The Rum Diary backdrop
The Rum Diary poster
#5,157 All-time worldwide
#168 2011 releases

Movie profile

The Rum Diary

2011 · 120 min · Film Engine

Comedy Drama
IMDb FilmDB Where to watch

Box office snapshot

Financial performance

Reference figures based on available reported data.
Worldwide gross $24.0M
Budget $45.0M
Gross minus budget -$21.0M
ROI 0.53x

Domestic gross

$12.0M

Estimated from worldwide gross

International gross

$12.0M

Estimated from worldwide gross

Opening weekend

$2.2M

Estimated from worldwide gross

Ranking context

Where The Rum Diary ranks

Positioned across the all-time chart, release year, studio, franchise and genre indexes where enough mapped data exists.
Open rankings
All-time worldwide #5,157 All-time chart position of 12,922 titles Compared with every rankable movie in the current worldwide dataset. 2011 releases #168 Release-year chart position of 248 titles Ranked against movies released in 2011. Studio / company #3 Film Engine of 3 titles Position inside the mapped Film Engine movie set. Primary genre #2,020 Comedy of 4,840 titles Genre context based on the first mapped genre on this profile.

Nearby worldwide ranks

Comparable titles immediately around this movie by reported worldwide gross.

#5,154 Virtuosity 1995 · $24.0M #5,155 I Want You 2012 · $24.0M #5,156 Observe and Report 2009 · $24.0M #5,163 Corky Romano 2001 · $24.0M #5,164 I Love You in All Languages of the World 2005 · $23.9M #5,165 Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle 2004 · $23.9M

Quick answer

How did The Rum Diary (2011) perform at the box office?

High confidence

The Rum Diary (2011) earned a reported $24.0M worldwide against a reported $45.0M production budget. Its gross-minus-budget figure is about -$21.0M. The current gross-to-budget multiple is 0.53x. In this database it currently ranks #5,157 in the current all-time worldwide chart set and #168 among 2011 releases.

Worldwide gross
$24,000,000
Budget
$45,000,000
Gross minus budget
-$21,000,000
ROI
0.53x
Source: TMDb. Last updated: Jul 13, 2026. View source Gross-minus-budget is not studio net profit. It excludes marketing, distribution fees, revenue splits, tax incentives and later home/streaming revenue.

Synopsis

Story

Tired of the noise and madness of New York and the crushing conventions of late Eisenhower-era America, itinerant journalist Paul Kemp travels to the pristine island of Puerto Rico to write for a local San Juan newspaper run by the downtrodden editor Lotterman. Adopting the rum-soaked lifestyle of the late ‘50s version of Hemingway’s 'The Lost Generation', Paul soon becomes entangled with a very attractive American woman and her fiancée, a businessman involved in shady property development deals.  It is within this world that Kemp ultimately discovers his true voice as a writer and integrity as a man.

Movie facts

Production details

Release date
Oct 13, 2011
Production
FilmEngine, GK Films, Infinitum Nihil
Countries
US, GB, PR

Related indexes

Browse related box office pages

Studio / production companyFilm Engine Release year chart2011 box office Genre chartComedy Genre chartDrama

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AI summary

Why this movie matters

Released in 2011, The Rum Diary is positioned in this dataset as a Comedy, Drama title from FilmEngine. Its box office profile shows that available worldwide gross is $24.0M, reported production budget is $45.0M, gross-minus-budget is -$21.0M, ROI is 0.53x. For comparison, it currently sits #5,157 all-time in the current chart set and #168 among 2011 releases. Streaming availability should be checked against the selected United States region because provider rights can change.

AI-generated contextual summary based on available movie, genre, ranking and box office data. It does not replace official distributor notes or financial reporting.
Data noteGross minus budget is not studio net profit. It excludes marketing, distribution fees, revenue splits, tax incentives and downstream revenue. Domestic, international and opening weekend figures marked as estimated are modelled estimates.