12 Years a Slave Budget

What is the budget of 12 Years a Slave?

"12 Years a Slave," a drama released in 2013, was directed by Steve McQueen and stars Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender. The production budget was $20,000,000, placing it in the mid-budget range for drama productions of its era.

Key Budget Allocation Categories

While specific budget breakdowns are not publicly available, typical cost drivers for a drama production like this include:

• Above-the-Line Talent: Drama films live or die on the strength of their performances.
• Location Filming & Period Production Design: Authentic locations , whether contemporary or historical , require scouting, permits, travel, lodging, and often significant dressing to match the story's time period.
• Post-Production, Color Grading & Score: The editorial process for dramas is typically longer than genre films, with careful attention to pacing and tone.
• Development: After meeting screenwriter John Ridley at a Creative Artists Agency screening of Hunger in 2008, director Steve McQueen got in touch with Ridley about his interest in making a film about "the slave era in America" with "a character that was not obvious in terms of their trade in slavery." Developing the idea back and forth, the two did not strike a chord until McQueen's partner, Bianca Stigter, found Solomon Northup's 1853 memoir Twelve Years a Slave.

What were the major cost factors in 12 Years a Slave?

Several factors contributed to the overall production costs of "12 Years a Slave."

• Above-the-Line Talent: Above-the-Line Talent is one of the primary cost drivers in drama productions of this scale.
• Location Filming: Location Filming & Period Production Design is one of the primary cost drivers in drama productions of this scale.
• Post-Production: Post-Production, Color Grading & Score is one of the primary cost drivers in drama productions of this scale.

How Does 12 Years a Slave's Budget Compare to Similar Films?

At $20,000,000, 12 Years a Slave sits in the mid-budget range. Here is how it compares to productions with a similar budget:

• 12 Rounds (2009): Budget $22,000,000, Worldwide Gross $17,280,326

The median budget for wide-release drama films in the 2010s ranges from $30 to 80M for mid-budget to $150M+ for tentpoles.

12 Years a Slave Box Office Performance

"12 Years a Slave" earned $56,671,993 domestically and $187,000,000 worldwide at the box office. Against a production budget of $20,000,000, the film performed strongly at the box office.

A film typically needs to earn approximately twice its production budget to cover marketing and distribution costs. For "12 Years a Slave," that break-even threshold was roughly $40,000,000. With worldwide earnings of $187,000,000, the film cleared that threshold comfortably.

• Production Budget: $20,000,000
• Worldwide Gross: $187,000,000
• Net Return: $167,000,000
• ROI: approximately 835%

At 835%, "12 Years a Slave" earned roughly $9.35 for every $1 invested in production.

12 Years a Slave Production History

After meeting screenwriter John Ridley at a Creative Artists Agency screening of Hunger in 2008, director Steve McQueen got in touch with Ridley about his interest in making a film about "the slave era in America" with "a character that was not obvious in terms of their trade in slavery." Developing the idea back and forth, the two did not strike a chord until McQueen's partner, Bianca Stigter, found Solomon Northup's 1853 memoir Twelve Years a Slave. McQueen later told an interviewer: After a lengthy development process, Brad Pitt's production company Plan B Entertainment backed the project, which eventually helped get financing from various other film studios. The film was officially announced in August 2011 with McQueen to direct and Chiwetel Ejiofor to star as Solomon Northup, a free African-American who was kidnapped and sold into slavery in the Deep South.

With a production budget of , principal photography began in New Orleans, Louisiana, on , 2012. After seven weeks, filming concluded on , 2012. As a way to keep down production costs, a bulk of the filming took place around the greater New Orleans area , mostly south of the Red River country in the north of the state, where the historic Northup was enslaved.

The musical score to 12 Years a Slave was composed by Hans Zimmer, with original on-screen violin music written and arranged by Nicholas Britell and performed by Tim Fain. The film also features a few pieces of western classical and American folk music such as Franz Schubert's "Trio in B-flat, D471", Daniel Dow's "Money Musk", and John and Alan Lomax's arrangement of "Run, Nigger, Run". A soundtrack album, Music from and Inspired by 12 Years a Slave, was released digitally on November 5 and received a physical format release on November 11, 2013, by Columbia Records.

Awards and Recognition

Won 3 Oscars. 244 wins & 338 nominations total

• Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay: John Ridley
• Independent Spirit Award for Best Cinematography: Sean Bobbitt
• BAFTA Award for Best Film: Jeremy Kleiner
• Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Film
• Satellite Award for Best Film
• Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress: Lupita Nyong'o (86th Academy Awards)
• Academy Award for Best Picture: Brad Pitt (86th Academy Awards)
• Academy Award for Best Picture: Steve McQueen (86th Academy Awards)

Critical Reception

Film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 95% of critics gave the film a positive rating, based on 379 reviews, with an average score of 8.90/10. The site's consensus states, "It's far from comfortable viewing, but 12 Years a Slaves unflinchingly brutal look at American slavery is also brilliant , and quite possibly essential , cinema." Metacritic, another review aggregator, assigned the film a weighted average score of 96 out of 100 based on 57 reviews from mainstream critics, indicating "universal acclaim".