- The Tourist box office: Directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, the big-budget Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie spy thriller has fizzled in the domestic market. On the positive side, international prospects – Depp’s and Jolie’s movies have usually performed far better abroad – are promising.
The Tourist box office: Johnny Depp & Angelina Jolie spy thriller is a major domestic flop – but international prospects are promising
Dec. 10–12 weekend box office (cont.): Trailing 20th Century Fox’s costly commercial dud The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader was Columbia/Sony Pictures’ costly commercial dud The Tourist, a widely panned romantic spy thriller directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (whose spy drama The Lives of Others won the 2007 Best Foreign Language Film Oscar), and starring Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie.
Budgeted at a reported $100 million (as always, not including marketing and distribution expenses), The Tourist brought in a mere $16.5 million from 2,756 North American (U.S. and Canada only) locations as per final studio figures found at boxofficemojo.com. That’s nearly 20 percent less than the (already pretty modest) $20 million some box office pundits had predicted.
The silver lining: Movies starring Johnny Depp (the Pirates of the Caribbean titles, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Alice in Wonderland) and Angelina Jolie (Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Changeling, Wanted, Salt) have generally performed better – at times far better – overseas.
Comparison to Knight and Day
Here’s one brief comparison: Directed by James Mangold, and starring Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz, 20th Century Fox’s romantic spy caper Knight and Day opened with $20.1 million in late June, ending its run with an underwhelming $76.4 million domestically and a far more impressive $185.6 million internationally. Worldwide total: A money-losing $262 million due to the movie’s hefty $117 million budget.
Expect The Tourist to fare worse domestically while performing equally well internationally.
Besides Oscar nominee Johnny Depp (Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, 2003; etc.) and winner Angelina Jolie (Girl, Interrupted, 1999), The Tourist features Paul Bettany, Steven Berkof, Rufus Sewell, Christian De Sica,* Daniele Pecci, Raoul Bova, and former James Bond Timothy Dalton (The Living Daylights, Licence to Kill).
* Christian De Sica is son of filmmaker Vittorio De Sica (Miracle in Milan, Umberto D) and actress María Mercader (Natale al campo 119, La porta del cielo).
International blockbuster
Update: The Tourist ultimately collected $67.6 million domestically and $211.2 million internationally. Worldwide total: $278.8 million.
That cume was likely not enough for the Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie spy thriller to break even at the box office alone.
The Tourist’s top international markets were Japan ($22.4 million), China ($20.7 million), Russia/CIS ($19 million), Italy ($15.4 million), Germany ($12.1 million), Spain ($11.4 million), Australia ($11.3 million), Brazil ($10 million), the United Kingdom/Ireland ($8 million), France ($7.2 million), South Korea ($6 million), and Mexico ($5.6 million).
Rounding out the Top Five movies
For the record, rounding out the Top Five movies on this past weekend’s domestic box office chart were:
- At no. 3 (after topping the chart a week ago), Nathan Greno and Byron Howard’s computer-animated fairy tale Tangled grossed $14.3 million (down a relatively modest 33 percent on its third weekend). Total: $115.4 million. Voice cast: Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi.
- At no. 4, David Yates’ Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 grossed $8.5 million (down 50 percent on its fourth weekend), thus passing the $250 million milestone. Total: $257.7 million. Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and two-time Oscar nominee Ralph Fiennes (Schindler’s List, 1993; The English Patient, 1996).
- At no. 5, Tony Scott’s action thriller Unstoppable grossed $3.7 million (down 38 percent on its fifth weekend). Total: $74.2 million. Cast: Chris Pine and two-time Oscar winner Denzel Washington (Glory, 1989; Training Day, 2001).
“The Tourist Box Office: Depp + Jolie Spy Thriller Bombs” notes
Unless otherwise noted, “The Tourist Box Office: Depp + Jolie Spy Thriller Bombs” 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 Tourist 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 go to the distributing/producing companies).
Note: Data regarding rebates, domestic and 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: 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.
Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie The Tourist image: Peter Mountain | Columbia Pictures | Sony Pictures.
“The Tourist Box Office: Depp + Jolie Spy Thriller Bombs” last modified in October 2023.