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Primary Colors movie poster

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1998 • R • 2h 23m • Comedy, Drama • Universal Pictures

What went down on the way to the top.

🍅 80% 64%

70

3.32

6.7

CS B

Box office summary

Opening weekend

$12.00M

3-day opening

Domestic total

$39.00M

Final

Worldwide total

$52.10M

$13.10M international

Domestic legs3.2x

Budget$65M

1998 rank#54

Compare with other movies

Cast & crew

Full Nichols filmography

Mike Nichols

Mike Nichols Director

John Travolta

John Travolta Starring

Emma Thompson

Emma Thompson Starring

Billy Bob Thornton

Billy Bob Thornton Starring

Kathy Bates

Kathy Bates Starring

Adrian Lester

Adrian Lester Starring

ScreenplayElaine May Produced byMike Nichols, Jonathan Krane, Neil Machlis CinematographyMichael Ballhaus Music byRy Cooder StudioUniversal Pictures

The run

WkWeekendRankGrossChgTheatersAvgTotal

1 Mar 20-22 2 $12.0M — 1,965 $6,130 $12.0M

2 Mar 27-29 3 $7.0M −41.8% 1,968 $3,560 $22.2M

3 Apr 3-5 5 $4.7M −32.9% 1,976 $2,380 $28.9M

4 Apr 10-12 10 $2.4M −48.7% 1,779 $1,355 $32.7M

5 Apr 17-19 12 $1.5M −36.4% 1,317 $1,165 $35.2M

6 Apr 24-26 18 $833.4K −45.7% 926 $900 $36.4M

7 May 1-3 21 $550.5K −33.9% 734 $750 $37.1M

8 May 8-10 22 $313.0K −43.1% 457 $685 $37.6M

9 May 15-17 25 $237.7K −24.1% 347 $685 $37.9M

10 May 22-24 27 $243.0K +2.2% 267 $910 $38.3M

11 May 29-31 31 $153.7K −36.7% 277 $555 $38.5M

12 Jun 5-7 29 $140.2K −8.8% 246 $570 $38.7M

13 Jun 12-14 38 $85.9K −38.7% 179 $480 $38.9M

14 Jun 19-21 39 $61.9K −28.0% 104 $595 $39.0M

DateRankGrossDailyWeeklyTotalTheatersAvgDay

Fri Mar 20 #2 $3.6M — $3.6M 1,966 $1,846 1

Sat Mar 21 #2 $5.5M +50.7% $9.1M 1,966 $2,782 2

Sun Mar 22 #2 $3.0M −44.7% $12.0M 1,966 $1,539 3

Mon Mar 23 #3 $619.0K −79.5% $12.7M 1,965 $315 4

Tue Mar 24 #3 $880.0K +42.2% $13.5M 1,966 $448 5

Wed Mar 25 #2 $864.6K −1.7% $14.4M 1,965 $440 6

Thu Mar 26 #2 $835.1K −3.4% $15.2M 1,965 $425 7

Fri Mar 27 #3 $2.2M +158.6% −40.5% $17.4M 1,969 $1,097 8

Sat Mar 28 #3 $3.4M +55.1% −38.8% $20.7M 1,969 $1,701 9

Sun Mar 29 #3 $1.7M −50.4% −45.0% $22.2M 1,969 $845 10

Mon Mar 30 #3 $413.3K −75.1% −33.2% $22.7M 1,968 $210 11

Tue Mar 31 #3 $560.9K +35.7% −36.3% $23.2M 1,968 $285 12

Wed Apr 1 #2 $521.5K −7.0% −39.7% $23.7M 1,968 $265 13

Thu Apr 2 #2 $501.8K −3.8% −39.9% $24.2M 1,968 $255 14

Fri Apr 3 #6 $1.2M +148.1% −42.4% $25.5M 1,975 $630 15

Sat Apr 4 #5 $2.3M +83.9% −31.6% $27.8M 1,975 $1,159 16

Sun Apr 5 #5 $1.1M −53.8% −36.4% $28.9M 1,976 $535 17

Mon Apr 6 #7 $305.8K −71.1% −26.0% $29.3M 1,976 $155 18

Tue Apr 7 #7 $345.3K +12.9% −38.4% $29.6M 1,976 $175 19

Wed Apr 8 #7 $344.9K −0.1% −33.9% $29.9M 1,976 $175 20

Thu Apr 9 #6 $395.2K +14.6% −21.2% $30.3M 1,976 $200 21

Fri Apr 10 #10 $775.0K +96.1% −37.8% $31.1M 1,775 $437 22

Sat Apr 11 #9 $1.0M +29.7% −56.1% $32.1M 1,775 $566 23

Sun Apr 12 #9 $551.0K −45.2% −47.9% $32.7M 1,779 $310 24

Charts show the first 10 weeks · the run above is the full record

Cumulative total$32.7M

Mar 20Mar 26Apr 1Apr 6Apr 12

Weekend grossWk 10 · $243.0K

$12.0M

$7.0M

$4.7M

$2.4M

$1.5M

$833.4K

$550.5K

$313.0K

$237.7K

$243.0K

W1W2W3W4W5W6W7W8W9W10

Theater countPeak 1,976 → 1,779 −10.0%

1,966 open1,779 now

Weekend-over-weekend dropWk 10 · +2.2%

−41.8%

W1→2

−32.9%

W2→3

−48.7%

W3→4

−36.4%

W4→5

−45.7%

W5→6

−33.9%

W6→7

−43.1%

W7→8

−24.1%

W8→9

+2.2%

W9→10

Steepest −48.7%Biggest gain +2.2%

Profitability

Return on Budget

Theatrical breakeven point is approx. 2.5x production budget

Domestic vs International Split

Similar movies

Biloxi Blues 1988 · Nichols $43.2M The Birdcage 1996 · Nichols $124.1M Fried Green Tomatoes 1991 · Avnet $81.2M Orange County 2002 · Kasdan $41.1M 28 Days 2000 · Thomas $37M The Paper 1994 · Howard $36.8M

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