THE INTERNATIONAL

The International

The $50 million budget was put together by Sony, Relativity, German based Atlas Entertainment and the German Federal Film Fund contributed $8.5 million. Budget estimates also go higher when the film was ordered back into reshoots to add more action. Sony signed on as worldwide distributor and star Clive Owen who is no stranger to flops, saw the film open in the US to a poor $9,331,739 — placing #7 over the Valentine’s Day frame led by the Friday The 13th remake, He’s Just Not That Into You and action auds were flocking to Taken in its third weekend. Audiences gave The International a crummy C+ cinemascore and since the pic was targeting adult audiences, Sony hoped it would have strong legs, but it dropped 52.2% in its second weekend to $4,463,916. It closed out its run after six weeks with $25,450,527. Overseas, The International didn’t fare much better, grossing a disappointing $5.8 million in director Tom Tykwer’s home country Germany, which was the strongest territory. It pulled in a poor $34.7 million total, for a worldwide total of $60.1 million. After theaters take their percentage of the gross, Sony would see back about $33 million, which would not come close to covering the worldwide ad spend and the budget would be in the red. Recorded domestic home video sales were $8.1 million (less after resellers take their cut and manufacturing costs). One month later Clive Owen would see his second release in 2009 Duplicity flop.