|
| Sahara, 2005, Penelope Cruz, Matthew McConaughey, Steve Zahn | | | |
Sahara is a 2005 action/adventure film, directed by Breck Eisner, based on the best-selling book of the same name by Clive Cussler.
Though it opened at #1, grossing $18 million on its first weekend, Sahara is considered one of the biggest financial flops in Hollywood history. From the financial perspective, Sahara was unusual because it performed reasonably well, generating $122 million in gross box-office sales. However, the movie was beset by high costs, including a $160-million production and $81.1 million in distribution expenses. The film lost approximately $105 million according to a financial executive assigned to the movie; however Hollywood accounting methods assign losses at $78.3 million, taking into account projected revenue. According to Hollywood accounting, the film drew in revenue of $202.9 million against expenses of $281.2 million.
The Los Angeles Times presented an extensive special report on April 15, 2007 dissecting the budget of Sahara as an example of how Hollywood movies can cost so much to produce and fail; many of the often closely held documents had become public domain due to a lawsuit involving the film.
To promote the film, actor Matthew McConaughey drove his own personal Air Stream trailer (painted with a large Sahara movie poster on each side) across America, stopping at military bases and many events, such as the Daytona 500 (to Grand Marshal the race), premiering the movie to fans, signing autographs, and doing interviews at each stop. The trip's highlights were shown on an E! channel special to coincide with the film's release. McConaughey also kept a running blog of his trip on MTV's entertainment website. Both MTV and the film's distributor, Paramount Pictures, are owned by Viacom.
According to McConaughey, this film was intended to be the first in a franchise of films based on Clive Cussler's Dirk Pitt novels (much like the James Bond film franchise), but the slow pace at which the film earned back its production cost has stalled any plans for a sequel or a franchise.Wikipedia |
|
|
