Bottoms Budget

What is the budget of Bottoms?

"Bottoms," a comedy released in 2023, was directed by Emma Seligman and stars Rachel Sennott, Ayo Edebiri. The production budget was $11,300,000, placing it in the low-budget range for comedy productions of its era.

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: In April 2021, it was announced that Seligman and Sennott were working with Orion Pictures and Brownstone Productions, with Elizabeth Banks, Max Handelman, and Alison Small producing for Brownstone, and Alana Mayo producing for Orion.

What were the major cost factors in Bottoms?

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

• 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 Bottoms's Budget Compare to Similar Films?

At $11,300,000, Bottoms sits in the low-budget range. Here is how it compares to productions with a similar budget:

• Parasite (2019): Budget $11,363,000, Worldwide Gross $257,591,776
• Troll 2 (2025): Budget $11,200,000
• The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) (2017): Budget $11,400,000
• Weathering with You (2019): Budget $11,100,000, Worldwide Gross $192,729,404
• Forsaken (2015): Budget $11,000,000

The median budget for wide-release comedy films in the 2020s ranges from $30 to 80M for mid-budget to $150M+ for tentpoles.

Bottoms Box Office Performance

"Bottoms" earned $12,036,071 domestically and $12,976,079 worldwide at the box office. Against a production budget of $11,300,000, 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 "Bottoms," that break-even threshold was roughly $22,600,000. With worldwide earnings of $12,976,079, the film fell short of that threshold but recouped its production costs in theatrical release.

• Production Budget: $11,300,000
• Worldwide Gross: $12,976,079
• Net Return: $1,676,079
• ROI: approximately 14.8%

At 14.8%, "Bottoms" returned its production investment but margin was tight after marketing and distribution costs.

Bottoms Production History

In April 2021, it was announced that Seligman and Sennott were working with Orion Pictures and Brownstone Productions, with Elizabeth Banks, Max Handelman, and Alison Small producing for Brownstone, and Alana Mayo producing for Orion. It is the third collaboration between Seligman and Sennott after the 2018 short film Shiva Baby and its 2020 feature-length adaptation. Whilst promoting that film, Seligman described her next project as a "campy queer high school comedy in the vein of Wet Hot American Summer but more for a Gen-Z queer audience".

In April 2022, it was announced that Ayo Edebiri, Marshawn Lynch, Ruby Cruz, Havana Rose Liu, Kaia Gerber, Nicholas Galitzine, Miles Fowler, Dagmara Domińczyk and Punkie Johnson were added to the cast. Filming was scheduled to take place in New Orleans between April 18 and May 27, 2022. Seligman has said that she cast Marshawn Lynch at the suggestion of Ayo, who pointed her to his appearance on the Netflix series Murderville, the majority of which he had improvised.

[Development and filming] In April 2021, it was announced that Seligman and Sennott were working with Orion Pictures and Brownstone Productions, with Elizabeth Banks, Max Handelman, and Alison Small producing for Brownstone, and Alana Mayo producing for Orion. It is the third collaboration between Seligman and Sennott after the 2018 short film Shiva Baby and its 2020 feature-length adaptation. Whilst promoting that film, Seligman described her next project as a "campy queer high school comedy in the vein of Wet Hot American Summer but more for a Gen-Z queer audience".

Awards and Recognition

5 wins & 24 nominations total

Critical Reception

Audiences polled by PostTrak gave the film a 93% positive score, with women under 25 giving it 98% score and 96% saying they would definitely recommend it.