Suffering from hysteria, Sabina Spielrein is hospitalized under the care of Dr. Carl Jung who has begun using Dr. Sigmund Freud's talking cure with some of his patients. Spielrain's psychological problems are deeply rooted in her childhood and violent father. She is highly intelligent however and hopes to be a doctor, eventually becoming a psychiatrist in her own right. The married Jung and Spielrein eventually become lovers. Jung and Freud develop an almost father-son relationship with Freud seeing the young Jung as his likely successor as the standard-bearer of his beliefs. A deep rift develops between them when Jung diverges from Freud's belief that while psychoanalysis can reveal the cause of psychological problems it cannot cure the patient.

What is the budget of A Dangerous Method?

"A Dangerous Method," a drama released in 2011, was directed by David Cronenberg and stars Keira Knightley, Viggo Mortensen. The production budget was $15,000,000, placing it in the low-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.
Production: Hampton's earliest version of the screenplay, dating back to the 1990s, was written for Julia Roberts in the role of Sabina Spielrein, but the film was never realized.

What were the major cost factors in A Dangerous Method?

Several factors contributed to the overall production costs of "A Dangerous Method."

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 A Dangerous Method's Budget Compare to Similar Films?

At $15,000,000, A Dangerous Method sits in the low-budget range. Here is how it compares to productions with a similar budget:

127 Hours (2010): Budget $18,000,000, Worldwide Gross $35,700,000
A Cinderella Story (2004): Budget $19,000,000, Worldwide Gross $70,067,909
12 Years a Slave (2013): Budget $20,000,000, Worldwide Gross $187,000,000
21 Grams (2003): Budget $20,000,000, Worldwide Gross $60,427,839
3 Ninjas Kick Back (1994): Budget $20,000,000, Worldwide Gross $11,798,854

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

A Dangerous Method Box Office Performance

"A Dangerous Method" earned $5,704,709 domestically and $27,462,041 worldwide at the box office. Against a production budget of $15,000,000, the film showed modest profitability in theatrical release.

A film typically needs to earn approximately twice its production budget to cover marketing and distribution costs. For "A Dangerous Method," that break-even threshold was roughly $30,000,000. With worldwide earnings of $27,462,041, the film fell short of that threshold but recouped its production costs in theatrical release.

Production Budget: $15,000,000
Worldwide Gross: $27,462,041
Net Return: $12,462,041
ROI: approximately 83.1%

At 83.1%, "A Dangerous Method" returned its production investment but margin was tight after marketing and distribution costs.