ROMEO AND JULIET

Romeo and Juliet

Just what the world was clamoring for, another Romeo and Juliet, this time without using much of Shakespeare’s dialogue. Financed by Swarovski Entertainment (a new film division of the Austrian crystal company) and the Blue Lake Media Fund, Swarovski had grand plans for their first film — including having Oscar winning costume designer Milena Canonero design jewelry that would be marketed with the film. Swarovski Entertainment paid Relativity Media to release Romeo and Juliet through their distribution channel and Relativity had no money on the line with the project, it was simply a ‘rent-a-system’ title for them. Swarovski was responsible for the marketing spend and they opened in the US in 461 theaters, opting not to do a platform release. Terrible reviews did not help matters much and this opened to a poor $520,116 with a $1,128 per screen average and sank 57.5% in its second weekend to $221,128 and lost all but 91 screens going into its third weekend. The picture closed with only $1,162,635 in domestic receipts, losing the financiers the marketing spend and most of the budget. Entertainment Film Distributors picked the film up for a UK release and opened Romeo And Juliet moderately wide in 157 theaters to a dismal $219,326 with a $1,397 per screen average. It sank 89.4% in its second weekend to $23,200 and closed out its run after three weeks to a terrible $430,786 and its overseas total was $1.8 million across a handful of distributors. The film went straight to video or television in most major markets and Swarovski Entertainment has not put another film into production.