Production Budget Analysis

What was the production budget for Slice?

Directed by Austin Vesely, with Chance the Rapper, Zazie Beetz, Katherine Cunningham leading the cast, Slice was produced by N2ition Cinema with a confirmed budget of $1,000,000, placing it in the micro-budget category for comedy films.

At $1,000,000, Slice was produced on a lean budget. Lower-budget films benefit from reduced break-even thresholds, with profitability achievable at approximately $2,500,000.

Budget Comparison — Similar Productions

• Gone in 60 Seconds (1974): Budget $1,000,000 | Gross $40,000,000 → ROI: 3900% • A Woman Under the Influence (1974): Budget $1,000,000 | Gross $12,200,000 → ROI: 1120% • Rear Window (1954): Budget $1,000,000 | Gross $37,042,336 → ROI: 3604% • How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies (2024): Budget $1,000,000 | Gross $73,800,000 → ROI: 7280% • Raise the Red Lantern (1991): Budget $1,000,000 | Gross $16,600,000 → ROI: 1560%

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: Chance the Rapper, Zazie Beetz, Katherine Cunningham, Will Brill, Rae Gray Key roles: Chance the Rapper as Dax Lycander; Zazie Beetz as Astrid; Katherine Cunningham as Heather; Will Brill as Bradley

DIRECTOR: Austin Vesely CINEMATOGRAPHY: Brandon Riley MUSIC: Ludwig Göransson, Nathan Matthew David EDITING: Jacob Craycroft, Arielle Sherman PRODUCTION: N2ition Cinema, Frëhand FILMED IN: United States of America

Box Office Performance

Theatrical box office data is not publicly available for Slice (2018). This may indicate a limited release, direct-to-streaming, or a release predating modern box office tracking.

Profitability Assessment

Insufficient publicly available data to assess profitability.

INDUSTRY IMPACT

PRODUCTION NOTES

▸ Production

In July 2015, it was announced Chance the Rapper had been cast in the film, with Austin Vesely directing from a screenplay he wrote. In October 2016, it was announced A24 would distribute the film. It was later revealed Zazie Beetz, Joe Keery, and Paul Scheer had joined the cast of the film.

Principal photography began on August 20, 2016, in Joliet, Illinois.

▸ Marketing & Release

On October 31, 2017, a teaser trailer was released, confirming a 2018 release. On August 6, 2018, a teaser poster parodying the logo of pizza chain Little Caesars was revealed. This was followed by a Domino's Pizza-themed teaser poster released on August 9, as well as a Pizza Hut-themed poster released on August 15. An official trailer for the film was uploaded to YouTube on August 21, 2018.