THE LEGEND OF HERCULES

After the breakout success of 300, action schlock specialists Millennium Films wanted to get in on the sword-and-sandals genre and began planning a Hercules film back in 2007.  The film finally went into production in 2013 and would be one of two Hercules features to be released in 2014.  The Legend of Hercules was financed by Millennium films for $75 million and Millennium’s exposure to the budget would be reduced from strong pre-sales to distributors.  Lionsgate picked up US rights under its Summit label and first dated The Legend Of Hercules for February 7, five months before the release of the Dwayne Johnson Hercules movie.  It was then pushed forward a month to January 10.

The film was tracking poorly with opening estimates between $6 – $8 million and it received awful reviews.  The Legend Of Hercules bowed against the wide expansion of Lone Survivor and the nationwide expansion of Her.  It was booked into 2,104 theaters and opened within its low expectations with a poor $8,868,318 — placing a distant #3 behind Lone Survivor and Frozen in its 8th weekend.  The Legend Of Hercules sank 61.7% in its second frame to $3,397,143 and declined 63.7% to $1,232,828 in its third session and then promptly lost most of its theater count.  The domestic run closed with just $18,848,538.  After theaters take their percentage of the ticket price, Lionsgate would see about $10.5 million, leaving much of their P&A costs in the red.

The Legend of Hercules did poorly across the world, grossing $42,553,907 across many distributors.