La La Land Budget

What is the budget of La La Land?

"La La Land," a comedy released in 2016, was directed by Damien Chazelle and stars Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone. The production budget was $30,000,000, placing it in the mid-budget range for comedy productions of its era.

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.
• Casting: Miles Teller and Emma Watson were originally slated to star in the leading roles.

What were the major cost factors in La La Land?

Several factors contributed to the overall production costs of "La La Land."

• 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 La La Land's Budget Compare to Similar Films?

At $30,000,000, La La Land sits in the mid-budget range. Here is how it compares to productions with a similar budget:

• A Hologram for the King (2016): Budget $30,000,000, Worldwide Gross $9,169,507
• A Lot Like Love (2005): Budget $30,000,000, Worldwide Gross $42,886,719
• Big Momma's House (2000): Budget $30,000,000, Worldwide Gross $173,959,438
• Crazy Rich Asians (2018): Budget $30,000,000, Worldwide Gross $238,539,198
• Doomsday (2008): Budget $30,000,000, Worldwide Gross $22,472,631

The median budget for wide-release comedy films in the 2010s ranges from $30 to 80M for mid-budget to $150M+ for tentpoles.

La La Land Box Office Performance

"La La Land" earned $151,101,803 domestically and $509,183,536 worldwide at the box office. Against a production budget of $30,000,000, 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 "La La Land," that break-even threshold was roughly $60,000,000. With worldwide earnings of $509,183,536, the film cleared that threshold comfortably.

• Production Budget: $30,000,000
• Worldwide Gross: $509,183,536
• Net Return: $479,183,536
• ROI: approximately 1597.3%

At 1597.3%, "La La Land" earned roughly $16.97 for every $1 invested in production.

La La Land Production History

Miles Teller and Emma Watson were originally slated to star in the leading roles. Watson dropped out to honor her commitments to Disney's live-action Beauty and the Beast remake (2017), while Teller exited via long contract negotiations. Chazelle subsequently decided to make his characters somewhat older, with experience in struggling to make their dreams, rather than younger newcomers just arriving in Los Angeles.

From the beginning, Chazelle wanted the film's musical numbers to be filmed "head to toe" and performed in a single take, like those of the 1930s works of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Chazelle wanted Los Angeles to be the primary setting for his film, commenting that "there is something very poetic about the city I think, about a city that is built by people with these unrealistic dreams and people who kind of just put it all on the line for that." Principal photography on the film officially began in the city on August 10, 2015, and filming took place in more than 60 locations both in and near Los Angeles, including the Angels Flight trolley in downtown, houses in the Hollywood Hills, the Colorado Street Bridge, the Rialto Theatre in South Pasadena, the Warner Bros. studio lot, the Grand Central Market, Hermosa Beach's Lighthouse Café, Griffith Observatory, Griffith Park, Chateau Marmont, the Watts Towers, and Long Beach, with many scenes shot in one take.

The songs and score for La La Land were composed and orchestrated by Justin Hurwitz, Chazelle's Harvard University classmate, who also worked on his two prior films. A soundtrack album was released on December 9, 2016, by Interscope Records, featuring selections from Hurwitz's score and songs performed by the cast. The film's opening number, "Another Day of Sun", shot as a single tracking shot on an L.A.

Awards and Recognition

Won 6 Oscars. 242 wins & 307 nominations total

• Academy Award for Best Production Design (89th Academy Awards)
• Academy Award for Best Original Score: Justin Hurwitz (89th Academy Awards)
• Academy Award for Best Director: Damien Chazelle (89th Academy Awards)
• Academy Award for Best Actress: Emma Stone (89th Academy Awards)
• Academy Award for Best Cinematography: Linus Sandgren (89th Academy Awards)
• Academy Award for Best Original Song (89th Academy Awards)
• Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture: Musical or Comedy
• Golden Globe Award for Best Actor: Motion Picture Musical or Comedy

Critical Reception

La La Land received widespread critical acclaim, with high praise directed towards Chazelle's direction and screenplay, cinematography, music, the performances of Gosling and Stone and their chemistry. The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 91% based on 470 reviews, with an average rating of 8.7/10.