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Released
2011 · FILM

The Rum Diary

A disillusioned New York journalist escapes to a rum‑soaked Puerto Rican newspaper to rediscover his creative fire, but he must navigate a seductive love triangle and a ruthless real‑estate schemer before his integrity is compromised.

“One part outrage. One part justice. Three parts rum. Mix well.”

Directed by
Bruce Robinson, Peter Kohn
Written by
Bruce Robinson, Hunter S Thompson
Rated
MPA · R
Runtime
119 min
ComedyDramaRomance

Synopsis

Itinerant journalist Paul Kemp, weary of the noise and chaos of New York and the restrictive norms of late Eisenhower-era America, moves to the tranquil island of Puerto Rico to work for a local San Juan newspaper edited by the struggling Lotterman. Immersing himself in a lifestyle reminiscent of the rum-soaked 'Lost Generation' of the late 1950s, Paul becomes involved with an attractive American woman and her fiancé, a businessman engaged in dubious real estate ventures. It is through these experiences that Kemp ultimately finds his authentic voice as a writer and reaffirms his sense of personal integrity.

Credits

Actors
Editor
Production Designer
Director of Photography
Writers
Directors

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How many hands made this film

The scale of the collaboration

A crew of 298+ credited

Why a floor?

This is a minimum, not a total. We only count the credits we’ve captured so far, and coverage is uneven — a blockbuster might show a few hundred names while another of the same size shows a couple dozen. The real crews all ran into the thousands. The number here only grows as full credits are enriched — so we frame it as a floor, never a headcount.

Craft leads on file

Edited by Carol LittletonShot by Dariusz WolskiScored by Christopher YoungDesigned by Chris SeagersCostumes by Colleen Atwood

Box Office

2011 · Box office

📉 Underperformed — grossed 0.5× its budget

Why 2.5×?

Cinemas keep roughly half of every ticket sold, and a wide release’s marketing often costs about as much again as the film — so a movie needs to gross around 2.5× its production budget just to break even theatrically. It’s a rule of thumb, not the studio’s ledger (home video and streaming come later).

Worldwide gross

$24.0M

Budget$45.0M
Worldwide gross$24.0M
break-even (2.5×)

US & Canada: $13.1M — 55% of worldwide · International: $10.9M (45%)

Opening weekend: $5.1M — 39% of its US run. Front-loaded — most of its money arrived opening weekend.

Opening week (7-day): $7.4M — 57% of its US & Canada run.

Peak 2,273 theaters

Also known as

  • Rum Diaryde
  • Rhum expressfr
  • (cable TV title)Kronika e Një Gazetari të Dehur
  • (Bulgarian)Дневникът на едно пиянде
Release dates around the world3 countries · show
  • United StatesOct 13, 2011
  • RussiaOct 20, 2011
  • UkraineOct 20, 2011

Companies

ProductionGK Films, Infinitum Nihil, FilmEngine

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