Them That Follow Budget

What Is the Budget of Them That Follow (2019)?

Them That Follow (2019), written and directed by Britt Poulton and Dan Madison Savage, was produced on an estimated budget of approximately $4,000,000. The figure was not publicly disclosed by the producers but is consistent with the broader contemporaneous Sundance-acquired specialty-indie tier. The film was produced through Gerard Butler's G-BASE alongside Argent Pictures, Macro, 1inMM, Sleight of Hand, and The Population, with The Orchard handling North American distribution.

At approximately $4,000,000, Them That Follow typified the contemporaneous Sundance-acquired A24-era specialty-indie tier: a recognizable Olivia Colman, Walton Goggins, Alice Englert, Kaitlyn Dever, and Jim Gaffigan ensemble, a contained Appalachian-snake-handling-community location shoot, a deliberate Sundance premiere positioning, and a limited theatrical platform release through The Orchard timed for the August 2019 specialty-cinema window. The production also drew on Gerard Butler's producing pedigree, with G-BASE attached as a development and financing partner.

Key Budget Allocation Categories

Them That Follow's estimated $4,000,000 budget covered a tight specialty-indie allocation:

• Above-the-Line Talent: Olivia Colman, post-The Favourite and pre-The Crown, took the featured supporting role at an indie-favored rate. Walton Goggins (Justified, The Hateful Eight) took the lead supporting role at a recognizable-television rate. Alice Englert took the lead, with Thomas Mann, Lewis Pullman, Kaitlyn Dever, and Jim Gaffigan filling out the supporting ensemble. Co-directors Britt Poulton and Dan Madison Savage took first-feature directing fees alongside their writing compensation.
• Ohio Location Shoot: Principal photography took place across rural Ohio in spring 2018, with the region doubling for the Appalachian snake-handling community at the center of the story. The Ohio Motion Picture Tax Credit program provided substantial refundable credits on qualified Ohio labor and services, anchoring the production's below-the-line economics across the rural shoot.
• Production Design and Faith-Community Detail: Production designer Aaron Cox anchored the film's contained Appalachian Pentecostal community aesthetic across practical rural Ohio exterior locations dressed for the contained narrative timeline. The deliberate naturalistic aesthetic supported the screenplay's anthropological precision, with limited stage builds in favor of practical-location dressing.
• Snake Handling and Specialty Animal Wrangling: The film's centerpiece serpent-handling sequences required specialty animal wranglers, on-set veterinary supervision, and strict safety protocols for the on-screen rattlesnake and copperhead handling. The animal department line item was a notable specialty supplement to the standard indie-drama budget, with multiple wranglers and a designated snake unit supporting the principal photography.
• Costumes and Wardrobe: Costume designer Rebecca Hofherr worked across the film's rural Pentecostal community wardrobe, with character-specific changes that distinguished the conservative church-community register from the broader contemporary Appalachian setting. The contained costume palette reflected the deliberate aesthetic and supported the screenplay's anthropological precision.
• Post-Production and Sundance Delivery: Editing by Robert Grigsby Wilson, sound design, color grading, and the Garth Stevenson original score were completed in New York and Los Angeles across the second half of 2018 and into early 2019. Festival delivery preceded the Sundance Film Festival premiere on January 27, 2019, with The Orchard acquiring North American distribution rights and platforming the title for an August 2, 2019 limited theatrical opening.

How Does Them That Follow's Budget Compare to Similar Films?

At approximately $4,000,000, Them That Follow sits in the contemporaneous Sundance-acquired A24-era specialty-indie tier alongside other comparables:

• The Witch (2015): Budget approximately $4,000,000 | Worldwide $40,423,945. Robert Eggers' Sundance-acquired A24 Puritan period horror operated at an identical budget and earned more than 10 times its production cost worldwide, illustrating the upside ceiling for the genre on a strong specialty-tier theatrical release.
• Hereditary (2018): Budget approximately $10,000,000 | Worldwide $80,201,098. Ari Aster's A24 horror operated at 2.5 times Them That Follow's budget and earned more than 8 times its budget worldwide, illustrating the broader A24-era specialty-tier benchmark.
• The Rider (2017): Budget approximately $100,000 | Worldwide $2,448,374. Chloé Zhao's Sundance-acquired Sony Pictures Classics rural drama operated at one fortieth of Them That Follow's budget on a comparable specialty-tier release model and earned strong critical recognition.
• First Reformed (2017): Budget approximately $3,500,000 | Worldwide $3,773,571. Paul Schrader's Ethan Hawke-led faith-and-environmental drama operated at approximately 90 percent of Them That Follow's budget on a similar specialty-tier release through A24 and earned an Original Screenplay Oscar nomination for Schrader.
• Wildlife (2018): Budget approximately $7,000,000 | Worldwide $1,290,000. Paul Dano's Carey Mulligan-Jake Gyllenhaal Montana family drama operated at nearly twice Them That Follow's budget on a similar specialty-tier release through IFC Films.

