ROCK THE KASBAH

Rock The Kasbah

Rock The Kasbah was financed by QED International and Venture Forth for $15 million and QED handled worldwide pre-sales, which sold well and would limit their exposure to the modest budget. Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions picked up UK, Latin America, Spain and Eastern Europe rights. Open Road (joint distribution between cinema chains Regal and AMC) picked up US rights for $2 million with a 10% gross deal for Bill Murray and a 1,200 screen commitment. This poorly reviewed film from Barry Levinson initially had an April 24 release date, before being pushed back to November 13 and finally moved to October 23 where it played in empty theaters, along with fellow openers The Last Witch Hunter, Jem And The Holograms and the wide expansion of Steve Jobs. Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension also bowed.

Open Road booked Rock The Kasbah in 2,012 theaters and it was tracking for a $5 million to $7 million opening, but grossed an exceptionally terrible $1,470,592 with a $731 per screen average. Open Road also plunked down millions on over 2,700 TV spots for the film, plus millions on radio, print, online, poster, etc — which should leave Open Road heavily in the red for their P&A spend and acquisition expense. Both Rock The Kasbah and Jem and The Holograms have unseated the Zac Efron starrer We Are Your Friends for its place as the worst opening of 2015 and Kasbah posted the 4th worst opening on record for a film playing in over 2,000 theaters. Rock The Kasbah fell a huge 75.9% to $354,955 in its second frame and was pulled out of all but 201 theaters going into its third weekend at the box office. It closed its domestic run with only $3,020,664.

Rock The Kasbah saw a limited release overseas in a few markets, with a $3.3 million cume across multiple distributors.