JARHEAD

Jarhead

Universal paid over $2 million for the rights to the book by Anthony Swofford and financed Jarhead for $72 million and received some additional coin from a $283 million German tax shelter fund from Hannover Leasing, where wealthy investors put up a minimum of $30,000 for a huge tax write off. Universal opened Jarhead in the US on November 4, as an awards hopeful and booked it in 2,411 theaters. The film received mixed reviews and was tracking for a modest mid-teens opening, but came in well above expectations at $27,726,210. Universal president of distribution Nikki Rocco likened the box office performance to Black Hawk Down, which opened to similar numbers and crossed the domestic $100 million mark. Word of mouth was mixed on Jarhead and it saw its legs collapse the following weekend and it sank 57.7% to $11,738,160. It declined a steep 59.5% in its third weekend to $4,753,335 and Jarhead left theaters with $62,658,220. The film played poorly overseas, with the exception of a $9.5 million UK gross and a soft $4.7 million from Germany. The overseas cume was only $34,231,778. The worldwide total was $96.8 million, leaving Universal with about $53.2 million after theaters take their percentage of the gross, which would leave part of the worldwide P&A spend in the red and the budget at a loss. Jarhead sold very well on home video in the US, bringing in over $52 million in sales (less after resellers take their cut and manufacturing costs), which would limit Universal’s loss after the film tanked at the box office. The strong home video sales launched two cheap direct to video sequels in 2014 and 2016.