The Starling Budget

What Is the Budget of The Starling (2021)?

The Starling (2021), directed by Theodore Melfi and released by Netflix on September 24, 2021 following a limited theatrical run from Entertainment Studios on September 17, 2021, was produced on a budget that has not been formally disclosed. Industry estimates from The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, and Deadline place the production between $20,000,000 and $25,000,000, a range consistent with a prestige drama featuring Melissa McCarthy, Chris O'Dowd, and Kevin Kline, with location shooting across Atlanta and Georgia.

Compared with Theodore Melfi's prior prestige dramas Hidden Figures ($25,000,000) and St. Vincent ($13,000,000), The Starling operates in the same budget tier, with the bulk of the spend allocated to the three above-the-title leads, the Atlanta-and-Georgia location shoot, and the visual effects work required for the starling's aggressive backyard attacks that drive a portion of the film's structure.

Key Budget Allocation Categories

The Starling's estimated budget was distributed across several core production areas:

• Above-the-Line Talent: Director Theodore Melfi (St. Vincent, Hidden Figures), and leads Melissa McCarthy, Chris O'Dowd, and Kevin Kline anchored the cast. Supporting roles for Daveed Diggs, Skyler Gisondo, Loretta Devine, Timothy Olyphant, and Rosalind Chao filled out the ensemble. The McCarthy-Kline pairing drove the bulk of above-the-line compensation.
• Atlanta and Georgia Location Shoot: Principal photography took place in Atlanta and surrounding Georgia locations, with the production leveraging the Georgia Entertainment Industry Investment Act tax credit (up to 30%). The shoot covered suburban exteriors, the central garden setting where the starling sequences unfold, and various hospital and clinical-care interiors.
• Visual Effects and Bird Sequences: The starling that gives the film its title and that aggressively attacks Melissa McCarthy's character in her garden was created through a combination of trained-bird footage, animatronic puppetry, and digital CG. The bird sequences required extensive on-set coordination and post-production VFX work.
• Production Design: Production designer Vincent Reynaud recreated suburban Atlanta exteriors and a fully designed central garden that serves as the film's emotional centerpiece. The garden's seasonal progression across the running time required scheduled re-dressing and extensive plant-and-greenery preparation.
• Cinematography: Cinematographer Lawrence Sher (Joker, The Hangover trilogy) shot on Arri Alexa Mini cameras with anamorphic lenses, leaning on warm-toned naturalism that supported the dramatic tone. Sher's post-Joker prestige expanded the film's technical profile.
• Score and Music: Composer Benjamin Wallfisch (Blade Runner 2049, IT) delivered an original score blending orchestral textures with intimate piano and string passages that supported the film's grief-drama register. The score work was tonally calibrated to the McCarthy-Kline character development.

How Does The Starling's Budget Compare to Similar Films?

At an estimated $20,000,000 to $25,000,000, The Starling sits in the mid-range of contemporary prestige dramas. The comparison set illustrates how its commercial outcome compares to its budgetary peers:

• Hidden Figures (2016): Budget $25,000,000 | Worldwide $235,900,000. Theodore Melfi's previous prestige drama cost approximately the same as The Starling and earned ten times its budget through a theatrical release. The contrast illustrates the theatrical-versus-streaming distribution gap.
• Tully (2018): Budget $13,000,000 | Worldwide $15,627,540. Diablo Cody's indie drama cost roughly half The Starling and earned a modest theatrical return. Both films deal with grief and parenthood as subject matter.
• The Mauritanian (2021): Budget $25,000,000 | Worldwide $5,961,557. Kevin Macdonald's legal drama cost approximately the same as The Starling and underperformed theatrically. Netflix's direct-to-streaming model bypassed the equivalent risk for The Starling.
• Wonder Park (2019): Budget $80,000,000 | Worldwide $120,800,000. Paramount's animated family film cost roughly four times The Starling, illustrating the upper budget tier of contemporary family-adjacent theatrical work.

The Starling Box Office Performance

The Starling had a limited theatrical release through Entertainment Studios on September 17, 2021 that grossed approximately $35,000 before its global Netflix launch on September 24, 2021. The brief theatrical run was structured primarily to qualify the film for awards consideration. Netflix does not disclose absolute revenue figures for original films, so the financial analysis below is structured around the estimated production investment.

