An Expensive Screenplay
Richard Zanuck, the son of 20th Century Fox’s co-founder Darryl F. Zanuck, was president of the studio at the time. He put himself in some hot water when he bought the screenplay of the film. Richard was only allowed to spend $200,000, but he ended up spending twice that amount for William Goldman’s script.
Robert Redford, Katharine Ross, and Paul Newman. Photo by Moviestore Collection / Shutterstock
$400,000 in today’s economy equals nearly $3 million. At the time, such an amount had never been spent on a screenplay. Luckily for Zanuck, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid became the highest-grossing film of 1969. Still, he got fired the following year. Not for this particular incident, but for money, Fox lost over flops like Dr. Dolittle.