9½ Weeks became an unusually bitter distribution dispute after its American release underperformed dramatically. Produced with a budget reported at roughly $15–17 million, the film earned only about $3 million in the United States and approximately $6.7 million overall in the figures commonly cited for its domestic and initial release performance. The Producers Sales Organization blamed MGM, arguing that the distributor was unwilling to promote a film centered on sadomasochistic behavior and had effectively buried it through timid marketing and heavy censorship. Abroad, the uncut version found the audience American distributors feared: it became a major success in countries including France, Italy, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, Canada, and Brazil. It reportedly played for five years at one Paris cinema and for thirty months at São Paulo's Cine Belas Artes, eventually contributing to worldwide grosses of about $100 million and turning a domestic embarrassment into a cult classic.
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AI concept artworkArchive Record · 1980s
The Erotic Bomb That America Rejected Became an International $100 Million Phenomenon
9½ Weeks / 1980s
9½ Weeks became an unusually bitter distribution dispute after its American release underperformed dramatically. Produced with a budget reported at roughly $15–17 million, the film earned only about $3 million in the United States and approximately $6.7 million overall in the figures commonly cited for its domestic and initial release performance. The Producers Sales Organization blamed MGM, arguing that the distributor was unwilling to promote a film centered on sadomasochistic behavior and had effectively buried it through timid marketing and heavy censorship. Abroad, the uncut version found the audience American distributors feared: it became a major success in countries including France, Italy, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, Canada, and Brazil. It reportedly played for five years at one Paris cinema and for thirty months at São Paulo's Cine Belas Artes, eventually contributing to worldwide grosses of about $100 million and turning a domestic embarrassment into a cult classic.
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