Capitalism: A Love Story examines the impact of corporate dominance on the everyday lives of Americans (and by default, the rest of the world). The film moves from Middle America, to the halls of power in Washington, to the global financial epicenter in Manhattan. With both humor and outrage, the film explores the question: What is the price that America pays for its love of capitalism? Families pay the price with their jobs, their homes and their savings. Moore goes into the homes of ordinary people whose lives have been turned upside down; and he goes looking for explanations in Washington, DC and elsewhere. What he finds are the all-too-familiar symptoms of a love affair gone astray: lies, abuse, betrayal...and 14,000 jobs being lost every day. Capitalism: A Love Story also presents what a more hopeful future could look like. Who are we and why do we behave the way that we do?

What is the budget of Capitalism A Love Story?

"Capitalism A Love Story," a documentary released in 2009, was directed by Michael Moore and stars Michael Moore, Elijah Cummings. The production budget was $20,000,000, placing it in the mid-budget range for documentary productions of its era.

Key Budget Allocation Categories

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

Filming, Travel & Extended Production: Documentaries often film across months or years, in remote or conflict-affected locations, requiring sustained production funding.
Archival Footage, Music & Rights Licensing: Acquiring rights to archival film, photographs, and news footage is a major expense unique to documentary filmmaking.
Post-Production & Narrative Assembly: Shaping hundreds of hours of raw footage into a coherent narrative requires extensive editorial time.
Production: During the Cannes Film Festival in 2008, Overture Films and Paramount Vantage announced an upcoming project by director Michael Moore, though at the time they were vague about the project's theme.

What were the major cost factors in Capitalism A Love Story?

Several factors contributed to the overall production costs of "Capitalism A Love Story."

Filming: Filming, Travel & Extended Production is one of the primary cost drivers in documentary productions of this scale.
Archival Footage: Archival Footage, Music & Rights Licensing is one of the primary cost drivers in documentary productions of this scale.
Post-Production: Post-Production & Narrative Assembly is one of the primary cost drivers in documentary productions of this scale.

How Does Capitalism A Love Story's Budget Compare to Similar Films?

At $20,000,000, Capitalism A Love Story sits in the mid-budget range. Here is how it compares to productions with a similar budget:

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
A Guy Thing (2003): Budget $20,000,000, Worldwide Gross $17,400,000
A Most Violent Year (2014): Budget $20,000,000, Worldwide Gross $12,007,070

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

Capitalism A Love Story Box Office Performance

"Capitalism A Love Story" earned $14,363,397 domestically and $17,436,509 worldwide at the box office. Against a production budget of $20,000,000, 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 "Capitalism A Love Story," that break-even threshold was roughly $40,000,000. With worldwide earnings of $17,436,509, the film did not reach break-even in theatrical release.

Production Budget: $20,000,000
Worldwide Gross: $17,436,509
Net Return: −$2,563,491
ROI: approximately -12.8%

At -12.8%, "Capitalism A Love Story" did not recoup its production budget through theatrical release alone.

Awards and Recognition

4 wins & 15 nominations total

Critical Reception

Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 74% based on 186 reviews, with an average score of 6.71 out of 10. The site's critics' consensus reads: "Love him or hate him, Capitalism captures Michael Moore in his muckraking element, with all the Moore-centric showmanship that entails." Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to mainstream critics' reviews, reported an average score of 61 out of 100 based on 35 reviews, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.