Box Office Mojo reports that the new film The Young Karl Marx scored just $58, 277 in US theaters in its first ten days. The twelve theaters currently carrying it are raking in $428/theater, just enough to keep the lights on, maybe. The film generated about $1 million in ticket sales in Europe. Let’s be generous, and say with the usual overwhelming support from industry fans, and including DVD sales, it may eventually generate $1.5 million in total sales. Unfortunately, IMDB estimates its cost of production at around $12 million. That puts it at a current loss of roughly $10 million. Sorry comrades.
In real life, Marx was something of a spendthrift, forever begging from his family and friends and yet somehow always able to live a high lifestyle well beyond his means, which were limited in the first place since he never had a real job other than as agitator. He was in essence the first limousine liberal. It’s fitting that this gushing biopic will likewise require someone else’s money.