The Last Days of American Crime Budget

What Is the Budget of The Last Days of American Crime (2020)?

The Last Days of American Crime (2020), directed by Olivier Megaton and released by Netflix, was produced on an undisclosed budget that industry estimates place in the $30,000,000 to $40,000,000 range based on the South African location shoot, the practical action stunts, and the size of the production package shopped to the streamer. Radical Studios, EuropaCorp, and Mandeville Films co-developed the project across nearly a decade before Netflix acquired worldwide rights. As with all Netflix originals, no official figure has been published.

The film began as an adaptation of Rick Remender and Greg Tocchini's 2009 Image Comics graphic novel of the same name. Sam Worthington was attached to star as far back as 2011, with Sergei Bodrov, F. Gary Gray, and Gerard McMurray all circling the director's chair across various development cycles. Netflix's acquisition in 2019 brought the project to the finish line at a price point well below what a theatrical release through EuropaCorp would have required.

Key Budget Allocation Categories

The estimated budget was distributed across these production areas:

• Above-the-Line Talent. Edgar Ramirez (Carlos, Hands of Stone) led the cast, with Anna Brewster, Michael Pitt, Sharlto Copley, and Patrick Bergin in supporting roles. Olivier Megaton (Taken 2, Taken 3, Transporter 3) commanded an action-director fee carried over from the EuropaCorp era of his career.
• South African Production. Principal photography took place in Cape Town in 2018 using South African crews, soundstages, and the Western Cape's film tax incentive program. The Cape Town shoot included exterior street action, warehouse-based heist sequences, and the climactic government broadcast facility set build.
• Stunts and Action. A multi-week stunt rehearsal block produced the film's vehicular chases, armed gunfights, and the lengthy bank-vault setpiece. Practical squib effects, blank-fire weapons, and stunt-driver coordination accounted for a meaningful slice of the line items.
• Visual Effects. CG work covered the API broadcast visualization, helicopter compositing, and digital crowd extensions for the riot sequences. Multiple South African vendors handled the bulk of the shot count, with select complex shots delivered by European houses.
• Production Design. The film's near-future America aesthetic required custom signage, dystopian set dressing, and the redress of Cape Town locations to convey a recognizable but degraded American urban landscape. Vehicle picture cars and the bank-vault hero set were built specifically for the production.
• Post-Production. A long post window between the 2018 wrap and the May 2020 streaming release reflected the film's troubled finishing process, including reshoots and an extended editorial pass. The runtime of two hours and thirty minutes is unusually long for the genre and grew the post-production line items accordingly.

How Does The Last Days of American Crime's Budget Compare to Similar Films?

At an estimated $30,000,000 to $40,000,000, The Last Days of American Crime sits in the middle range of Netflix original action films from 2019 to 2021:

• Extraction (2020): Budget $65,000,000 | Worldwide N/A (Netflix release). The Russo-produced Chris Hemsworth vehicle launched the same year and reportedly drew 99 million households in its first four weeks, demonstrating what Netflix's top tier of action production looks like in budget and engagement.
• 6 Underground (2019): Budget $150,000,000 | Worldwide N/A (Netflix release). Michael Bay's Ryan Reynolds-led action film cost roughly four times The Last Days of American Crime and represented the streamer's outer limit for star-driven set-piece spectacle.
• Triple Frontier (2019): Budget $115,000,000 | Worldwide N/A (Netflix release). J.C. Chandor's heist film cost roughly three times as much and earned the kind of critical reception The Last Days of American Crime failed to deliver, illustrating the gap between Netflix's prestige and disposable action tiers.
• Den of Thieves (2018): Budget $30,000,000 | Worldwide $80,455,994. Christian Gudegast's LA bank heist film cost about the same as The Last Days of American Crime and earned 2.7x its budget theatrically, showing what a competently executed heist picture can do with a wide release.

The Last Days of American Crime Box Office Performance

The Last Days of American Crime did not receive a theatrical release. Netflix dropped the film globally on May 22, 2020, during the pandemic-related shutdown of US theaters. The streamer does not publish per-title revenue.

