Rock Star
Rate Movie[Total: 10 Average: 2.5]
- Directed By: Stephen Herek
- Written By: John Stockwell
- Release Date: September 7, 2001
- Domestic Distributor: Warner Bros
- Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Jennifer Aniston, Dominic West
Box Office Info:
| Budget: $38 million | Financed by: Bel-Air Entertainment |
|---|---|
| Domestic Box Office: $17,008,282 | Overseas Box Office: $2,325,863 |
The budget for Rock Star (formally titled the far superior ‘Metal God‘)
was $38 million and it was financed by Bel-Air Entertainment.
Bel-Air was formed in March 1998 as a 5-year equity partnership between Warner Bros and the French conglomerate Canal Plus and WB retained worldwide rights for the films, except for France, Spain and Germany, which went to Canal. After a string of box office disappointments from Bel-Air: “Pay It Forward,” “Sweet November,” “Proof of Life” and Rock Star, Canal Plus was going to pull out of the arrangement in 2002, but Bel-air had no films in their pipeline — except the delayed Collateral Damage waiting for a release and the perpetually shelved Chain Of Fools, which was dumped straight to video in 2005.
Rock Star was originally going to star Brad Pitt, who had already dropped out of another musician role in Almost Famous, but Pitt left after disagreements with the studio about approving a director. Mark Wahlberg took over the role and Stephen Herek, who was just coming off of the disaster Holy Man, signed on as director. Warner Bros first dated Rock Star for April 13, but pushed it back to September 14 and then shifted it up a week to September 7 — seven weeks after the Wahlberg starring summer tentpole Planet Of The Apes.
It opened against The Musketeer, Two Can Play At That Game and Soul Survivors. Rock Star was dead on arrival with $6,018,636 — placing #4 for the weekend led by The Musketeer. The domestic box office was very slow the following weekend, just after tragedy hit on the 11th and Rock Star declined 43.7% to $3,388,545. The film held on in frame three, declining only 13.4% to $2,933,530 but then sank 78.1% to $641,668 in its fourth weekend. Rock Star was out of release with only $17,008,282. Warner Bros would see returned about $9.3 million after theaters take their percentage of the gross, far below their P&A expenses.
Warner Bros and Canal dumped the pic overseas in a brief theatrical release, where it picked up just $2.3 million in receipts. Stephen Herek saw his follow up feature Life Or Something Like It tank in April 2002. Bel-Air had no further output after Collateral Damage.