Extreme Ops
| Budget: $40 million | Financed by: ApolloMedia; The Carousel Picture Company |
|---|---|
| Domestic Gross: $4,842,259 | Domestic Distributor: Paramount |
| Overseas Gross: $6,117,216 | Directed by: Christian Duguay |
Starring: Devon Sawa Rufus Sewell | Produced by: Frank Hübner |
“Like any producer, we have hits and flops. Here in the U.S., for example, ‘Extreme Ops’ was a flop, so, you know, shit happens.”
-Frank Hübner, CEO of ApolloMedia
Extreme Ops was budgeted at $40 million and co-financed through the German tax shelter ApolloMedia and they partnered with Luxembourg based The Carousel Picture Company. Both companies had previous co-financing ventures on junk projects The Musketeer and Fear Dot Com. Additional capital for Extreme Ops came from Canadian tax shelters and pre-sales, which MDP Worldwide handled. Paramount first signed on as US distributor and then picked up additional territories in Germany, the UK and Australia. Extreme Ops opened in 1,800 theaters over the crowded Thanksgiving holiday frame, against Treasure Planet, Eight Crazy Nights, Solaris and Wes Craven Presents: They. Paramount did not screen the pic for critics and once the reviews finally posted, they were brutal. Extreme Ops pulled in a miserable $2,233,525 for the weekend — placing #13 for the frame led by Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets in its third weekend. Audiences gave the film a hateful D+ cinemascore and it sank 65% in its second frame to $780,654. Extreme Ops was quickly out of theaters with $4,842,259. Paramount would see back about $2.6 million after theaters take their percentage of the gross, which barely puts a dent in their P&A costs and unreported acquisition price.
Overseas, the film pulled in a small $6,117,216 across multiple distributors and despite being made mostly with German money, it grossed just $327,169 there. Extreme Ops was straight to video in Italy and a handful of smaller markets.