GET RICH OR DIE TRYIN’

Paramount financed Get Rich or Die Tryin’ for $40m after the success of 8 Mile and what was expected to be a prestige project from director Jim Sheridan, turned out to be a critically maligned stinker. The Viacom owned Paramount also used its MTV channel for tons of free advertising and Paramount opened the film in the US in 1,652 theaters to a soft $12,020,807. Get Rich or Die Tryin’ fell a steep 63.2% in its second weekend to $4,420,706 and declined 50.9% in its third frame to $2,169,885. The film closed its run with a disappointing $30,985,352 leaving Paramount with $17m after theaters take their percentage of the gross, which would cover most, but not all of the P&A spend, but leave the budget in the red. UIP (joint distribution between Paramount and Universal) released the film overseas and was expecting the film to pull in similar numbers to 8 Mile, which they also released, but Get Rich or Die Tryin’ tanked in every country, pulling in a poor $15,457,176 total and the film was sent straight to video in Italy.