• Production Budget: estimated $20,000,000 to $25,000,000
• Estimated Prints & Advertising (P&A): absorbed by Netflix global marketing
• Total Estimated Investment: estimated $20,000,000 to $25,000,000
• Worldwide Gross: limited theatrical $35,000 plus Netflix streaming (specific viewership not publicly disclosed)
• Net Return: not publicly disclosed
• ROI: estimated profitable for Netflix per platform engagement metrics

The Starling charted on Netflix's top ten in the United States during its September 2021 release window and held positions on the platform's daily film chart for two weeks. The film drew the McCarthy adult-drama audience that the platform targets alongside her comedy work, with engagement metrics reportedly strong per Netflix's internal platform data.

The film served as one of multiple Melissa McCarthy Netflix collaborations across the platform's comedy and drama acquisitions. While critical reception underperformed expectations for a Theodore Melfi prestige drama, the platform engagement justified the streaming-acquisition model that Netflix pursued for the film.

The Starling Production History

Development on The Starling began in 2014 when screenwriter Matt Harris' screenplay (titled at various points "The Starling" and "Lilly and the Starling") landed on the 2005 Black List of best unproduced screenplays. The project went through several years of development at multiple studios before Theodore Melfi attached as director in 2019, on the strength of his Hidden Figures Academy Award nominations. Melissa McCarthy attached as lead in 2019, with Kevin Kline and Chris O'Dowd joining shortly thereafter.

Principal photography ran from October through December 2019 across Georgia, with Atlanta and surrounding Georgia locations standing in for the film's suburban American setting. The Georgia Entertainment Industry Investment Act tax credit (up to 30%) offset a meaningful share of the budget. The shoot covered suburban exteriors, the central garden setting, and various hospital and clinical-care interiors.

Post-production extended through 2020 and into 2021, with editing by Peter Teschner. Composer Benjamin Wallfisch delivered the score in late 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic delayed several planned release windows, with the film originally targeted for a 2020 theatrical release before Netflix acquired global streaming rights and structured the September 2021 launch with a brief qualifying theatrical run through Entertainment Studios.

The film's central premise (a couple processing grief after the loss of a child) drew on screenwriter Matt Harris' personal experience, with the starling that aggressively attacks McCarthy's character in her garden serving as a symbolic counterpoint to the film's grief subject matter. Director Theodore Melfi has discussed in interviews with Variety and Deadline the difficulty of balancing the family-friendly Netflix audience expectations with the grief-drama tonal demands of the source screenplay.

Awards and Recognition

The Starling received limited major-awards recognition. Despite the qualifying theatrical run designed to position the film for the 2021-2022 awards cycle, the film did not register at the Academy Awards, Golden Globes, or BAFTA categories. Netflix's awards campaign focus that cycle concentrated on The Power of the Dog and Don't Look Up, with The Starling receiving limited campaign investment.

The film received favorable industry recognition through the McCarthy-Kline pairing, with both actors appearing in promotional and press circuits throughout the 2021 release window. Kevin Kline's supporting performance received notable critical attention as a return to dramatic work for the actor following several years of lighter-comedy roles.

Critical Reception

The Starling received broadly negative reviews from critics. The film holds a 13% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 132 critic reviews, with a critical consensus that called the film unfocused and tonally inconsistent. On Metacritic, the film scored 26 out of 100, indicating generally unfavorable reviews. Audience scoring on Rotten Tomatoes ran significantly higher at 75%, reflecting positive engagement that diverged sharply from professional film criticism.

Critics praised Melissa McCarthy's lead performance and Kevin Kline's supporting work, but objected to the screenplay's tonal management of grief subject matter, the under-developed starling-attack premise, and the broader structural choices. The Hollywood Reporter's John DeFore called it "a misjudged grief drama that can't reconcile its sentimental impulses with its tougher subject matter," and Variety's Owen Gleiberman wrote that the film "delivers committed performances in service of a screenplay that struggles to find its tonal footing."

Audience reactions on Netflix, Letterboxd, and adult-drama review aggregators ran significantly more positive than critical reception, with viewers praising McCarthy's dramatic performance, the emotional payoffs, and the McCarthy-Kline pairing. The 62-point gap between critic and audience scores on Rotten Tomatoes (13% versus 75%) reflects the divergent reception that has characterized several recent McCarthy prestige-drama projects.