Pearl Budget

What is the budget of Pearl?

"Pearl," a horror released in 2022, was directed by Ti West and stars Mia Goth, David Corenswet. The production budget was $1,000,000, placing it in the micro-budget range for horror productions of its era.

Key Budget Allocation Categories

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

• Practical Effects, Prosthetics & Makeup: Horror productions invest disproportionately in practical effects , prosthetic applications, animatronics, blood and gore effects, and creature suits. A single hero creature suit can cost $50,000 to 200,000.
• Atmospheric Production Design & Cinematography: Creating dread through environment is essential. Abandoned locations must be secured and dressed, lighting rigs designed for shadow and tension, and sets built to enable specific camera movements and reveals.
• Sound Design & Score: Horror is arguably the most sound-dependent genre. Foley work, ambient textures, frequency manipulation, and jump-scare stingers require specialized sound designers working with unconventional techniques.
• Casting: Mia Goth reprises her role as a younger version of Pearl, the elderly woman from the first film.

What were the major cost factors in Pearl?

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

• Practical Effects: Practical Effects, Prosthetics & Makeup is one of the primary cost drivers in horror productions of this scale.
• Atmospheric Production Design: Atmospheric Production Design & Cinematography is one of the primary cost drivers in horror productions of this scale.
• Sound Design: Sound Design & Score is one of the primary cost drivers in horror productions of this scale.

How Does Pearl's Budget Compare to Similar Films?

At $1,000,000, Pearl sits in the micro-budget range. Here is how it compares to productions with a similar budget:

• Gone in 60 Seconds (1974): Budget $1,000,000, Worldwide Gross $40,000,000
• A Woman Under the Influence (1974): Budget $1,000,000, Worldwide Gross $12,200,000
• Rear Window (1954): Budget $1,000,000, Worldwide Gross $37,042,336
• How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies (2024): Budget $1,000,000, Worldwide Gross $73,800,000
• Raise the Red Lantern (1991): Budget $1,000,000, Worldwide Gross $16,600,000

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

Pearl Box Office Performance

"Pearl" earned $9,423,445 domestically and $10,139,416 worldwide at the box office. Against a production budget of $1,000,000, 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 "Pearl," that break-even threshold was roughly $2,000,000. With worldwide earnings of $10,139,416, the film cleared that threshold comfortably.

• Production Budget: $1,000,000
• Worldwide Gross: $10,139,416
• Net Return: $9,139,416
• ROI: approximately 913.9%

At 913.9%, "Pearl" earned roughly $10.14 for every $1 invested in production.

Pearl Production History

Mia Goth reprises her role as a younger version of Pearl, the elderly woman from the first film.

Principal photography was revealed to have begun in secret immediately following the completed photography on X. Filming started in New Zealand, took place back-to-back with the first movie and used the same sets that were built for X. West worked with the production crew of Avatar: The Way of Water (2022), who were taking a break from production on that film at the time.

The film score was released through A24 Music on September 23, 2022. Bates and Williams shared a liking of film scores from the classical Hollywood cinema mostly from Bernard Herrmann, John Barry, Henry Mancini, Ennio Morricone and Maurice Jarre. In contrast to X, the duo wanted to produce a stylistically classical approach from that period, so that people could conceive it as a classic film over a slasher-horror film.

Awards and Recognition

19 wins & 63 nominations total

• Sitges Film Festival Best Director award
• Saturn Award for Best Independent Film
• Sitges Film Festival Best Actress award

Critical Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 92% based on 211 reviews, with an average rating of 7.8/10. The site's consensus states: "Pearl finds Ti West squeezing fresh gore out of the world he created with X , and once again benefiting from a brilliant Mia Goth performance." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 76 out of 100 based on reviews from 39 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".