IGOR

Igor was financed for $25 million by Exodus Film Group and The Weinstein Company initially picked up US rights and both Weinstein Co and Exodus announced they would partner on a sequel which would go into production.  Weinstein Company also sold overseas rights to distributors at Cannes in 2006, which sold well to top distributors.  Weinstein Co. and Exodus Film Group set up a promotional tie in with CKE Restaurants, which owns Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s, to help market the animated film.  The Weinstein Co was to co-distribute in the US with MGM, but disagreements over the release and marketing led to The Weinstein Co selling back its stake in the film and MGM released Igor in the US.  Igor opened on September 19 when there was a void of family films in the market and the pic opened within its modest expectations at $7,803,347 — placing #4 for the weekend led by Lakeview Terrace.  Igor saw a good hold the following weekend, declining 31% to $5,383,912 but then collapsed 67.7% in week three when the family pic Beverly Hills Chihuahua opened.  Igor grossed just $19,528,602 in the US, which would leave MGM with about $10.7 million after theaters take their percentage of the gross — leaving part of the modest P&A costs in the red.  MGM probably broken even after $13.2 million in home video sales, but little to no overages would flow back to Exodus.  Igor posted poor numbers overseas to just $11.2 million across multiple distributors.  German distributor Constantin dumped it straight to video.  The weak numbers killed off the sequel.