Suspiria Budget

What is the budget of Suspiria?

"Suspiria," a horror released in 2018, was directed by Luca Guadagnino and stars Dakota Johnson, Tilda Swinton. The production budget was $20,000,000, placing it in the mid-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: On November 23, 2015, Guadagnino confirmed that Tilda Swinton and Dakota Johnson had been cast in the film and that shooting was scheduled to begin in August 2016, with release set for 2017.

What were the major cost factors in Suspiria?

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

• 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 Suspiria's Budget Compare to Similar Films?

At $20,000,000, Suspiria sits in the mid-budget range. Here is how it compares to productions with a similar budget:

• 12 Years a Slave (2013): Budget $20,000,000, Worldwide Gross $187,000,000
• 21 Grams (2003): Budget $20,000,000, Worldwide Gross $60,427,839
• 3 Ninjas Kick Back (1994): Budget $20,000,000, Worldwide Gross $11,798,854
• A Guy Thing (2003): Budget $20,000,000, Worldwide Gross $17,400,000
• A Most Violent Year (2014): Budget $20,000,000, Worldwide Gross $12,007,070

The median budget for wide-release horror films in the 2010s ranges from $30 to 80M for mid-budget to $150M+ for tentpoles.

Suspiria Box Office Performance

"Suspiria" earned $2,483,472 domestically and $7,953,089 worldwide at the box office. Against a production budget of $20,000,000, 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 "Suspiria," that break-even threshold was roughly $40,000,000. With worldwide earnings of $7,953,089, the film did not reach break-even in theatrical release.

• Production Budget: $20,000,000
• Worldwide Gross: $7,953,089
• Net Return: −$12,046,911
• ROI: approximately -60.2%

At -60.2%, "Suspiria" did not recoup its production budget through theatrical release alone.

Suspiria Production History

On November 23, 2015, Guadagnino confirmed that Tilda Swinton and Dakota Johnson had been cast in the film and that shooting was scheduled to begin in August 2016, with release set for 2017. Johnson was asked to play the part of Susie Bannion while filming Guadagnino's A Bigger Splash. After watching the original film, Johnson agreed to commit to the project.

Principal photography began at the Grand Hotel Campo dei Fiori in Varese on October 31, 2016, with a production budget of $20 million. Approximately two weeks were spent in Berlin, during which filming of the street and U-Bahn sequences took place, as well as those occurring at the police station, which was shot in an abandoned office building in Mitte. The hotel, which had been abandoned for several decades, had been adorned with cellular towers on the rooftop; She later expanded on this statement, saying that the filming process "was not traumatic" and instead "the most fun and the most exhilarating and the most joyful that it could be...  [but] when you're working sometimes with dark subject matter, it can stay with you and then to talk to somebody really nice about it afterwards is a really nice way to move on from the project." Harper, who worked on the film for only several days but was present during portions of the shoot, likened the locale to a "haunted house...

Radiohead singer Thom Yorke composed the score, his first feature film soundtrack. It features the London Contemporary Orchestra and Yorke's son Noah on drums. Much of the score was completed prior to the film shoot, giving Guadagnino the opportunity to play it on set during filming.

Critical Reception

The critical responses to Suspiria were strongly polarized upon its release. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone stressed that "polarizing" served as "too tame a word" to describe the reactions to the film. On Metacritic, the film has an average weighted score of 64 out of 100, based on 56 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".