Clint Eastwood really showed his audience something with Million dollar baby. The sports drama is unforgettable in many ways, especially thanks to the heartbreaking ending in which his character Frankie puts the daughterly Maggie to rest forever despite his fatherly affection. When he gives her a lethal injection, the audience’s happiness dies along with Maggie. Honestly, there’s just something special about Clint Eastwood when it comes to making movies.

Despite his track record and a groundbreaking idea, Warner Bros. simply wasn’t interested in financing a boxing film. When they finally agreed, they were primarily interested in other films, including Tom Hanks’ The Polar Express. Clint Eastwood soon realized that it was up to him and his team to determine Million Dollar Baby‘s fate.

Clint Eastwood’s Million Dollar Baby and Warner Bros.

Clint Eastwood had a good relationship with Warner Bros. when he Million Dollar Baby for them. Nevertheless, the studio did not consider it worthwhile to support a film about boxing. Eastwood had to come up with something as quickly as possible.

Eventually he was able to convince Lakeshore Entertainment to finance half of the film, and WB agreed to finance the rest. Although two major production companies were behind his film, he had much less financial backing than Tom Hanks’ Polar Express and Robert Zemeckis’ Alexander, Both films had a budget of over $150 million. Eastwood’s film, on the other hand, had a minimal budget of $30 million.

In a conversation with critic Roger Ebert, Eastwood explained that he did not care about publicity when it came to Million dollar baby, he just wanted to make the film. He talked about the budget, because his film couldn’t compete with the other two, he knew that his film had to live and die by its own rules.

I just wanted to make it. I don’t want PR people hanging around. We stayed under the radar. With all the big $150, $200 million movies out there, they thought this movie had a whole different meaning. I had about $25 million to make it. They were working on their Alexanders and The Polar Express, and I thought my movie would have to live or die on its own terms.

Fortunately, the film survived. WB soon realized that while they were concentrating on the gold, they had missed a diamond.

Warner Bros. has been corrected

Because the film was low budget, the studio’s involvement was far too minimal. This meant that Eastwood and his team were able to do whatever they wanted with the project. When they finally showed WB the finished product, it was almost as if their eyeballs turned into green dollar signs.

The man in charge of distributing the film was immediately enthusiastic and found ways to market it worldwide. However, Eastwood declined his offer and decided to let his work speak for itself.

He said to Ebert:

We did it, they didn’t know anything about it, and after we showed it to them, they said, “Jesus Christ, it’s not that bad.” Some people in the organization got excited. Eddie Feldman, the sales guy, said, “How are we going to open it?” “Why don’t we just put it out sometime after Thanksgiving?” I said. He said we needed to start a campaign. “Don’t start a campaign, don’t start anything,” I said. “Just see where it goes.”

When the film was released, it was greeted with open arms by critics and fans alike, grossing over $230 million at the box office and receiving a 90% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Million Dollar Baby The film also received numerous awards at the 2005 Oscars, winning four of the seven nominations, including one for Eastwood’s direction and one for Hilary Swank as Best Actress. Morgan Freeman also won the trophy for Best Supporting Actor.

Million Dollar Baby can be rented/purchased on Prime Video.