What is the budget of The Art of Self-Defense?

"The Art of Self-Defense," a comedy released in 2019, was directed by Riley Stearns and stars Jesse Eisenberg, Alessandro Nivola. The production budget was $1,800,000, placing it in the micro-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.

What were the major cost factors in The Art of Self-Defense?

Several factors contributed to the overall production costs of "The Art of Self-Defense."

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 The Art of Self-Defense's Budget Compare to Similar Films?

At $1,800,000, The Art of Self-Defense sits in the micro-budget range. Here is how it compares to productions with a similar budget:

Dog Day Afternoon (1975): Budget $1,800,000, Worldwide Gross $56,665,856
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964): Budget $1,800,000 , Gross $9,500,000
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984): Budget $1,800,000, Worldwide Gross $57,004,513
Carrie (1976): Budget $1,800,000, Worldwide Gross $33,800,000
Bone Tomahawk (2015): Budget $1,800,000, Worldwide Gross $475,846

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

The Art of Self-Defense Box Office Performance

"The Art of Self-Defense" earned $2,410,914 domestically and $2,400,000 worldwide at the box office. Against a production budget of $1,800,000, the film showed modest profitability in theatrical release.

A film typically needs to earn approximately twice its production budget to cover marketing and distribution costs. For "The Art of Self-Defense," that break-even threshold was roughly $3,600,000. With worldwide earnings of $2,400,000, the film fell short of that threshold but recouped its production costs in theatrical release.

Production Budget: $1,800,000
Worldwide Gross: $2,400,000
Net Return: $600,000
ROI: approximately 33.3%

At 33.3%, "The Art of Self-Defense" returned its production investment but margin was tight after marketing and distribution costs.