The Last Witch Hunter
| Budget: $80 million (estimated) | Financed by: Lionsgate |
|---|---|
| Domestic Gross: $27,367,660 | Domestic Distributor: Lionsgate |
| Overseas Gross: $119,569,250 | Directed by: Breck Eisner |
Starring: Vin Diesel Elijah Wood | Produced by: Mark Canton |
The Last Witch Hunter is another failed attempt by Lionsgate to spawn a series after Mortdecai, American Ultra and Child 44 were all groomed by Lionsgate to be their next big franchise in 2015. Lionsgate wisely mitigates their risk on expensive projects by pre-selling the film to overseas distributors and their financial model usually leaves them on the line for around $13 million of the production costs — plus the ever growing expense of domestic marketing, which usually runs north of $30 million. Back in March 2014, Lakeshore Entertainment boarded the film as co-financier with Lionsgate, but Lakeshore quietly left the project, so it is unknown if Lionsgate is shouldering more of the budget than they usually do on big budget fare. The Last Witch Hunter cost an estimated $80 million and Lionsgate dated the pic for October 23, against a glut of wide openers — Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension, Rock The Kasbah, Jem and The Holograms and the wide expansion of Steve Jobs.
The Last Witch Hunter was tracking for an opening between $15 - $19 million, but came in below expectations with a poor $10,812,861 — placing #4 for the weekend led by The Martian in its fourth frame. It fell 52.3% to $5,162,398 in its second weekend and saw a 49.7% third frame decline to $2,598,464. The domestic run ended with $27,367,660. Lionsgate would see returned about $15 million after theaters take their percentage of the gross and took a write-down of $7.2 million on the film.
The Last Witch Hunter fared slightly better in a few overseas markets, pulling in $119.5 million across many distributors, with China posting the highest numbers at $27.4 million.