Charlie St. Cloud

  • Charlie St. Cloud box office
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  • Directed By: Burr Steers
  • Written By: Craig Pearce, Lewis Colick
  • Release Date: July 30, 2010
  • Domestic Distributor: Universal
  • Cast: Zac Efron, Kim Basinger, Donal Logue

Box Office Info:
Budget: $44 million Financed by: Universal; Relativity
Domestic Box Office: $31,162,545 Overseas Box Office: $17,028,159


Shortly before the publication of Ben Sherwood’s The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud (2004), a bidding war was underway for the theatrical rights.  Universal landed the option in May 2003 for $500,000 against $1M.  Joe Johnston was tapped to direct, but the project never made it out of development stages and eventually he went off to helm Universal’s mega-budget box office disaster The Wolfman.  Burr Steers, who had just directed the Zac Efron vehicle 17 Again (2009) signed onto helm this melodrama.



Universal and Relativity co-financed Charlie St. Cloud for $44 million.  The picture was dated for July 30, 2010 and it bowed against Dinner for Schmucks and Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore.  Universal gave the movie an expensive marketing push, with a promotional campaign entirely centered around Efron’s appeal to younger female auds.

Critics panned Charlie St. Cloud and it was tracking for a modest $12M – $15M opening and came in on the low end of expectations at $12,381,585 — placing #5 for the weekend led by the holdover Inception.  The film had dropped 31.9% in attendance from its opening day on friday to Saturday, which did not bode well for its longevity in theaters.  Charlie St. Cloud plummeted 62% to $4,700,490 in its second frame and sank 55% to $2,113,930 in its third session and promptly lost most of its theater count.  The domestic run closed with a poor $31,162,545.

The overseas numbers were only $17M, lifting the worldwide cume to $48.1M.  Universal would see returned about $26.4M after theaters take their percentage of the gross — leaving much of the expensive worldwide P&A spend in the red and the budget untouched by the theatrical receipts.

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