Production Budget Analysis

What was the production budget for Roma?

Directed by Alfonso Cuarón, with Yalitza Aparicio, Marina de Tavira, Diego Cortina Autrey leading the cast, Roma was produced by Participant with a confirmed budget of $15,000,000, placing it in the low-budget category for drama films.

At $15,000,000, Roma was produced on a modest budget. Lower-budget films benefit from reduced break-even thresholds, with profitability achievable at approximately $37,500,000.

Budget Comparison — Similar Productions

• A Dangerous Method (2011): Budget $15,000,000 | Gross $27,462,041 → ROI: 83% • Ben-Hur (1959): Budget $15,000,000 | Gross $164,000,000 → ROI: 993% • Land of the Dead (2005): Budget $15,000,000 | Gross $47,074,133 → ROI: 214% • Into the Wild (2007): Budget $15,000,000 | Gross $56,255,142 → ROI: 275% • King's Ransom (2005): Budget $15,000,000 | Gross $4,139,856 → ROI: -72%

Key Budget Allocation Categories

▸ Above-the-Line Talent Drama films live or die on the strength of their performances. Securing award-caliber actors and experienced directors represents the single largest budget line item, often consuming 30–40% of the total production budget.

▸ Location Filming & Period Production Design Authentic locations — whether contemporary or historical — require scouting, permits, travel, lodging, and often significant dressing to match the story's time period. Period dramas add the cost of era-accurate props, vehicles, and set decoration.

▸ Post-Production, Color Grading & Score The editorial process for dramas is typically longer than genre films, with careful attention to pacing and tone. Color grading, a nuanced musical score, and detailed sound mixing are critical to achieving the emotional resonance that defines the genre.

Key Production Personnel

CAST: Yalitza Aparicio, Marina de Tavira, Diego Cortina Autrey, Carlos Peralta, Marco Graf Key roles: Yalitza Aparicio as Cleo Gutiérrez; Marina de Tavira as Sofía; Diego Cortina Autrey as Toño; Carlos Peralta as Paco

DIRECTOR: Alfonso Cuarón CINEMATOGRAPHY: Alfonso Cuarón EDITING: Alfonso Cuarón, Adam Gough PRODUCTION: Participant, Esperanto Filmoj FILMED IN: United Kingdom, United States of America

Box Office Performance

Roma earned $1,140,769 in worldwide box office revenue.

Break-Even Analysis

Using the industry-standard 2.5x multiplier (P&A + exhibitor shares of 40–50% + distribution fees), Roma needed approximately $37,500,000 to break even. The film fell $36,359,231 short in theatrical revenue. Ancillary streams (home media, streaming, TV) may have bridged the gap.

Return on Investment (ROI)

Revenue: $1,140,769 Budget: $15,000,000 Net: $-13,859,231 ROI: -92.4%

Profitability Assessment

VERDICT: Unprofitable (Theatrical)

Roma earned $1,140,769 against a $15,000,000 budget (-92% ROI), falling short of theatrical profitability. Ancillary revenue may have reduced the deficit.

INDUSTRY IMPACT

The underperformance may have increased risk aversion around low-budget drama productions.

PRODUCTION NOTES

▸ Production

On 8 September 2016, it was announced that Alfonso Cuarón would write and direct a project focusing on a Mexican family living in Mexico City in the 1970s. Production was set to begin in fall 2016 by his production company, Esperanto Filmoj, and Participant Media. The film was produced by Cuarón, Gabriela Rodríguez, and Nicolás Celis. Filming took place from 27 November 2016 to 14 March 2017. Cuarón said he "just wrote the script without looking back. I started page one, I finish it, I never read it again as a whole. I never share it with anyone."

Roma was shot in sequence, which Yalitza Aparicio, who plays Cleo, said helped her. She was most terrified by the scene on the beach, as she—like her character—could not swim. Before being cast, Aparicio, who had recently completed graduate training in preschool education, had no acting experience or formal training in acting. She has joked that the only "acting" she has ever done was lying to her parents and teachers.

Filming took place on location throughout Mexico City, as Cuarón felt shooting on soundstages would be difficult for first-time actors. The movie theatre serving as a recurring location was the Teatro Metropólitan, the site of the 2001 premiere of Y tu mamá también

AWARDS & RECOGNITION

Summary: Won 3 Oscars. 255 wins & 229 nominations total

Awards Won: ★ San Francisco Film Critics Circle Award for Best Film ★ APRECI Award for Best International Premiere ★ Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (91st Academy Awards) ★ Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Cinematography ★ Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Director ★ BAFTA Award for Best Film ★ National Board of Review: Top Ten Films ★ Academy Award for Best Director — Alfonso Cuarón (91st Academy Awards) ★ New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Film ★ Golden Lion ★ Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Film ★ BIFA for Best Foreign Independent Film

Nominations: ○ Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay ○ Academy Award for Best Cinematography (91st Academy Awards) ○ Golden Globe Award for Best Director ○ Academy Award for Best Picture (91st Academy Awards) ○ Golden Globe Award for Best Non-English Language Film ○ International Submission to the Academy Awards

Additional Recognition: Roma won the Golden Lion for Best Film at the Venice International Film Festival. At the Toronto International Film Festival, it was named second runner-up for the People's Choice Award.

The film received 10 nominations for the 91st Academy Awards, including Best Picture—tying with The Favourite as the most-nominated film. It is the first film distributed primarily by a streaming service to be nominated for Best Picture. It was tied with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) for the most Oscar nominations received by a film not in English until Emilia Pérez, in French, received 13 in 2025. It won three Academy Awards, including Best Foreign Language Film, becoming the first Mexican film to win this honor.

Roma received American Film Institute's 2018 AFI Special Award, as it was not eligible for AFI Movies of the Year due to its non-U.S. status. Time magazine and the New York Film Critics Circle named it the best film of 2018, and the National Board of Review named it one of the ten best films of 2018.

The February 2020 issue of New York lists Roma as one of the Best Movies That Lost Best Picture at the Oscars. In 2021, members of Writers Guild of America West (WGAW) and Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) voted its screenplay 62nd in WGA’s 101 Greatest Screenplays of the 21st Century (So Far).

CRITICAL RECEPTION

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, Roma holds an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The website's critical consensus reads, "Roma finds writer-director Alfonso Cuarón in complete, enthralling command of his visual craft—and telling the most powerfully personal story of his career." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 96 out of 100, based on 50 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". It is the 56th highest-rated film of all time on the site, and the best-reviewed of 2018.

In The Guardian, Peter Bradshaw wrote: "Roma is thrilling, engrossing, moving—and just entirely amazing, an adjectival pileup of wonder. He has reached back into his own childhood to create an intensely personal story." Manohla Dargis of The New York Times called the film "an expansive, emotional portrait of life buffeted by violent forces, and a masterpiece" and praised Cuarón's use of "intimacy and monumentality to express the depths of ordinary life".