THE IN-LAWS

Michael Douglas had a terrible 2003 beginning with his lower budgeted dud It Runs In The Family opening the month prior to The In-Laws. The film’s main backer Franchise Pictures was already facing serious legal action at the time of The In-Laws release, the notorious production company run by Elie Samaha, who would inflate his picture’s budgets, so that his fiscal partners end up shouldering most of the production costs — and sometimes 100% of the production costs. The In-Laws also received some coin from the German Tax shelter fund MHF Erste Academy Film. Warner Bros would distribute the film through their output deal with Franchise. The In-Laws opened in 2,652 theaters and placed 5th for the weekend with $7,319,848 and the film did not have the strong legs it needed to break out. The In-Laws declined 48.9% the following weekend to $3,741,063 and quickly faded away with a poor $20,453,431. The film was a disaster in the UK, opening wide in 237 theaters to a miserable $176,176 with a $743 per screen average and it was yanked out of release after two weeks with just $390,248. Italy was the only market that pulled in more than $1 million, with $1.2m and the overseas total was a terrible 6,438,418. Michael Douglas’ production company Further Films was given a two year first-look deal at Warner Bros after The In-Laws wrapped production, but after the film flopped Warner Bros did not do any business with Further.