Box office bomb?
Did Steve McQueen finance the project out of his own pocket?
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MovieChat Forums > Le Mans (1971) Discussion > Box office bomb?
Don't remember all the events, but years back in reading " My Husband my Friend" by Steve's first wife she got into a more detailed account of all the events in this movie. I do remember her saying that it almost bankrupted the studio, almost ruined many carrers of those involved with the project, and hurt Steve emotionally and financially. Yes the movie "bombed" when released to the public. If interested the book can still be bought and you can read the explanation of it there. Hope that helps. Rich
shareThe movie itself was not a bomb. Originally budgeted at 6 million dollars, It ended up costing around 7.5 million. After many "concerns" on the set, Cinema Center Films took over production from McQueen's Solar Productions. The only way they would let McQueen continue on the film was is he gave up his salary and profit interests, which he did. The movie made between 19-20 million dollars profit for Cinema Center Films, but bankrupted McQueen and closed Solar Productions.
Info taken from Mr. Robert Siegel's excellent write up on the 2011 Blu-Ray release at www.blu-ray.com.
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