Question about Dawn '78 US box office

[EvilNed]

I was counting the exterior of the base as the "third" location, since it was really a different location than the underground facility. However, within the context of the movie, it is supposed to be the same location. If I remember correctly, the beach was just right there next to where the exterior shots of the base were made, so I am not sure if it should count as a different location. But within the context of the movie it is obviously supposed to be somewhere else. If we're discussing production budget, we should be discussing production locations. That means that the Florida exterior is very much a different location from the interior, shot in Philly. As for Dawn and the cost of production; Shooting at night is expensive. You have to pay crew extra because of the nasty working hours. I'm not saying I think Dawn was that expensive, but the biggest cost of any production are wages.

[MinionZombie]

Also, $2 million in 1977/1978 was a much larger sum of money then than it is now. As for Dawn and the cost of production; Shooting at night is expensive. You have to pay crew extra because of the nasty working hours. I'm not saying I think Dawn was that expensive, but the biggest cost of any production are wages. This is true, but was Dawn a 'union shoot' though? If not (and being an indie production out there in Pittsburgh far away from Hollywood it may very well not have been), you don't have to pay the same rates and can therefore get people to work cheaper - or for free (e.g. many of the zombies).

[EvilNed]

Also, $2 million in 1977/1978 was a much larger sum of money then than it is now. This is true, but was Dawn a 'union shoot' though? If not (and being an indie production out there in Pittsburgh far away from Hollywood it may very well not have been), you don't have to pay the same rates and can therefore get people to work cheaper - or for free (e.g. many of the zombies). No idea.

[Doc Foster]

Just curious... I had heard from a source that when this film opened in the US in Spring 1979, it held the top #1 spot until "Alien" knocked it out a few weeks later. Is there any truth to this? I tried to find some "Week/Weekend box office numbers online for this period but couldn't get anything. Roy Frumkes' "Document of the Dead" features an insert shot of "Variety" magazine's "50 Top-Grossing Films" list from early May 1979 (about three weeks prior to the American release of "Alien"), with "Dawn" ranking at #4 behind "The Deer Hunter", "Love At First Bite", and "The China Syndrome". I would assume that this was the highest it ever went in the U.S. As for the film's budget, both Richard Rubinstein and George Romero himself over decades used to spread the myth that "Dawn" cost around $1.5 million to make, although DP Mike Gornick had already stated that it was "actually closer to $400,000" during a 1979 interview conducted by Kevin Hyde for "Questar" magazine. In an even earlier article that appeared in the Winter 1978 issue of "Cinefantastique" magazine, writer David Bartholomew (who BTW also appeared as a zombie extra in "Dawn") mentioned the same number, but pointed out that "Rubenstein (sic!) would not confirm it although he suggests that if the same film were being made in Hollywood (read "union"), it would cost about $2 million." In his audio commentary recorded for the "Extended Version" from Anchor Bay's 2004 "Ultimate Edition" four-disc DVD box set, Rubinstein would eventually reveal in public for the first time that the budget had in fact been in the range of just around $640,000 "on paper" (with an actual physical cash flow of half a million), and that he merely blew up the figures to make the film look "bigger", thus being able to sell it to distributors at a higher price. - - - Updated - - - Of course they filmed at various other locations, but Monroeville Mall was the majority of the production, meaning they wouldn't have to travel quite as much as most films, and in turn it would help keep the budget down. I think it's safe to say that travel costs on the production have been reasonably low since pretty much all locations outside of Pittsburgh (where many of the cast and crew members either lived anyway or were accommodated during the filming) actually are in spitting distance of the city.

[bassman]

^ I thought I'd remembered Rubenstein saying something like that in his commentary!