially) here in The States. Are his movies successful in his home country?

 

[Damin J Toell]

I want everyone to know I'm not bashing his films it's just here in the U.S. his movies seem to bomb at the boxoffice. Spider has flopped

I don't think that's an accurate assessment, as Sony has yet to give the film a wide release. It only opened on 27 screens in February (aside from the one week run on one screen L.A. for Oscar qualification), and it is only up to 54 screens as of last weekend. During its first weekend, it averaged over $7,000 per screen (which beat the per screen average of that weekend's top grossing film, Cradle 2 the Grave). As of last weekend, Spider averaged over $2,000 per screen, which would put it among the per screen averages of the lower half of that weekend's top 10 grossing films (and in the same league as the current ticket sales for Chicago). So, I wouldn't call it a flop, as it is doing very good business for the size of its release. The film cost a tiny $10 million to make (which is especially small given the caliber of the cast), so it is bound to be a financial success for Sony. Further, on a critical level, it has received massive praise. Spider isn't a bomb by any stretch.

DJ

 

[MichaelBryant]

I don't think that's an accurate assessment, as Sony has yet to give the film a wide release. It only opened on 27 screens in February (aside from the one week run on one screen L.A. for Oscar qualification), and it is only up to 54 screens as of last weekend. During its first weekend, it averaged over $7,000 per screen (which beat the per screen average of that weekend's top grossing film, Cradle 2 the Grave). As of last weekend, Spider averaged over $2,000 per screen, which would put it among the per screen averages of the lower half of that weekend's top 10 grossing films (and in the same league as the current ticket sales for Chicago). So, I wouldn't call it a flop, as it is doing very good business for the size of its release. The film cost a tiny $10 million to make (which is especially small given the caliber of the cast), so it is bound to be a financial success for Sony. Further, on a critical level, it has received massive praise. Spider isn't a bomb by any stretch.

I have to disagree, 7,000 isn't a very good average for such a limited release. Since there aren't that many screen's showing the film the average should be substantially higher. It looks like this movie will barely make 1 million domestically. That's only one tenth of its pre market budget. I agree, critics have liked Spider but I'm just talking grosses not the quality of the movie itself. From a box office business standpoint I'd call the film a flop domestically.

 

[Tim Raffey]

Are his movies successful in his home country?

Canada pretty-much forfeited its national cinema deacades ago, so our chain theaters feature the same pictures as American screens. However, being one of the five or sofamous Canadian directors (let's see, there's him, Egoyan, and....), when Conenberg releases a picture, it's probably a little more of an event for the media (which isn't necessarily to say more people actually go see it--I don't know any numbers or anything).

 

[Aaron Reynolds]

Having attended a showing of Crash that involved most of the audience leaving in horror, I can safely say that David Cronenberg is no more popular among the mass-market filmgoers here in Canada than he is anywhere else.

That said, let's talk low-budget realism. No one involved in making it thinks that Spider is going to make zillions at the box office, or ever crack the top ten. More than likely, the film would have made its money before being shot, through pre-sales to cable, video and foreign markets. Crash, for instance, carries the logo of TMN in its end credits, TMN being basically Canadian HBO. They've paid their money for the TV rights up front and financed part of the film. More likely than not, they've done this in every major market available to them, with the sales based on Cronenberg's reputation.

Spider is only showing on a few screens here in Toronto. I haven't seen it yet, but the only negative reviews I've read trot out all of the standard Cronenberg criticisms, that the film lacks empathy, or is cold, or is somewhat one-dimensional. What I take this to mean is that those of us who love Mr. C's previous work will also enjoy Spider.

Personally, I thought existenz was terrible, but I've loved everything else that I've seen by him.

Funniest reaction to Crash I've encountered: my brother-in-law (who was about 20 at the time) said to me after my wife and I returned from a trip, "Some friends and I were watching your laserdiscs, and we saw this copy of Crash and figured it'd be like some soft-core sex film, so we put it on, and that was the most messed up movie I've ever seen and I think I'm scarred for life." That'll teach him to watch my laserdiscs while I'm away, eh?

 

[Joe D]

Whoops, was supposed to go in the polls section.