KING’S RANSOM

New Line financed this $15m turkey staring Anthony Anderson and sold off foreign distribution rights for King’s Ransom to only a few distributors, as comedies usually don’t travel well overseas. New Line opened the film with a small marketing push, without screenings for critics, in 1,508 theaters to a poor $2,137,685. Audiences gave the film a C+ cinemascore and it declined 61.1% in its second frame to $831,925 and quickly closed with $4,008,527 leaving New Line with $2.2m after theaters take their percentage of the gross, which would barely cover the costs of striking release prints. King’s Ransom saw a brief theatrical release in Egypt, South Africa and The United Arab Emirates to a a grand total of $135,125 and went straight to video in the few markets that picked the film up.