What is the budget of Is This Thing On?

"Is This Thing On," a comedy released in 2025, was directed by Bradley Cooper and stars Will Arnett, Laura Dern. The production budget was $15,000,000, 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.

What were the major cost factors in Is This Thing On?

Several factors contributed to the overall production costs of "Is This Thing On."

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 Is This Thing On's Budget Compare to Similar Films?

At $15,000,000, Is This Thing On sits in the low-budget range. Here is how it compares to productions with a similar budget:

A Dangerous Method (2011): Budget $15,000,000, Worldwide Gross $27,462,041
Ben-Hur (1959): Budget $15,000,000, Worldwide Gross $164,000,000
Land of the Dead (2005): Budget $15,000,000, Worldwide Gross $47,074,133
Into the Wild (2007): Budget $15,000,000, Worldwide Gross $56,255,142
King's Ransom (2005): Budget $15,000,000, Worldwide Gross $4,139,856

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

Is This Thing On Box Office Performance

"Is This Thing On" earned $6,185,385 domestically and $9,885,438 worldwide at the box office. Against a production budget of $15,000,000, 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 "Is This Thing On," that break-even threshold was roughly $30,000,000. With worldwide earnings of $9,885,438, the film did not reach break-even in theatrical release.

Production Budget: $15,000,000
Worldwide Gross: $9,885,438
Net Return: −$5,114,562
ROI: approximately -34.1%

At -34.1%, "Is This Thing On" did not recoup its production budget through theatrical release alone.