Unpregnant Budget

What Is the Budget of Unpregnant (2020)?

Unpregnant (2020), directed by Rachel Lee Goldenberg and produced by Greg Berlanti's Berlanti Productions, was made on an estimated budget of $12,000,000 to $15,000,000. The film was developed at Warner Bros. and routed to HBO Max as a flagship launch-window original for the platform's first programming year, debuting September 10, 2020 just four months after the streamer's public launch. The budget reflects Warner's standard mid-budget studio comedy envelope adapted for a streaming-first release.

The financial structure of Unpregnant is a window into the early HBO Max original strategy under WarnerMedia leadership pre-Warner Bros. Discovery merger. The platform absorbed a Warner-developed studio comedy at a budget tier that would normally have demanded theatrical release, redirecting it to streaming as part of an aggressive original-content push to compete with Netflix and Disney+ in subscriber acquisition during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Key Budget Allocation Categories

The estimated $12,000,000 to $15,000,000 budget broke down across:

• Above-the-Line Talent: Haley Lu Richardson (Five Feet Apart, Columbus) headlined as Veronica, with Barbie Ferreira (Euphoria) cast as Bailey on the strength of her HBO profile. Director Rachel Lee Goldenberg had a substantial television-comedy track record (Lifetime, Will and Grace), and Greg Berlanti producing alongside Sarah Schechter brought the deep Berlanti Productions television-development apparatus to the project.
• New Mexico Location Shoot: Principal photography ran from October to November 2019 in Albuquerque and surrounding New Mexico locations, utilizing the state's film production tax credit at the enhanced rate for productions filming outside the Albuquerque-Santa Fe corridor. The road-trip structure was simulated entirely within New Mexico, keeping all photography under a single state incentive umbrella.
• Road-Trip Vehicle Work: The road-trip framework required multiple vehicle setups including a primary hero car, a limousine, an RV, and a sequence at an abortion clinic. Picture cars, transportation, and unit-move costs absorbed a significant logistical line item.
• Music Licensing: The road-trip comedy structure carried heavy music licensing requirements covering needle drops across multiple decades. The soundtrack included Lizzo, Beyoncé-tier mainstream releases adapted within the studio's catalog deals, and dedicated original score work from Allyson Newman.
• Comedy Set Pieces: The screenplay includes several extended comedic set pieces with practical stunts and special effects, including a limo sequence, an RV pursuit, and a sequence involving a UFO enthusiast played by Giancarlo Esposito. Stunt coordination and practical effects fees added a notable line item.
• HBO Max Launch Marketing: Warner positioned Unpregnant as a flagship HBO Max original in the platform's launch window, funding a high-visibility publicity campaign tied to subscriber acquisition rather than ticket sales. Press junket costs, virtual premiere event costs (under COVID restrictions), and digital marketing absorbed a meaningful share of the all-in spend.

How Does Unpregnant's Budget Compare to Similar Films?

At an estimated $12,000,000 to $15,000,000, Unpregnant sits at the mid-tier of streamer-funded studio comedies. The comparison set illustrates how its cost profile compares to similar female-led road-trip and young-adult comedies:

• Booksmart (2019): Budget $6,000,000 | Worldwide $25,300,000. Olivia Wilde's United Artists female-friendship debut cost roughly half what Unpregnant was made for and represents the genre comparison case for young-adult coming-of-age comedy at a more contained budget.
• Plan B (2021): Budget approximately $5,000,000 | Worldwide negligible (Hulu). Natalie Morales' contemporary Hulu Plan B road-trip film, made for less than half of Unpregnant, offers the direct genre and theme comparison case for similar abortion-access road-trip narratives.
• Never Rarely Sometimes Always (2020): Budget approximately $1,800,000 | Worldwide $315,000. Eliza Hittman's Focus Features Sundance abortion drama cost a fraction of Unpregnant on a much darker tonal register, with a fraction of the marketing investment.
• Yes Day (2021): Budget approximately $20,000,000 | Worldwide negligible (Netflix). Miguel Arteta's Jennifer Garner Netflix family comedy cost more than Unpregnant and demonstrates the upper-bound for streamer-funded family-comedy productions in the early-pandemic window.

Unpregnant Box Office Performance

Unpregnant did not receive a wide theatrical release. The film launched on HBO Max as a streaming original on September 10, 2020, four months after the platform's public launch, bypassing theatrical distribution entirely. As an HBO Max launch-window flagship, the film was structured around subscriber acquisition rather than ticket sales.

