Blindness Budget

What is the budget of Blindness?

"Blindness," a drama released in 2008, was directed by Fernando Meirelles and stars Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo. The production budget was $25,000,000, 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: The rights to the 1995 novel Blindness were closely guarded by author José Saramago.

What were the major cost factors in Blindness?

Several factors contributed to the overall production costs of "Blindness."

• 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 Blindness's Budget Compare to Similar Films?

At $25,000,000, Blindness sits in the mid-budget range. Here is how it compares to productions with a similar budget:

• 1408 (2007): Budget $25,000,000, Worldwide Gross $133,000,000
• A Journal for Jordan (2021): Budget $25,000,000, Worldwide Gross $6,700,000
• Abandon (2002): Budget $25,000,000, Worldwide Gross $10,719,357
• All My Life (2020): Budget $25,000,000, Worldwide Gross $2,000,000
• August Rush (2007): Budget $25,000,000, Worldwide Gross $66,122,026

The median budget for wide-release drama films in the 2000s ranges from $30 to 80M for mid-budget to $150M+ for tentpoles.

Blindness Box Office Performance

"Blindness" earned $3,351,751 domestically and $19,844,979 worldwide at the box office. Against a production budget of $25,000,000, the film faced challenges in theatrical release. Home video, streaming, and ancillary revenue may have contributed to its overall performance.

A film typically needs to earn approximately twice its production budget to cover marketing and distribution costs. For "Blindness," that break-even threshold was roughly $50,000,000. With worldwide earnings of $19,844,979, the film did not reach break-even in theatrical release.

• Production Budget: $25,000,000
• Worldwide Gross: $19,844,979
• Net Return: −$5,155,021
• ROI: approximately -20.6%

At -20.6%, "Blindness" did not recoup its production budget through theatrical release alone.

Blindness Production History

The rights to the 1995 novel Blindness were closely guarded by author José Saramago. In 1999, producer Niv Fichman and Canadian screenwriter Don McKellar visited Saramago in the Canary Islands; Saramago allowed their visit on condition that they not discuss buying the rights. McKellar explained the changes he intended to make from the novel and what the focus would be, and two days later he and Fichman left Saramago's home with the rights.

Don McKellar said about adapting the story, "None of the characters even have names or a history, which is very untraditional for a Hollywood story. The film, like the novel, directly addresses sight and point of view and asks you to see things from a different perspective." McKellar wrote the script so audiences would see the world through the eyes of the protagonist, the doctor's wife. He sought to have them question the humanity of how she observes but does not act in various situations, including a rape scene.

Meirelles chose São Paulo as the primary backdrop for Blindness, though scenes were also filmed in Osasco, São Paulo, Brazil; Guelph, Ontario, Canada; and Montevideo, Uruguay. With all the characters aside from Julianne Moore's character being blind, the cast was trained to simulate blindness. The director also stylized the film to reflect the lack of point of view that the characters would experience.

Awards and Recognition

16 wins & 21 nominations total

Critical Reception

Despite being on a number of critics' top 10 lists for 2008, the film received "mixed or average" reviews on Metacritic, which sampled 31 critic reviews and calculated a weighted average score of 45 out of 100. According to Rotten Tomatoes, 44% of 160 critics have given the film a positive review, and the average rating is 5.3/10. The consensus on the website reads, "This allegorical disaster film about society's reaction to mass blindness is mottled and self-satisfied; provocative but not as interesting as its premise implies."