Production Budget Analysis

What was the production budget for Love, Simon?

Directed by Greg Berlanti, with Nick Robinson, Jennifer Garner, Josh Duhamel leading the cast, Love, Simon was produced by Temple Hill Entertainment with a confirmed budget of $17,000,000, placing it in the low-budget category for comedy films.

At $17,000,000, Love, Simon was produced on a modest budget. Lower-budget films benefit from reduced break-even thresholds, with profitability achievable at approximately $42,500,000.

Budget Comparison — Similar Productions

• Away We Go (2009): Budget $17,000,000 | Gross $15,779,455 → ROI: -7% • Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo (1999): Budget $17,000,000 | Gross $92,938,755 → ROI: 447% • Jeepers Creepers 2 (2003): Budget $17,000,000 | Gross $63,102,666 → ROI: 271% • Love the Coopers (2015): Budget $17,000,000 | Gross $42,426,912 → ROI: 150% • Mean Girls (2004): Budget $17,000,000 | Gross $130,195,052 → ROI: 666%

Key Budget Allocation Categories

▸ Talent Salaries & Producing Deals Established comedic talent can command $15–20 million per film, with top-tier stars earning even more through producing credits and backend deals. Comedy ensembles multiply this cost across several well-known performers.

▸ 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. Studios typically spend 50–100% of the production budget on marketing, with comedy trailers and social media campaigns being particularly expensive.

Key Production Personnel

CAST: Nick Robinson, Jennifer Garner, Josh Duhamel, Katherine Langford, Alexandra Shipp Key roles: Nick Robinson as Simon; Jennifer Garner as Emily; Josh Duhamel as Jack; Katherine Langford as Leah

DIRECTOR: Greg Berlanti CINEMATOGRAPHY: John Guleserian MUSIC: Rob Simonsen EDITING: Harry Jierjian PRODUCTION: Temple Hill Entertainment, Fox 2000 Pictures, New Leaf Literary & Media, 20th Century Fox, Twisted Media FILMED IN: United States of America

Box Office Performance

Love, Simon earned $40,826,341 domestically and $25,489,948 internationally, for a worldwide total of $66,316,289. The film skewed heavily domestic (62%), suggesting strong North American appeal.

Break-Even Analysis

Using the industry-standard 2.5x multiplier (P&A + exhibitor shares of 40–50% + distribution fees), Love, Simon needed approximately $42,500,000 to break even. The film surpassed this threshold by $23,816,289.

Return on Investment (ROI)

Revenue: $66,316,289 Budget: $17,000,000 Net: $49,316,289 ROI: 290.1%

Profitability Assessment

VERDICT: Profitable

Love, Simon delivered a solid return, earning $66,316,289 worldwide on a $17,000,000 budget (290% ROI). Combined with ancillary revenue, the film was a financial positive for Temple Hill Entertainment.

INDUSTRY IMPACT

The outsized success of Love, Simon likely influenced studio greenlight decisions for similar comedy projects.

PRODUCTION NOTES

▸ Music & Score

Love, Simon (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) was released by RCA Records and Sony Music Entertainment, on March 16, 2018. It featured music by several artists including Bleachers, Troye Sivan, Amy Shark, Brenton Wood, The 1975, Normani and Khalid, among others. #3 on Billboard Top Soundtracks chart, and at #24 in Billboard Canadian Albums chart for the week beginning with March 31, 2018, while also featured at #161 on Billboard 200 year-ender chart.

Rob Simonsen's original score for the film was distributed by Lakeshore Records as Love, Simon (Original Motion Picture Score) and released alongside the soundtrack album.

AWARDS & RECOGNITION

Summary: 9 wins & 30 nominations total

! scope="row" | Human Rights Campaign

! rowspan="4" scope="row" | Golden Trailer Awards

! scope="row" |Maui Film Festival

! rowspan="2" scope="row" |MTV Movie & TV Awards

! rowspan="4" scope="row" |Teen Choice Awards

! rowspan="3" scope="row" |People's Choice Awards

! scope="row" |Black Reel Awards

! scope="row" |Humanitas Prize

! rowspan="2" scope="row" |Satellite Awards

! scope="row" | GLAAD Media Award

CRITICAL RECEPTION

On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of , based on reviews, with an average rating of , and the critical consensus states that "Love, Simon hits its coming-of-age beats more deftly than many entries in this well-traveled genre – and represents an overdue, if not entirely successful, milestone of inclusion". On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 72 out of 100, based on 38 critics, which indicates "generally favorable" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of A+ on an A+ to F scale, which makes it one of fewer than 90 films in the history of the service to earn such a score. Pete Hammond of Deadline Hollywood also gave the film four out of five stars and stated that audiences are "guaranteed to fall in love with this sweet, funny coming-of-age film, a feel-good-about-yourself movie full of universal truths that just might surprise you".

Molly Freeman of Screen Rant also gave the film four out of five stars or an Excellent rating and stated that it is a "funny, heartfelt, and truly touching teen romantic comedy that instantly becomes a modern classic for today's generation". Josh Winning of GamesRadar+ also gave the film four out five stars and described it as a "warm, sensitive and engaging coming-out-of-ager" and "one of the freshest teen-coms in ages".

Sandy Cohen of the Associated Press gave the film three and a half out of four stars and stated that the film treated the story of its protagonist with the "tender, timeless, Hollywood touch of John Hughes".

Bruce Demara of the Toronto Star also gave the film three and a half out of four stars and wrote, "The casting is high quality, the script – with a tantalizing mystery at its heart – is particularly well-crafted and the story hits all the right emotional notes in delivering a funny, warm-hearted and life-affirming tale".