DRILLBIT TAYLOR

Drillbit Taylor

Paramount financed this $35 million Owen Wilson vehicle, and the actor did no publicity for Drillbit Taylor, because the studio feared the media would focus only on his suicide attempt a year prior. Despite Owen Wilson not on the publicity circuit, the pic was heavily marketed and opened in 3,056 theaters to a disappointing $10,309,986 — placing #4 for the weekend led by holdover Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who! and new openers Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns and the cheap horror remake Shutter. Drillbit Taylor saw a 44.6% second frame decline to $5,713,585 and a modest 40.4% third frame drop to $3,405,937. It closed its run with $32,862,104 at the US box office. Paramount released the film overseas in some territories and also distributed through UIP (joint distribution of Paramount and Universal) to small numbers. Paramount saw a modest return of $4.4 million in the UK and $3.8 million in Australia and Mexico, which posted most of the $16.8 million overseas total. The $49.6 million worldwide total would leave Paramount’s percentage of the gross at about $27.2 million after theaters take their cut — which leaves part of the P&A costs in the red and the budget at a loss. Domestic home video sales were $14.8 million (less after resellers take their cut and manufacturing costs).