Against an estimated production budget of $12,000,000 to $15,000,000, the financial picture reflects the HBO Max launch strategy:

• Production Budget: approximately $12,000,000 to $15,000,000
• Estimated Prints & Advertising (P&A): approximately $8,000,000 to $12,000,000 (HBO Max launch campaign)
• Total Estimated Investment: approximately $20,000,000 to $27,000,000
• Worldwide Gross: not separately reported (HBO Max streaming original)
• Net Return: recouped via HBO Max subscriber acquisition, not theatrical revenue
• ROI: measured in launch-window subscriber growth and engagement, not box office

HBO Max has not disclosed specific viewership figures, but Unpregnant was promoted as one of the platform's signature launch-year originals alongside Love Life, The Flight Attendant, and Raised by Wolves. The film generated extended cultural conversation around abortion access in the months leading up to the September 2020 launch and especially in 2022 following the Dobbs decision, when the film's central premise gained new urgency.

The film's commercial significance for Warner is its position as a proof-of-concept for HBO Max original feature programming. The strategy that produced Unpregnant continued through 2021 and 2022 with films like Father of the Bride and Witch Mountain, though the Warner Bros. Discovery merger in 2022 and the subsequent platform consolidation as Max ended the era of dedicated HBO Max original mid-budget comedies.

Unpregnant Production History

Berlanti Productions developed the project from Ted Caplan and Jenni Hendriks’ 2019 young-adult novel Unpregnant, optioning the book in early 2019 with Warner Bros. attached. Rachel Lee Goldenberg attached to direct on the strength of her television-comedy track record at Lifetime and her feature work on A Deadly Adoption. The screenplay was developed by Goldenberg with Bill Parker, Caplan, and Hendriks contributing.

Principal photography ran from October to November 2019 in Albuquerque and surrounding New Mexico locations, utilizing the state's film production tax credit at the enhanced rate for productions filming outside the Albuquerque-Santa Fe corridor. The shoot included multiple road-trip vehicle locations across the state, a structural choice that simulated the cross-state geography of the screenplay while keeping all photography under a single state incentive umbrella.

Haley Lu Richardson and Barbie Ferreira were cast in summer 2019 on the strength of their respective profiles in indie features and HBO television. Giancarlo Esposito, fresh off Better Call Saul and The Mandalorian, took a key supporting role as a UFO enthusiast. Production wrapped in late November 2019, with post-production running through 2020 under COVID-era constraints that initially delayed the platform’s release strategy.

Warner originally targeted a spring 2020 theatrical release before the pandemic and the HBO Max launch reframed the strategy. The film was redirected as a flagship HBO Max original with a September 10, 2020 launch, accompanied by a digital-first publicity campaign that compensated for the absence of traditional theatrical opening-weekend promotion.

Awards and Recognition

Unpregnant received its most notable recognition at the 2021 GLAAD Media Awards, where the film was nominated for Outstanding Film – Wide Release in recognition of its inclusive narrative around reproductive choice. The film did not win the category but the nomination reflected the GLAAD organization’s broader acknowledgment of HBO Max as a programming partner during the streamer’s launch year.

The film received supporting nominations from the Teen Choice Awards and the People's Choice Awards in their respective streaming-film categories. Haley Lu Richardson’s lead performance drew critics’ nominations from the Phoenix Film Critics Society and the Online Film Critics Society but no major guild or industry recognition.

Critical Reception

Unpregnant received broadly positive reviews. The film holds a 91% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, indicating widely favorable critical reception within the road-trip comedy subgenre. Reviewers praised the leads’ chemistry and the film’s tonal balance between political subject and youthful comedic energy.

Variety’s Joe Leydon called the film "a sharp, breezy update on the female road-trip comedy that doesn’t shy from its political stakes." The Hollywood Reporter’s Sheri Linden praised the central performances and described the film as "a welcome and pointed addition to the road-movie canon." Slate’s Inkoo Kang noted the film's commitment to comedy as a delivery mechanism for serious subject matter without diluting either register.

Critical reservations focused on the film's tonal control during specific set-piece sequences and the screenplay’s reliance on standard road-trip comedy beats. Multiple reviewers cited the limo sequence and the Giancarlo Esposito UFO enthusiast subplot as either highlights or distractions depending on viewer tolerance for broader comedy registers. The film’s reputation has grown substantially since the 2022 Dobbs decision, with multiple retrospective pieces positioning Unpregnant as one of the most relevant cultural artifacts of the late-Roe era.