CHE

The $61.5 million budgeted two part film, was 75% financed by France’s Wild Bunch and 25% from Spain’s Telecinco Cinema and Morena Films.  Strong pre-sales covered an estimated $54 million – $58 million of the budget, leaving the financiers with low exposure to the risky project.  Wild Bunch was looking to sell the US rights between $8 million – $10 million at Cannes, but all of the major US studios passed on Che and IFC Films picked up US distribution and paid a low seven figure sum.  IFC gave the films a small theatrical release with part 1 and part 2 playing concurrently and Che never expanded beyond 39 theaters.  The films grossed $1,497,109 in the US and IFC also pushed a VOD release for the film.  Overseas, the results were mixed with the huge pre-sale cash that distributors plunked down, Spain was the strongest territory with $9.7 million and the overseas total was a weak $29.8 million across multiple distributors — who overpaid for the films and certainly most distributors lost most of the acquisition cost and their marketing spend.  Che: Part Two was sent straight to video in the UK and Spain.