after premiering at the montreal world film festival in august 1993, "kalifornia" was released theatrically in the united states on september 3, 1993 at 359 theaters. the film was a box office bomb, only grossing $2,395,231 against an $8.5 million budget. the film opened at #17 at the u.s. box office during its opening weekend with a $1.1 million gross, averaging $3,228 per theater. the movie did much better in the united kingdom, where it opened on april 1st, 1994, and topped the box office chart there for two weeks, bringing in £2,040,277 and £1,313,011, in ticket sales respectively.