Whiteout
| Budget: $35 million | Financed by: Dark Castle Entertainment |
|---|---|
| Domestic Gross: $10,275,638 | Domestic Distributor: Warner Bros |
| Overseas Gross: $7,565,229 | Directed by: Dominic Sena |
Starring: Kate Beckinsale | Produced by: Joel Silver |
Whiteout was the first picture Joel Silver put into production through his newly structured Dark Castle Entertainment, which was infused with a $240 million line of credit to fund 15 films that Warner Bros would distribute for a fee and WB would cover P&A costs. Dark Castle ended up releasing mostly flops and Warner Bros would end their relationship in 2012. The $35 million budgeted Whiteout completed production in 2007 and then collected dust (and interest costs) without a release date. In October 2008, Warner Bros announced the picture would be released on September 11, 2009.
Whiteout had little buzz and bowed against Tyler Perry’s I Can Do Bad All By Myself, 9 and the cheap slasher Sorority Row, which would also compete for the same audience. Also cluttering the horror/thriller market was holdovers The Final Destination and Halloween II. Whiteout received dreadful reviews and was dead on arrival with $4,915,104 — placing #7 for the weekend led by Tyler Perry’s I Can Do Bad All By Myself. Audiences gave the movie a toxic C- cinemascore and it sank 56.6% in its second weekend to $2,131,043 and collapsed 80.2% in its third session to $421,450. The domestic run closed with only $10,275,638. After theaters receive their percentage of the gross, Warner Bros would see back about $5.6 million, which barely puts a dent in the P&A spend for WB and the budget would be all red for Dark Castle.
Overseas, the film fared even worse, with Warner Bros distributing in most territories to a poor $7.5 million. Optimum Releasing, the UK distributor owned by StudioCanal picked up UK rights from Dark Castle back in 2008 and it grossed all of $251,000 in the UK. Whiteout went straight to video in Germany and Spain.