Against an estimated $30,000,000 to $40,000,000 production cost, the financial breakdown is opaque by the structure of the deal:

• Production Budget: estimated $30,000,000 to $40,000,000
• Estimated Prints & Advertising (P&A): approximately $10,000,000 to $20,000,000 (streaming launch only)
• Total Estimated Investment: approximately $40,000,000 to $60,000,000
• Worldwide Gross: not publicly reported (Netflix exclusive)
• Net Return: not reported (streaming subscriber value model)
• ROI: not reported

Netflix's public top-ten lists showed The Last Days of American Crime ranking number one on the daily US chart for several days after launch despite the catastrophic critical reception. The film's long runtime, action genre, and pandemic-era release calendar combined to drive raw viewership metrics that decoupled entirely from quality signals.

The financial outcome by traditional measures cannot be calculated. EuropaCorp's pre-Netflix theatrical plan would have required clearing roughly $80,000,000 to $100,000,000 worldwide to recoup the production and marketing spend, a threshold the film almost certainly would not have hit given the reviews. The Netflix sale converted what would have been a likely theatrical disaster into a closed-book streaming exclusive.

The Last Days of American Crime Production History

Development began at Radical Studios in 2010 after the publication of Rick Remender and Greg Tocchini's graphic novel. Sam Worthington was the first lead attached, with Sergei Bodrov directing, in a 2011 announcement that did not progress past development. F. Gary Gray was attached as director in 2014 before departing for Straight Outta Compton. Gerard McMurray (Burning Sands) circled the project in 2017 before Olivier Megaton came aboard in 2018.

Principal photography took place across Cape Town, South Africa, from June to September 2018, with EuropaCorp providing finance and overseeing post-production. South Africa's Department of Trade and Industry film and television production incentive provided a 20% rebate on local spend with an additional 5% available for productions employing post-production locally.

EuropaCorp's financial distress in 2019, including the Chapter 11 filing of its US subsidiary, accelerated the sale of completed titles to streaming platforms. Netflix acquired worldwide rights to The Last Days of American Crime in mid-2019, with the streamer financing additional editorial work and minor reshoots before locking the final cut. The 149-minute runtime was a contentious point in the finishing process, with multiple shorter cuts reportedly produced before Megaton and the studio settled on the released version.

The May 2020 release date placed the film into a peak pandemic streaming window, when Netflix's daily active subscriber count was at an all-time high and competition from theatrical releases was nonexistent. The strategic calculus paid off in raw viewership while delivering one of the most savaged critical receptions in Netflix history.

Awards and Recognition

The Last Days of American Crime received no awards recognition of any kind. The film was not nominated at any festival or industry ceremony. It earned a Golden Raspberry nomination for Worst Picture and Worst Director at the 41st Razzie Awards in March 2021, losing in both categories to Absolute Proof. The Razzie nomination was the film's only recognition from any awarding body.

Industry retrospectives have repeatedly cited the film as a case study in how streaming distribution can salvage commercial value from a project that would have failed disastrously in theaters. The film does not appear on any best-of lists for 2020.

Critical Reception

The Last Days of American Crime received catastrophic reviews. The film holds a 0% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 38 critic reviews, making it one of the platform's most universally negative releases of 2020. On Metacritic, the film scored 11 out of 100, indicating overwhelming dislike. The film does not have a CinemaScore because it did not receive a theatrical release.

Critics attacked the film's 149-minute runtime, the muddled near-future premise, the directorial style, and the action choreography. The Hollywood Reporter's David Rooney called it "a bloated, incoherent disaster" and "two and a half hours of bombast in search of a story." The Guardian's Benjamin Lee wrote that the film "has no idea what it is, what it wants to say, or why it is two and a half hours long," giving it one star out of five.

IndieWire's David Ehrlich offered the most quoted assessment, writing "you will not see a worse film this year, or possibly this decade." Variety's Owen Gleiberman called it "an exhausting, charmless slog with no redeeming values," and the Rotten Tomatoes critical consensus dismissed it as "a confusing, plodding, and altogether unpleasant slog." Audience response was scarcely warmer, with the film holding a 19% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes and earning a place on multiple year-end worst-of lists.