The Adjustment Bureau Movie Box Office: Underwhelming Damon Debut

The Adjustment Bureau movie with Matt Damon and Michael Kelly: Universal Pictures’ sci-fi thriller has underwhelming domestic debut.

The Adjustment Bureau movie box office: Matt Damon & Emily Blunt sci-fi thriller has no more than passable domestic debut

March 4–6 weekend box office (cont.): Far behind DreamWorks Animation/Paramount Pictures’ computer-animated comedy Western Rango, Universal Pictures’ George Nolfi-directed sci-fi-ish thriller The Adjustment Bureau opened with a barely acceptable – yet slightly better than some had been anticipating – $21.2 million from 2,840 North American (U.S. and Canada only) locations according to final studio figures found at boxofficemojo.com.

Based on the 1954 Philip K. Dick short story “Adjustment Team,” and starring Matt Damon and Emily Blunt, The Adjustment Bureau was budgeted at a reported $50.2 million (as always, not including marketing and distribution expenses). A $21.2 million debut is thus no more than “barely acceptable,” as there’s little chance the thriller will recover its production cost in the domestic market.

Best Matt Damon debut since The Bourne Ultimatum

On the plus side, The Adjustment Bureau is Matt Damon’s best opener since the Paul Greengrass-directed threequel The Bourne Ultimatum ($69.3 million) in August 2007.

That is, if one chooses to exclude Joel and Ethan Coen’s acclaimed Western hit True Grit ($24.8 million in December 2010), which, in all fairness, is chiefly a starring vehicle for Jeff Bridges.

Besides Oscar winner Matt Damon (shared with Ben Affleck for the Good Will Hunting screenplay, 1997) as a New York City congressman whose life is manipulated by unknown forces and Emily Blunt as his romantic interest, The Adjustment Bureau movie cast includes John Slattery, Anthony Mackie, Michael Kelly, Jennifer Ehle, and veteran Oscar nominee Terence Stamp (Billy Budd, 1962) as a Bureau official who explains that humans can enjoy only the illusion of free will.

Global disappointment

Update: The Matt Damon-Emily Blunt thriller The Adjustment Bureau ultimately collected only $62.5 million domestically and an equally mediocre $65.4 million internationally. Worldwide total: A (relatively speaking) so-so $127.9 million – or hardly enough for the movie to break even.

Its top international markets were the United Kingdom/Ireland ($8.2 million), Australia ($7.2 million), France ($5.8 million), Japan ($4.7 million), Spain ($4.6 million), and Russia/CIS ($4.1 million).

”The Adjustment Bureau Movie Box Office” endnotes

CBS Films’ Beauty and the Beast-inspired romantic fantasy Beastly had a lowly debut at a distant no. 3. Alex Pettyfer and Vanessa Hudgens star; Daniel Barnz directed.

Unless otherwise noted, “The Adjustment Bureau Movie Box Office: Underwhelming Yet Biggest Matt Damon Debut Since Final Bourne” box office information via Box Office Mojo. Budget info – which should be taken with a grain of salt – via BOM and/or other sources (e.g., the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Screen Daily, The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Deadline.com, etc.).

Comments about The Adjustment Bureau and other titles being hits/profitable or flops/money-losers at the box office (see paragraph below) are based on the available data about their production budget, additional marketing and distribution expenses (as a general rule of thumb, around 50 percent of the production cost), and worldwide gross (as a general rule of thumb when it comes to the Hollywood studios, around 50–55 percent of the domestic gross and 40 percent of the international gross goes to the distributing/producing companies).

Bear in mind that data regarding rebates, domestic/international sales/pre-sales, and other credits and/or contractual details that help to alleviate/split production costs and apportion revenues are oftentimes unavailable, and that reported international grosses may be incomplete (i.e., not every territory is fully – or even partially – accounted for).

Also bear in mind that ancillary revenues (domestic/global television rights, home video sales, streaming, merchandising, etc.) can represent anywhere between 40–70 percent of a movie’s total take. However, these revenues and their apportionment are only infrequently made public.

Michael Kelly and Matt Damon The Adjustment Bureau movie image: Andrew Schwartz | Universal Studios.

“The Adjustment Bureau Movie Box Office: Underwhelming Yet Biggest Matt Damon Debut Since Final Bourne” last updated in December 2022.