Lucky Numbers
| Budget: $65 million | Financed by: StudioCanal; Paramount |
|---|---|
| Domestic Gross: $10,042,516 | Domestic Distributor: Paramount |
| Overseas Gross: $847,706 | Directed by: Nora Ephron |
Starring: John Travolta Lisa Kudrow | Produced by: Andrew Lazar |
“Completely wrong. A disaster on every level. Just a bad, bad movie.”
-Screenwriter Adam Resnick
European giant StudioCanal was recently expanding into Hollywood co-productions and put up over 50% of the $65 million budget for Lucky Numbers. Paramount took domestic rights and covered the remaining production expenses. Known for her light, frothy comedies, Nora Ephron committed to directing duties for this dark comedy and it would be the second pairing of Ephron and Travolta after Michael (1996). John Travolta’s career resurgence hit a brick wall on May 12, 2000 when the humiliating disaster Battlefield Earth cemented its place in the pantheon of bad movies. Lucky Numbers was first dated just two months later on July 14, but it was pushed back to October 27. Paramount booked the pic into 2,497 theaters and it bowed against Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 and The Little Vampire.
Reviews were awful, but not Battlefield Earth awful and after the toxic stench of that previous film, Lucky Numbers couldn’t draw flies. It was dead on arrival with $4,536,625 — placing #7 for the weekend led by Meet The Parents in its fourth frame. Audiences gave Lucky Numbers a rare and truly hateful F cinemascore. It sank 54.8% the following weekend to $2,051,958 and declined 64.7% in its third session to $723,802. The domestic run closed with only $10,042,516. Paramount would see returned about $5.5 million after theaters take their percentage of the gross, barely denting the P&A expenses and leaving their half of the budget in the red.
After the atrocious US run, the numerous overseas distributors who handled the film, dumped it throughout 2001. The recorded overseas gross is an anemic $847,706.