Criminal (2016) - Box Office Flops

Criminal

Budget: $30 million	Financed by: Millennium Films
Domestic Gross: $14,708,696	Domestic Distributor: Lionsgate
Overseas Gross: $24,095,297	Directed by: Ariel Vromen
Starring: Kevin Costner Ryan Reynolds	Produced by: Avi Lerner

Criminal was financed for just north of $30 million by action schlock specialist Millennium Films and international sales limited most of their exposure to the budget. Lionsgate acquired US and UK rights and originally scheduled the film for release on August 21, 2015 but pushed Criminal back to January 22, 2016 and filled its vacancy with American Ultra. January 22, 2016 was also scheduled to release another Millennium financed action pic London Has Fallen, but both titles were pushed back. Criminal was then moved to April 15 as counter-programming to The Jungle Book and Barbershop: The Next Cut and was tracking for a modest $7 to $9 million opening.

Lionsgate spent $17.42 million on national TV ad spots (iSpotTv), plus millions more in print, online, radio, billboard, booking fees, etc. The Kevin Costner vehicle received mostly poor reviews and came in below expectations with a terrible $5,767,278 in 2,683 theaters — placing #6 for the weekend led by The Jungle Book. The film saw a 46% second weekend decline to $3,116,777 and fell 56.8% in its third session to $1,346,196 and promptly lost most of its theater count. Criminal closed after 6 weeks with only $14,708,696. Lionsgate would see returned about $8 million after theaters take their percentage of the gross, leaving much of their P&A expenses in the red and their unreported acquisition cost at a loss.

Overseas, Criminal cumed $24 million across numerous distributors, with the bulk of its tally coming from China with $15.7 million. The reported UK gross for Lionsgate has been just $352,892. Germany was to mark the final market in its offshore rollout, but was dumped straight to video.

Wildlife Planet
Criminal in my opinion was a good movie. It was entertaining and the acting was first rate. Don’t know why it did so poorly because the movie itself was not over the top and beyond the “sci-fi” aspect was believable. The plot and pace of the movie was well done. It is definitely a watchable movie and you will come away satisfied that your $$$ was spent well.
Throatwobbler Mangrove
I really enjoyed this movie, and was surprised it bombed. Costner’s character’s battle with the feelings and memories that were implanted in him make it particularly interesting. I did find myself (about halfway through) asking “what happened to Tommy Lee Jones’s character?” He did reappear later in the film, but it seemed his expertise could have been used more in mid-movie. I think the movie will wind up with more interest as time goes on though.