Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius
Rate Movie[Total: 4 Average: 3.3]
- Directed By: Rowdy Herrington
- Written By: Rowdy Herrington, Bill Pryor, Tony De Paul
- Release Date: April 30, 2004
- Domestic Distributor: Film Foundry
- Cast: Jim Caviezel, Claire Forlani, Jeremy Northam
Box Office Info:
| Budget: $20 million | Financed by: Bobby Jones Films LLC |
|---|---|
| Domestic Gross: $2,694,071 | Overseas Gross: $13,842 |
Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius cost just under $20 million and was backed by Bobby Jones Films LLC, which was an LLC set up by faith based producer Rick Eldridge who cobbled together the financing through private investors. The Rick Eldridge owned Film Foundry set Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius as their first film as distributor and they invested $13 million in P&A costs for an ambitious national release.
After the film was a box office disaster, losing Eldridge and his investors almost their entire investment, lawsuits began trickling in over unpaid advertising costs. The Golf Channel sued for $329,780 for unpaid amounts for airing 330 commercials, $42,500 was owed to the screenwriter, promotion through the PGA tour came to $302,436, plus 18% annual interest, Home & Garden Television Network and Fine Living Network were owed $169,590 plus interest — and other suits made this the first and the last film released by Film Foundry.
Film Foundry booked Bobby Jones into 1,332 theaters on April 30, 2004. It opened against Mean Girls, Godsend, Envy and Laws Of Attraction and had low awareness and tracking going into release. The Foundry tried to capitalize off of Jim Caviezel who was fresh off The Passion of the Christ and added a tagline making a silly connection to that film “His passion made him a legend.”
Reviews were mixed, leaning negative and Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius pulled in an atrocious $1,233,297 with a $925 per screen average — placing #16 for the weekend led by Mean Girls. The Passion of the Christ even pulled in slightly more auds in its 10th weekend. The movie collapsed 57.1% in its second frame to $528,528 and lost all, but 190 theaters going into its third weekend, where it grossed $125,594. It quickly flopped out of release with $2,694,071. Independent distributors receive only a small percentage of the gross (Regal Cinemas pays out only 34% of the gross to small distributors, for example) and Film Foundry would see back about $950,000.
Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius saw a tiny theatrical release in Brazil to $13,842 and went straight to video in the few markets where it found distribution.