Talk about a catastrophe! Not even the 12 Days of box office, which typically boosts even lackluster films during the last 2 weeks of the year, can save Cats from financial disaster. Reports have finally surfaced in regards to the actual loss that Universal Pictures we see from the project and it’s not looking pretty.
“Deadline’s,” financial sources say that Universal/Amblin/Working Title is set to lose $100 million at the box office and that’s if it reaches certain goals. The film has to reach a global take of at least $100 million with $40 million coming from domestic grosses and $60 million coming from abroad. This is based on a production cost of $90 million and a $115 million estimated global P&A spend.
Cats, as of the end of the weekend, has grossed a mere $17.8 million domestically and I honestly think, even with the holiday boost, that it will make it to the desired $40 million at the domestic box office. It was one of the only films in the top ten this weekend to actually see a decline (-27%) as well.
Overseas, Cats pulled in $13.6 million from 37 new markets for a running total of $20.6 million, with lackluster debuts on the top 10 chart across South Korea, Mexico, Spain, and France, among many other markets. One has to believe that the desired $60 million from overseas markets also isn’t feasible at this point.
