Bangkok Dangerous
Rate Movie[Total: 4 Average: 1]
- Directed By: Danny Pang, Oxide Chun Pang
- Written By: Jason Richman
- Release Date: September 5, 2008
- Domestic Distributor: Lionsgate
- Cast: Nicolas Cage, Shahkrit Yamnarm, Charlie Yeung
Box Office Info:
| Budget: $45 million | Financed by: Initial Entertainment Group |
|---|---|
| Domestic Box Office: $15,298,133 | Overseas Box Office: $27,189,257 |
Danny Pang and Oxide Chun Pang signed onto direct this maligned remake of their 1999 movie Bangkok Dangerous for Initial Entertainment Group in 2006. The budget for Bangkok Dangerous was $45 million and Initial financed this Nicolas Cage vehicle and pre-sold the picture, which would help pad the loss when the film flopped worldwide.
Lionsgate acquired US rights with an unreported but ‘significant’ prints and advertising commitment. Lionsgate originally scheduled Bangkok Dangerous for August 22 but Universal positioned their action pic Death Race on that date and Lionsgate moved it to September 5, which was the only film released wide that weekend.
Bangkok Dangerous was not screened for critics and the reviews that eventually posted were awful. Tracking was pointing to a $10M – $12M opening, but it pulled in just $7,783,266. Even though it opened as the #1 film at the box office that weekend, it was one of the lowest grossing #1 spots on record and also the lowest grossing weekend since 2003. Audiences gave Bangkok Dangerous a toxic C- cinemascore and it took a 66.7% nosedive to $2,592,656 in its second frame and then sank 67.4% to $844,608 in its third session. The domestic run closed with a terrible $15,298,133. Lionsgate would see returned about $8 million after theaters take their percentage of the gross — far below their P&A spend and acquisition costs.
Bangkok Dangerous posted weak overseas numbers for the many distributors that picked up the picture and it posted just $27.1 million in receipts. The film was dumped straight to video in Germany and premiered on television in Australia.