A THOUSAND WORDS

A Thousand Words

A Thousand Words was rushed into production to beat a potential strike date and completed filming in 2008. A Thousand Words was financed by DreamWorks for a reported $40 million, yet some pegged the budget closer to $70 million. Distribution was handled by Paramount, where DreamWorks was housed, but the two companies began their divorce in 2008 and A Thousand Words got pushed back from the split. The picture was further delayed after early test screenings received poor scores and Paramount also wanted to distance it from recent Eddie Murphy flops Meet Dave (also directed by Brian Robbins) and Imagine That. A Thousand Words found itself collecting dust on the shelf for four years and racking up considerable interest costs.

Paramount eventually planned a 2012 release and moved A Thousand Words all over the calendar. It was first dated for January 13 and then shifted to March 23 and moved to April 20 and finally landed on March 9. With Murphy’s drawing power diminished, the family film opened as counter-programming to the nuclear bomb of flops John Carter and the cheap horror pic Silent House also bowed. Eddie Murphy did the requisite publicity rounds and despite being a stale product, Paramount did back an expensive marketing campaign. Reviews were awful and tracking was pointing to a soft $10 million opening and it tanked with $6,176,280 — placing #6 for the weekend led by holdover Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax. A Thousand Words declined 41.2% the following weekend to $3,632,932 and 46.3% in its third session to $1,950,154. The domestic run closed with $18,450,127. Paramount would see returned about $10.1 million after theaters take their percentage of the gross — leaving well over half of the P&A spend in the red.

The belated film was released in just couple of overseas territories theatrically bringing in just $3.5 million and it went straight to video in the UK. A Thousand Words was the last piece of baggage for Paramount from their DreamWorks years.