What is the budget of Boomerang?

"Boomerang," a comedy released in 1992, was directed by Reginald Hudlin and stars Eddie Murphy, Robin Givens. The production budget was $40,000,000, placing it in the mid-budget range for comedy productions of the 1990s.

Key Budget Allocation Categories

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

Talent Salaries & Producing Deals: Established comedic talent can command $15 to 20 million per film, with top-tier stars earning even more through producing credits and backend deals.
Production & Location Filming: While comedies generally avoid the VFX costs of action films, location shooting in recognizable cities or exotic locales adds meaningful production expense.
Marketing & P&A (Prints & Advertising): Comedies rely heavily on marketing to build opening-weekend momentum.
Development: Eddie Murphy created the original idea for the film, which he took to writers Barry Blaustein and David Sheffield, both of whom he had been working with during his days at Saturday Night Live.

What were the major cost factors in Boomerang?

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

Talent Salaries: Talent Salaries & Producing Deals is one of the primary cost drivers in comedy productions of this scale.
Production: Production & Location Filming is one of the primary cost drivers in comedy productions of this scale.
Marketing: Marketing & P&A (Prints & Advertising) is one of the primary cost drivers in comedy productions of this scale.

How Does Boomerang's Budget Compare to Similar Films?

At $40,000,000, Boomerang sits in the mid-budget range. Here is how it compares to productions with a similar budget:

42 (2013): Budget $40,000,000, Worldwide Gross $95,020,213
A Few Good Men (1992): Budget $40,000,000, Worldwide Gross $243,240,178
Big Trouble (2002): Budget $40,000,000, Worldwide Gross $8,493,890
8 Mile (2002): Budget $41,000,000, Worldwide Gross $242,875,078
Along Came Polly (2004): Budget $42,000,000, Worldwide Gross $178,300,000

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

Boomerang Box Office Performance

"Boomerang" earned $70,052,444 domestically and $131,052,444 worldwide at the box office. Against a production budget of $40,000,000, 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 "Boomerang," that break-even threshold was roughly $80,000,000. With worldwide earnings of $131,052,444, the film cleared that threshold comfortably.

Production Budget: $40,000,000
Worldwide Gross: $131,052,444
Net Return: $91,052,444
ROI: approximately 227.6%

At 227.6%, "Boomerang" earned roughly $3.28 for every $1 invested in production.

Boomerang Production History

Eddie Murphy created the original idea for the film, which he took to writers Barry Blaustein and David Sheffield, both of whom he had been working with during his days at Saturday Night Live. After they finished the first draft of the script and were given the greenlight on the project, Murphy offered the directing job to Reginald Hudlin, who had previously found critical and commercial success with his debut film House Party. For Boomerang, Hudlin said that, from a creative standpoint, he really wanted to take Murphy "somewhere where he's never been before," and that he and the writers' goal was to "put Eddie through paces.

Hudlin knew immediately that he wanted Halle Berry for the role of Angela after she came in and did the reading, and was nervous that Murphy wouldn't like her. Berry had appeared in a couple of films prior to being cast in Boomerang. However, after Berry performed her screen test, Murphy told Hudlin "well, that's it.

The majority of the film was shot in New York City during the winter. Although it was very cold, the director said that it was still "great to actually be in the city and get that authentic New York flavor." Most of the film was done on location as well. Interior scenes which took place at Marcus' workplace were shot in the old Univision building that had been repainted for production.

Awards and Recognition

1 win & 8 nominations total

Critical Reception

On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 49%, based on 43 reviews, and an average rating of 5.3/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Boomerang injects some fresh color into the corporate rom-com formula, but the frothy fun is undercut by off-putting gender dynamics and misjudged gags." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 45 out of 100, based on 19 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade A− on scale of A to F.