THE PINK PANTHER 2

The Pink Panther 2

The Pink Panther 2 was financed for $70 million by MGM and Sony and this sequel would see less than half of the worldwide total of its predecessor. The always troubled and debt drowning MGM was dealing with $300 million in annual interest payments and was financing their small slate of films through the money earned from its large library of films, a $250 million line of credit and partnering with studios — in this case, Sony (which owns MGM). The Pink Panther 2 opened in the US far below expectations with $11,588,150 — placing #4 for the weekend, where it competed for family auds against the more successful opener Coraline and this moronic family pic barely came in ahead of the brain-dead family pic Paul Blart: Mall Cop (also released by Sony) in week 4. Sony expected the sequel to have a large multiplier and strong word of mouth and it dropped a modest 26.5% in its second weekend to $8,513,476 but ended its chances at breaking out when it declined 55.3% in its third weekend to $3,802,292. The Pink Panther 2 closed its domestic run with $35,922,978 and continued its diminishing returns overseas with about half the gross of the first installment. Sony distributed the film overseas and expected strong international appeal, but it stalled at a $40 million cume, which would bring the worldwide total to $75.9 million, which after theaters take their percentage of the gross would leave Sony with about $41.75 million — which wouldn’t even cover the expensive worldwide P&A spend. Recorded domestic home video sales were a poor $7.9 million (less after resellers take their cut and manufacturing costs).