The Dublin-based production firm behind hit Hollywood horror comedy, ‘Cocaine Bear’ recorded revenues of €31.1 million in 2022, new accounts show.
Last May, Wild Atlantic Pictures Ltd obtained from the State €2m to €5m in corporation tax credits connected to the making of the global hit movie.
Shot on location in Co Wicklow and starring Keri Russell and the late Ray Liotta, the movie – which grossed over $89m at the global box office – was loosely inspired by the story of a bear who reputedly ingested a large amount of lost cocaine that was dropped from a drug smuggler’s airplane in the rural areas of Georgia in the US in the 1980s.
Now, new accounts for Wild Atlantic Pictures show that revenues declined by 74 percent from €119.26m to €31.18m in 2022. The firm recorded modest pre-tax profits of €15,912 which compares to pre-tax profits of €351,59 in 2021.
Numbers employed by the business declined from 812 to 472 and the company’s staff costs consequently declined by €11.35m from €32.38m to €21m.
The directors’ report states that “the results of the group for the financial year and the financial position at the financial year end were as anticipated by the directors.”
The business derives its revenues from the production of motion pictures and TV series primarily for delivery to third party film and TV studios.
The company is owned by Macdara Kelleher and Eoin Egan and aggregate pay to directors remained at the same level at €100,000.
The accounts – signed off on 20 February – also confirm that during the year, Wild Atlantic Pictures was charged €400,000 in contractor producer fees by Mr Kelleher’s Kelcom Limited trading as Fastnet Films.
Separate accounts for Kelcom Ltd show that it recorded post tax profits of €283,333 in 2022 while sole director Macdara Kelleher received €229,167 in director’s pay during that year.
Separately, a note attached to the accounts for Wild Atlantic Pictures show that it was charged €600,000 in contractor producer fees by Eoin Egan, a director of the company in 2022.
