I was reading the Wall Street Journal this morning and saw a piece on how DreamWorks Animation will be writing down its costs on Flushed Away in the 4Q because of its poor box office. ($ only, so no link for you)
The film, which chronicles the adventures of a pampered rat who is flushed into a world of tough sewer rats, cost DreamWorks $142.9 million and has so far taken in $40 million at the box office, the company said.
It doesn’t make any mention of the marketing costs (independent of production costs), but a good deal of that tends to get offset by co-promotion with fast food & toys.
So . . . $143 MILLION?
For a computer-animated film by the Wallace & Gromit people? WTF did they spend all the money on? Gold throat lozenges for Hugh Jackman & Kate Winslet?
(I need a ruling here: both Bill Nighy and Jean Reno are in this one, but since it’s only voice-work, does that mean it’ll still automatically be a good movie?)