Thursday, March 28, 2024

Where’d Ya Go, Burn-a-Debt? Annapurna Pictures Settles $200 Million in Red Ink as Another Film Flops

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Where’d ya go, Burn-a-debt?

Annapurna Films took in just $1.4 million this weekend on Richard Linklater’s ill-fated “Where’d Ya Go, Bernadette?” The company also settled $200 million in debt from a string of disastrous releases. They were bailed out by Larry Ellison, founder of Oracle software, the billionaire father of Annapurna’s creator, Meghan Ellison.

“Bernadette” is Annapurna’s fifth release in 2019. The five films have made a total $110 million domestically.

In 2018, they released 8 films through the whole year, with a domestic total of $105 million. Half of that came from “Vice,” the movie about Dick Cheney. Four of the films earned less than $3.2 million including a very good one, “Destroyer,” starring Nicole Kidman. Before that, Annapurna just made films and other distributors released and marketed them. But now Annapurna does everything, and it’s not working.

What’s next? Other than a deal to work on the new James Bond movie for MGM, hard to say. And even MGM should be having second thoughts about that deal.

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.
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