Problemista Budget

What is the budget of Problemista?

"Problemista," a comedy released in 2024, was directed by Julio Torres and stars Julio Torres, Tilda Swinton. The production budget was $12,000,000, 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.
• Production: In July 2021, it was announced that Tilda Swinton would star in the film and Julio Torres would costar in and direct it, from a screenplay he wrote, with A24 set to finance and distribute.

What were the major cost factors in Problemista?

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

• 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 Problemista's Budget Compare to Similar Films?

At $12,000,000, Problemista sits in the low-budget range. Here is how it compares to productions with a similar budget:

• Goon (2012): Budget $12,000,000, Worldwide Gross $6,985,158
• Jobs (2013): Budget $12,000,000, Worldwide Gross $42,100,000
• All That Jazz (1979): Budget $12,000,000, Worldwide Gross $37,823,676
• 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968): Budget $12,000,000 , Gross $71,923,560
• Wolfwalkers (2020): Budget $12,000,000, Worldwide Gross $1,310,720

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

Problemista Box Office Performance

"Problemista" earned $2,503,154 worldwide at the box office. Against a production budget of $12,000,000, 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 "Problemista," that break-even threshold was roughly $24,000,000. With worldwide earnings of $2,503,154, the film did not reach break-even in theatrical release.

• Production Budget: $12,000,000
• Worldwide Gross: $2,503,154
• Net Return: −$9,496,846
• ROI: approximately -79.1%

At -79.1%, "Problemista" did not recoup its production budget through theatrical release alone.

Awards and Recognition

2 wins & 16 nominations total

Critical Reception

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 85% based on 136 reviews. The website's critics consensus reads: "With Problemista, Julio Torres' utterly unique sensibilities prove a perfectly cracked lens through which to find the surreal humor in bleak aspects of the human experience." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 68 out of 100, based on 30 critic reviews, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.