Them That Follow Box Office Performance

Them That Follow premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 27, 2019. The Orchard acquired North American distribution rights and platformed the title for an August 2, 2019 limited theatrical opening, expanding across specialty markets through August and September 2019.

• Production Budget: approximately $4,000,000
• Estimated Prints & Advertising (P&A): approximately $1,000,000 to $2,000,000
• Total Estimated Investment: approximately $5,000,000 to $6,000,000
• Worldwide Gross: $268,000 ($230,000 domestic, $38,000 international, per Box Office Mojo)
• Net Return: theatrical loss of approximately $4,732,000 to $5,732,000 against total estimated investment
• ROI: approximately negative 88 to negative 95 percent on theatrical alone

Them That Follow returned approximately $0.04 to $0.05 in worldwide theatrical revenue for every $1 invested, an underperformance that reflected the broader 2019 specialty-cinema decline. The film's recoupment math depended on the PVOD, digital purchase, broadcast, and subsequent streaming windows that followed the limited theatrical opening.

The film's recoupment cycle depended on the multi-window cycle following the limited theatrical opening. The combined home-entertainment and international rollout extended through 2019 and into 2020, with the title's sustained presence on Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, and other streaming platforms supporting the long-tail revenue cycle.

Them That Follow Production History

Co-writers and co-directors Britt Poulton and Dan Madison Savage developed the Them That Follow script across 2015 and 2016, drawing on anthropological research into the Appalachian Pentecostal serpent-handling tradition and on contemporary academic literature around the practice. The screenplay attracted Gerard Butler's G-BASE through development financing partnerships with Argent Pictures, Macro, 1inMM, Sleight of Hand, and The Population through 2016 and 2017.

Casting Alice Englert as Mara, the central daughter, locked the lead in 2017, with Walton Goggins as the serpent-handling preacher father and Olivia Colman as Hope, a community elder. Thomas Mann, Lewis Pullman, Kaitlyn Dever, and Jim Gaffigan rounded out the supporting cast through early-to-mid 2018. Colman's casting in late 2017 occurred ahead of her subsequent The Favourite Oscar campaign that elevated her broader star profile.

Principal photography took place across spring 2018 in rural Ohio, with the region doubling for the Appalachian snake-handling community at the center of the story. The Ohio Motion Picture Tax Credit program provided substantial refundable credits on qualified Ohio labor and services. The shoot encompassed practical rural exteriors, the central church and community-meeting locations, and the serpent-handling sequences with on-set animal wranglers and veterinary supervision.

Post-production was completed across the second half of 2018 and into early 2019, with the film premiering at the Sundance Film Festival on January 27, 2019. The Orchard acquired North American distribution rights at Sundance and platformed the title for an August 2, 2019 limited theatrical opening, expanding across specialty markets through August and September 2019.

Awards and Recognition

Them That Follow received modest awards recognition consistent with the Sundance-acquired specialty-indie tier. The film drew Sundance Film Festival U.S. Dramatic Competition programming, alongside several critics'-circuit recognitions for the Olivia Colman supporting performance and the broader ensemble. The film also drew Independent Spirit Awards consideration in technical categories.

The broader awards landscape did not engage significantly with the title at the major industry ceremonies. The film was not nominated at the Academy Awards, BAFTA Film Awards, or Golden Globe Awards. The film's legacy within the awards conversation has been concentrated within the Sundance positioning and the broader Olivia Colman career trajectory, alongside the Walton Goggins lead-supporting recognition.

Critical Reception

Them That Follow received mixed-to-positive reviews. The film holds a 73 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 90 critic reviews, with a critical consensus that called it "a strong showcase for its cast" anchored by "Britt Poulton and Dan Madison Savage's carefully realized direction." On Metacritic, the film scored 56 out of 100, indicating mixed or average reviews.

Critics broadly praised the Olivia Colman supporting performance, Walton Goggins' nuanced lead-supporting work as the preacher, and the screenplay's anthropological precision in its portrait of the Appalachian Pentecostal community. Variety's Owen Gleiberman called Colman "a quiet revelation" in her role, while The Hollywood Reporter's John DeFore wrote that the film "delivers a clear-eyed, sympathetic portrait of a community rarely seen on screen."

Critics objected to the screenplay's pacing in the third-act resolution, the underbaked secondary subplots involving the broader community, and the somewhat conventional structural arc that resolves the central faith-and-romance conflict. The mixed critical reception did not impede the film's subsequent streaming engagement, which extended the title's revenue cycle through 2020 and into 2021.