GANGSTER SQUAD

Gangster Squad

Warner Bros purchased the rights to the latimes seven part writeup “L.A. Noir: Tales from the Gangster Squad” in 2008 and after securing a solid cast, the studio co-financed Gangster Squad with Village Roadshow for $60 million. Warner Bros distributed the film in the US and most foreign territories and Village Roadshow distributed in their home country Australia and a handful of markets. Gangster Squad was originally scheduled for release on September 7, 2012 but Warner Bros pulled the pic after the Colorado movie theater mass shooting, since the picture contained a scene where multiple gunman shoot through a movie screen into a crowd. The scene was reshot with an exploding laundry truck instead.

Gangster Squad was rescheduled for January 11, 2013 and bowed against the nationwide expansion of Zero Dark Thirty and A Haunted House. Tracking indicated a solid low $20 million opening, but reviews were mixed to poor and it came in below expectations with $17,070,347 — placing #3 for the weekend led by Zero Dark Thirty. Gangster Squad declined 49.4% in its second weekend to $8,640,540 ending its chances at breaking out. It fell 50.5% in its third frame to $4,278,235 and continued to post large weekly declines and closed its run with a disappointing $46,000,903.

Village Roadshow saw an ok total of $7,477,123 in Australia and WB saw the strongest overseas numbers in the UK with $8,209,350. The offshore total was $59.2 million. The worldwide total came to $105.2 million, which would return about $57.7 million after theaters take their percentage of the gross, which would not even cover worldwide P&A expenses or any of the budget. Time Warner’s chairman and chief executive Jeffrey L. Bewkes pointed to the poor performances of Gangster Squad and Jack The Giant Slayer, for denting the fiscal quarter as the WB movie division posted a 4% decrease in earnings.