The Sting Budget

What is the budget of The Sting?

"The Sting," a comedy released in 1973, was directed by George Roy Hill and stars Paul Newman, Robert Redford. The production budget was $5,500,000, placing it in the low-budget range for comedy productions of the 1970s.

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.
• Writing: Screenwriter David S.

What were the major cost factors in The Sting?

Several factors contributed to the overall production costs of "The Sting."

• 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 Sting's Budget Compare to Similar Films?

At $5,500,000, The Sting sits in the low-budget range. Here is how it compares to productions with a similar budget:

• Show Dogs (2018): Budget $5,500,000, Worldwide Gross $38,830,219
• 47 Meters Down (2017): Budget $5,500,000, Worldwide Gross $62,198,461
• Akira (1988): Budget $5,700,000, Worldwide Gross $49,000,000
• Metropolis (1927): Budget $5,300,000, Worldwide Gross $1,350,322
• Riders of Justice (2020): Budget $5,300,000, Worldwide Gross $679,505

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

The Sting Box Office Performance

"The Sting" earned $156,000,000 domestically and $159,616,327 worldwide at the box office. Against a production budget of $5,500,000, the film performed strongly at the box office.

A film typically needs to earn approximately twice its production budget to cover marketing and distribution costs. For "The Sting," that break-even threshold was roughly $11,000,000. With worldwide earnings of $159,616,327, the film cleared that threshold comfortably.

• Production Budget: $5,500,000
• Worldwide Gross: $159,616,327
• Net Return: $154,116,327
• ROI: approximately 2802.1%

At 2802.1%, "The Sting" earned roughly $29.02 for every $1 invested in production.

The Sting Production History

Screenwriter David S. Ward has said in an interview that he was inspired to write The Sting while researching pickpockets: "Since I had never seen a film about a confidence man before, I said I gotta do this." Daniel Eagan said: "One key to plots about con men is that film goers want to feel they are in on the trick. They don't have to know how a scheme works, and they don't mind a twist or two, but it's important for the story to feature clearly recognizable 'good' and 'bad' characters." It took Ward a year to fine-tune this aspect of the script and to determine how much information he could withhold from the audience while still making the leads sympathetic.

Jack Nicholson was offered the lead role but declined it. He later said "I had enough business acumen to know The Sting was going to be a huge hit, [but] at the same time Chinatown and The Last Detail were more interesting films to me." Newman signed on to the film after the producers agreed to give him top billing, $500,000, and a percentage of the profits. His previous five films had been box-office disappointments.

Hill wanted the film to be reminiscent of movies from the 1930s and drew inspiration from films of that decade. He noticed that most '30s gangster films had no extras. "For instance", Andrew Horton's book The Films of George Roy Hill quotes Hill as saying, "no extras would be used in street scenes in those films: Jimmy Cagney would be shot down and die in an empty street.

Awards and Recognition

Won 7 Oscars. 18 wins & 6 nominations total

• Academy Award for Best Costume Design: Edith Head (46th Academy Awards)
• Academy Award for Best Writing, Original Screenplay: David S. Ward (46th Academy Awards)
• Academy Award for Best Picture: Tony Bill (46th Academy Awards)
• Academy Award for Best Picture: Julia Phillips (46th Academy Awards)
• Academy Award for Best Picture: Michael Phillips (46th Academy Awards)
• National Board of Review Award for Best Film
• Academy Award for Best Director: George Roy Hill (46th Academy Awards)
• Academy Award for Best Production Design: Henry Bumstead (46th Academy Awards)

Critical Reception

Roger Ebert gave the film four out of four stars and called it "one of the most stylish movies of the year". Gene Siskel awarded three-and-a-half stars out of four, calling it "a movie movie that has obviously been made with loving care each and every step of the way." Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote that the film was "so good-natured, so obviously aware of everything it's up to, even its own picturesque frauds, that I opt to go along with it.