A Hologram For The King

  • a hologram for the king box office
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  • Directed By: Tom Tykwer
  • Written By: Dave Eggers, Tom Tykwer
  • Release Date: April 22, 2016
  • Domestic Distributor: Roadside Attractions/Lionsgate/Saban Films
  • Cast: Tom Hanks, Alexander Black, Sarita Choudhury

Box Office Info:
Budget: $35 million Financed by: Primeridian Entertainment; Silver Reel; Fábrica de Cine
Domestic Gross: $4,212,494 Overseas Gross: $7,633,516


The budget for A Hologram For The King was $35 million and it was financed by many international sources and received coin from Primeridian Entertainment, Silver Reel and Fábrica de Cine.  This was also the first movie to use Junction Investments, which was basically Kickstarter for the rich — an accredited-only crowdfunding platform.  Silver Reel offered a piece of their investment in the film through Junction to the affluent, for this very non-commercial Tom Hanks vehicle.  Lotus Entertainment handled pre-sales back in 2013 and sales were strong to distributors and would cover much of the the budget.  The project was the second collaboration between Hanks and Tom Tykwer, who co-directed the actor in Cloud Atlas (2012).  After A Hologram For The King, Hanks signed onto another picture adapted from a Dave Eggers novel, the poorly received The Circle (2017).

A Hologram For The King went into production without a domestic distributor and was completed in 2014.  CAA represented the domestic rights, which sold to Lionsgate, Saban Films and Roadside Attractions (partially owned by Lionsgate) in May 2015 for just north of $3 million.  The three companies evenly split distribution expenses and planned on a mid-level release, modeling it after successful Roadside releases Mudd, A Most Wanted Man and Mr. Holmes.

A Hologram For The King received a lukewarm response from critics and was booked into 401 theaters and pulled in $1,138,578 with a soft $2,839 per screen average.  It was supposed to expand to over 600 locations in its second weekend, but secured only 523 theaters and saw diminishing returns at $943,775 for the weekend, with an expansion ending $1,805 per screen average.  The movie continued to post large weekly declines and closed with only $4,212,494.  The three distributors would see returned about $2.3 million after theaters take their percentage of the gross, which would not cover their very modest P&A expenses or their acquisition purchase.

The many overseas distributors who picked up the title, gave the film a brief theatrical release and $1,639,898 from director Tom Tykwer’s home country Germany was the film’s highest gross.  The recorded offshore cume was just $7.6 million.

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