What's The Worst That Could Happen?

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  • Directed By: Sam Weisman
  • Written By: Donald E. Westlake, Matthew Chapman
  • Release Date: June 1, 2001
  • Domestic Distributor: MGM
  • Cast: Martin Lawrence, Danny DeVito, John Leguizamo

Box Office Info:
Budget: $42 million Financed by: MGM; Hyde Park Entertainment
Domestic Gross: $32,269,834 Overseas Gross: $6,194,297


What’s The Worst That Could Happen?  How about MGM posting a quarter loss of $61.3 million and taking an unspecified write-down on What’s The Worst That Could Happen? and Josie And The Pussycats — with the combined loss of the two pictures expected to be north of $40 million.

What’s The Worst That Could Happen? was co-financed by MGM and Hyde Park Entertainment for $42 million.  Hyde Park’s first slate of films were all MGM releases and all flops, with Antitrust as their first picture, followed by What’s the Worst That Could Happen?, Original Sin and then Bandits capped off their awful 2001.

MGM dated this stinker for June 1st, which was the same weekend the previous summer that Martin Lawrence’s Big Momma’s House opened to strong business.  What’s The Worst That Could Happen? bowed against another critically reviled comedy The Animal, which ate into Worst‘s box office.  It pulled in a soft $13,049,114 — placing #5 for the weekend led by the holdover Pearl Harbor.  What’s The Worst That Could Happen? sank 58% the following weekend to $5,476,007 and bombed out of theaters with $32,269,834.  MGM would see returned about $17.7 million after theaters take their percentage of the gross, which would not cover P&A expenses or touch the budget.

MGM executives Gerry Rich, president of worldwide marketing, and Larry Gleason, president of worldwide theatrical distribution were replaced three weeks after this opened and both positions were filled by Robert Levin.  The Martin Lawrence vehicle Black Knight flopped five months later.

The movie saw a small release overseas, where it cumed just $6.1 million.

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