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 The film, a fantasy action film about a group of samurai in
18th century Japan, cost $175 million to make, according to
people with knowledge of its budget.
It is expected to gross between $17 million and $20 million for
the five-day Christmas Day holiday period through Sunday
December 29, Hollywood experts have forecast, a particularly
weak showing for a big budget film.
"Universal Pictures regularly evaluates its film slate for
potential adjustment," said a Universal official. "In the case
of '47 Ronin,' we adjusted film costs in previous quarters and
as a result, our financial performance will not be negatively
impacted this quarter by its theatrical performance."
Universal did not disclose the size of the earlier writedowns.
Although Hollywood executives cautiously predict a record year
at the box office, many had their own big budget misfires. Walt
Disney wrote down the costs of the $215 million Johnny Depp
western "The Lone Ranger," which it had said lost more than $160
million.
Earlier in the year, Dreamworks Animation took an $87 million
write down for its 2012 holiday film "Rise of the Guardians,"
while Warner Brothers' "Jack the Giant Slayer" generated $197.7
million in worldwide ticket sales and cost $195 million to make.
(Studios generally get half the ticket sales.)
Sony cited the "theatrical underperformance" of the $150 million
thriller "White House Down" as one reason its studio recorded a
$181 million loss in its second quarter.
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 Universal's "47 Ronin" tells the story of a
half-Japanese former slave, played by Keanu Reeves, who joins a band
of outcast samurai intent on avenging the death of their master and
who battle mythic beasts and shape-shifting witches.
It was initially scheduled for release in November
2012, but was moved to February 2013 for more work on the 3D visual
efforts, before it was postponed to Christmas Day.
The film has grossed an estimated $6.2 million in three foreign
markets, including Japan and Singapore, Universal said.
Powered by hits "Despicable Me 2" and "Fast & Furious 6," the studio
had a record year at the box office in 2013, it said earlier in the
year, crossing $2 billion mark in international ticket sales for the
first time in its 101-year history.
It also had its best year in the domestic market, with $1.4 billion
in North American film sales, third behind Warner Brothers and Walt
Disney, according to Box Office Mojo.
On December 23, Universal said it had pushed back its car chase
movie "Fast & Furious 7" by nine months to April 2015 after co-star
Paul Walker died in a car crash.
(Reporting by Ronald Grover; editing by
Jeffrey Benkoe and Leslie Gevirtz)
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