SWING VOTE

Swing Vote

Swing Vote was kicking around studios for years, but never landed a green light, so Kevin Costner financed the $21 million production himself. After Disney purchased the US rights and overseas distribution was sold off, Costner claimed he was $1 million in the black. Great for Costner, but not for the $22 million that numerous distributors ponied up for the title. The mouse house’s Touchstone banner opened Swing Vote in 2,213 theaters on August 1st as counter-programming to The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor and holdover summer fare. The film opened with a poor $6,230,669 — placing #6 for the weekend led by The Dark Knight in frame three and The Mummy sequel. Swing Vote did not have strong legs and fell 49.8% the following weekend to $3,125,290 and collapsed 63.6% in frame three to $1,137,385 and promptly lost most of its theater count. It closed with only $16,289,867. Disney would see back about $9.2 million after theaters take their percentage of the gross, which wouldn’t even cover half of their P&A spend or their acquisition cost. The mouse house took a financial hit in the quarter from the poor theatrical run of Swing Vote and the atrocious numbers Miracle At St. Anna grossed. Overseas, the film saw a small theatrical rollout to just $1.3 million and was dumped straight to video in most territories. Recorded domestic home video sales were only $7.5 million.