Sahara (2005 Film)

Sahara (2005 Film)

Sahara, a 2005 action–comedy adventure film directed by Breck Eisner, is based on the best-selling book of the same name by Clive Cussler. It stars Matthew McConaughey, Steve Zahn and Penélope Cruz.

It opened at number one in the US box office, grossing $18 million on its first weekend. From a financial perspective, Sahara was unusual because it performed reasonably well, generating $122 million in gross box-office sales. However, due to its huge budget—including $160 million in production costs and $81.1 million in distribution expenses—its box-office take amounted to barely half of its expenses. The film lost approximately $105 million according to a financial executive assigned to the movie; however, Hollywood accounting methods assign losses at $78.3 million, taking into account projected revenue. According to Hollywood accounting, the film has a projected revenue of $202.9 million against expenses of $281.2 million.

The Los Angeles Times presented an extensive special report on April 15, 2007, dissecting the budget of Sahara as an example of how Hollywood movies can cost so much to produce and fail. Many of the often closely held documents had become public domain after a lawsuit involving the film. Among some of the items in the budget were bribes to the Moroccan government, some of which may have been legally questionable under American law.