Few films have garnered quite as much buzz in 2023 as Saltburn, the psycho-sexual thriller from Promising Young Woman director Emerald Fennell. From a scene-stealing performance by Rosamund Pike to a particularly eyebrow-raising moment involving Barry Keoghan and a bathtub, Saltburn has sent the Twittersphere (X-osphere doesn’t have quite the same ring) alight, not least because of its Instagram-ready cinematography.
Indeed, almost every scene in Saltburn oozes wealth, which is no-doubt intentional given its take on an eat-the-rich fairytale. The film follows an Oxford University freshman (Keoghan) as he becomes enamoured with a popular student (Jacob Elordi) and later weasels his way into a million-dollar luxury family estate.
While that premise alone is enough to make this writer feel poor, was the budget for Saltburn equally eye-watering?
What was the budget for Saltburn?
While the official production budget for Saltburn is not yet known, estimates suggest that the film cost somewhere between $10 to $38 million to make. For context, Fennell’s debut feature film, Promising Young Woman, had a budget of around $10 million, and went on to make $18.9 million at the worldwide box office.
Some pundits suggest that $8 million of Saltburn’s budget was spent on its starry cast, which includes Academy Award nominees Richard E. Grant, Keoghan and Pike, as well as a cameo from Carey Mulligan. Showbiz Galore lists Keoghan’s salary for Saltburn at $400,000, while his co-lead, Elordi, reportedly earned $320,000.
The filming locations might’ve proved equally expensive, with much of Saltburn shot at Northamptonshire’s Drayton House, a Grade I listed country house built in the 1300s which has never been used for a film before.
It’s also worth noting that Saltburn enlisted a range of high-profile collaborators who likewise brought its budget into the millions. Cinematographer Linus Sandgren, who elsewhere won an Academy Award for his work on La La Land, was involved in the project, and so too was Bridgerton Emmy-nominee and costume designer Sophie Canale.
If we’re looking towards the lower end of Saltburn’s reported budget, the film is on track to recuperate its costs, with Deadline reporting that it earned $6.23 million at the domestic box office since its November premiere and $9.4 million internationally, for a combined total of over $15 million. In any case, we may have to wait some time until official details around Saltburn’s budget and box office success are revealed.
Saltburn is currently showing in theatres, and will be available to stream on Prime Video on December 22.