THE BLACK DAHLIA

The Black Dahlia

Budgeted at $68 million, The Black Dahlia was financed by the German film fund Apollo Media, the German fund Equity Pictures, Millennium/Nu Image and strong pre-sales by Signature Films. Three weeks before filming completed, Universal acquired US distribution for $11 million. Universal opened the film after a costly P&A spend in 2,226 theaters and The Black Dahlia was tracking for an $18 million to $20 million weekend. The pic came in far below expectations with $10,005,895 — placing #2 for the weekend led by the dud Gridiron Gang and it opened above Everyone’s Hero and The Last Kiss. Reviews were mixed, but audiences gave the film a hateful D+ cinemascore and The Black Dahlia had weak legs and declined 55.5% in its second weekend to $4,449,985 and fell 52.2% in its third weekend to $2,129,070. It closed out its run with $22,545,080. Universal would see back about $12.3 million after theaters take their percentage of the gross, which would fall very short of the P&A spend and their acquisition cost. Overseas, the film did weak business in every territory, pulling in $26.7 million across numerous distributors who overpaid for the film. Warner Bros distributed in Germany to a terrible $880,700 total. Entertainment released The Black Dahlia in the UK to a soft $3,176,305 and Japan posted the highest number with $4,829,692. Domestic home video sales were $12.3 million.