Saturday Night Budget

What is the budget of Saturday Night?

"Saturday Night," a comedy released in 2024, was directed by Jason Reitman and stars Gabriel LaBelle, Rachel Sennott. The production budget was $25,000,000, placing it in the mid-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.
• Casting: In January 2024, Gabriel LaBelle was cast to portray Lorne Michaels, in his second major leading role following his performance as Sammy Fabelman in Steven Spielberg's The Fabelmans (2022), with Cooper Hoffman, Rachel Sennott, Ella Hunt, Emily Fairn, Kim Matula, Lamorne Morris, Dylan O'Brien, Cory Michael Smith, and Matt Wood cast as Dick Ebersol, Rosie Shuster, Gilda Radner, Laraine Newman, Jane Curtin, Garrett Morris, Dan Aykroyd, Chevy Chase, and John Belushi respectively.

What were the major cost factors in Saturday Night?

Several factors contributed to the overall production costs of "Saturday Night."

• 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 Saturday Night's Budget Compare to Similar Films?

At $25,000,000, Saturday Night sits in the mid-budget range. Here is how it compares to productions with a similar budget:

• 1408 (2007): Budget $25,000,000, Worldwide Gross $133,000,000
• A Journal for Jordan (2021): Budget $25,000,000, Worldwide Gross $6,700,000
• Abandon (2002): Budget $25,000,000, Worldwide Gross $10,719,357
• All My Life (2020): Budget $25,000,000, Worldwide Gross $2,000,000
• August Rush (2007): Budget $25,000,000, Worldwide Gross $66,122,026

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

Saturday Night Box Office Performance

"Saturday Night" earned $9,511,315 domestically and $10,055,029 worldwide at the box office. Against a production budget of $25,000,000, 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 "Saturday Night," that break-even threshold was roughly $50,000,000. With worldwide earnings of $10,055,029, the film did not reach break-even in theatrical release.

• Production Budget: $25,000,000
• Worldwide Gross: $10,055,029
• Net Return: −$14,944,971
• ROI: approximately -59.8%

At -59.8%, "Saturday Night" did not recoup its production budget through theatrical release alone.

Saturday Night Production History

In January 2024, Gabriel LaBelle was cast to portray Lorne Michaels, in his second major leading role following his performance as Sammy Fabelman in Steven Spielberg's The Fabelmans (2022), with Cooper Hoffman, Rachel Sennott, Ella Hunt, Emily Fairn, Kim Matula, Lamorne Morris, Dylan O'Brien, Cory Michael Smith, and Matt Wood cast as Dick Ebersol, Rosie Shuster, Gilda Radner, Laraine Newman, Jane Curtin, Garrett Morris, Dan Aykroyd, Chevy Chase, and John Belushi respectively. Nicholas Braun, Tommy Dewey, and Nicholas Podany were added in March to portray Jim Henson, Michael O'Donoghue, and Billy Crystal respectively. Additionally, Braun ended up cast to play Andy Kaufman as well.

Principal photography began in March 2024 in Atlanta and Fayetteville, Georgia, as locations, under the working title Wolverines, a reference to the very first sketch ever performed on the series. Scenes were shot outside of Rockefeller Plaza on the weekend of March 9 to 10. Filming had concluded by May.

Awards and Recognition

10 wins & 43 nominations total

Critical Reception

Benjamin Lee of The Guardian gave the film one out of five stars, calling the film an "unfunny misfire" and a "dull and self-indulgent mess". David Ehrlich from IndieWire stated that the film "has a lot of business in lieu of a story, and there's so much going on that it quickly starts to feel like nothing".