BANGKOK DANGEROUS

Initial Entertainment Group financed this $45 million Nicolas Cage vehicle and pre-sold Bangkok Dangerous, which would help pad the loss when the film tanked worldwide.  Lionsgate acquired US rights with an unreported but ‘significant’ prints and advertising commitment.  Lionsgate originally scheduled Bangkok Dangerous for August 22 but Universal positioned their action pic Death Race on that date and Lionsgate moved it to September 5, which was the only film released wide that weekend.  The pic was not screened for critics and was booked in 2,650 theaters and took in just $7,783,266.  Even though it opened as the #1 film at the box office for the weekend, it was one of the lowest grossing #1 spots on record and also the lowest grossing weekend since 2003.  Audiences gave Bangkok Dangerous a poor C- cinemascore and it took a nosedive second weekend to $2,592,656 dropping 66.7% and continued to post huge declines.  It closed out its run with $15,298,133.  After theaters take their percentage of the gross, Lionsgate would see back about $8 million, far below their P&A spend and acquisition costs.  Bangkok Dangerous posted weak numbers across numerous distributors overseas to a $27.1 million total and a weak $3.6 million from both Russia and Spain were the strongest showings.  The film was dumped straight to video in Germany and premiered on television in Australia.