Editing Office Space (section)

==Release==

===Marketing===
Judge hated the [[One sheet#Cinema|onesheet poster]] that the studio created for ''Office Space'', which depicted an office worker completely covered in [[Post-it notes]]. He said, "People were like, 'What is this? A big bird? A mummy? A beekeeper?' And the tagline 'Work Sucks'? It looked like an [[Office Depot]] ad. I just hated it. I hated the trailers, too and the TV ads especially".<ref name="Valby"/> McGinley, too, felt it looked like [[Big Bird]] from the children's series ''[[Sesame Street]]'', and that he would not go to see such a film. For the home release Judge was upset that the same image was used, albeit with Milton peeking over the man from behind.<ref name="EW oral history" />

The studio also had a man live in a [[Plexiglas]] cube above [[Times Square]] for five days, who was broadcast live on the Internet as he answered calls and emails from people dissatisfied with their jobs.<ref>{{cite web|access-date=2022-09-27|title=Office Guy: A Working Perspective|date=February 18, 1999|url=https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1999/2/18/office-guy-a-working-perspective-p/|website=[[The Harvard Crimson]]}}</ref> Livingston, when he visited the cube for press events, found that most reporters preferred to talk to the man in the cube and not him. He was not surprised, as tracking for the movie was not good and "there was a foregone conclusion that it wasn't going to open well." Producer [[Michael Rotenberg]] elaborated that "[i]t took a few research screenings to realize that audiences often have issues with satire."<ref name="EW oral history" />

Another problem that Rothman later conceded was that they could not put Aniston on the poster due to her small role.<ref name="EW oral history" /> Later he admitted that the marketing campaign did not work and said, "''Office Space'' isn't like ''[[American Pie (film)|American Pie]]''. It doesn't have the kind of jokes you put in a 15-second television spot of somebody getting hit on the head with a frying pan. It's sly. And let me tell you, sly is hard to sell".<ref name="Valby"/>

===Box office===
''Office Space'' was released on February 19, 1999, at the end of the release calendar's "[[dump months]]", in 1,740 theaters, grossing $4.2 million on its opening weekend. That was eighth overall and second for new releases after ''[[October Sky]]''.<ref name="mojo opening weekend">{{cite web|title=February 19-21, 1999|website=[[Box Office Mojo]]|url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/?view=&yr=1999&wknd=08&p=.htm|access-date=February 5, 2019}}</ref> Herman said he was elated after seeing the film in [[Los Angeles]] and hearing it had made $7 million, until friends more familiar with the movie business told him that was considered a poor performance.<ref name="EW oral history" />

Suhrstedt saw it later in [[Burbank, California|Burbank]], and the theater was almost full. He assured Judge that [[word of mouth]] would slowly increase the audience. However, in early March, Fox pulled it from three-quarters of the screens it had been on after it barely made a million dollars that weekend. The movie's grosses continued to decline precipitously, and after the end of March, when it pulled in less than $40,000 from 75 screens, it was pulled from release altogether.<ref name="mojo">{{cite news|title=Office Space|work=Box Office Mojo|url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=officespace.htm|access-date=February 5, 2019}}</ref> According to Judge, a studio executive blamed the movie exclusively for the failure, telling him "Nobody wants to see your little movie about ordinary people and their boring little lives."<ref name=Extract>{{cite web| url = http://www.wildaboutmovies.com/behind_the_scenes/Extract-BEHINDTHESCENES.php| title = Extract-Behind the Scenes| work = wildaboutmovies.com| author = Nasson, Tim| date = August 13, 2009| access-date = February 7, 2019| archive-date = June 30, 2017| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170630070806/http://www.wildaboutmovies.com/behind_the_scenes/Extract-BEHINDTHESCENES/| url-status = dead| df = mdy-all}}</ref>

It went on to make $10.8 million in North America.<ref name="mojo" /> The international release brought an additional $2 million. On home release, $8 million in [[DVD]], [[Blu-ray Disc]] and [[VHS]] sales<ref name="thenum" /> were sold at release as of April 2006.<ref name="Numbers2">{{cite web | url= https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Office-Space#tab=video-sales | title=Office Space – DVD sales | website=the-numbers.com | access-date=December 27, 2011}}</ref>