American Beauty backdrop
American Beauty movie poster

American Beauty

1999 R 2h 2m Drama DreamWorks Pictures

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Box office summary

Opening Weekend
$862K
Limited · 16 theaters
Domestic Total
$130.1M
Final
Worldwide Total
$356.3M
$226.2M international
Domestic Legs15.9x
Budget$15.0M
1999 Rank#27
Compare with other movies

Cast & Crew

Full Mendes filmography
Sam Mendes Sam Mendes Director Kevin Spacey Kevin Spacey Starring Annette Bening Annette Bening Starring Thora Birch Thora Birch Starring Wes Bentley Wes Bentley Starring Mena Suvari Mena Suvari Starring
ScreenplayAlan Ball Produced byBruce Cohen, Dan Jinks CinematographyConrad L. Hall Music byThomas Newman StudioDreamWorks Pictures
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The run

WkWeekendRankGrossChgTheatersAvgTotal
1 Sep 17-19 11 $861.5K 16 $53,845 $1.0M
2 Sep 24-26 5 $5.9M +589.4% 429 $13,845 $7.5M
3 Oct 1-3 3 $8.2M +37.9% 706 $11,598 $18.4M
4 Oct 8-10 4 $9.5M +16.1% 1,226 $7,753 $31.1M
5 Oct 15-17 5 $6.6M −30.5% 1,350 $4,894 $41.2M
6 Oct 22-24 6 $5.2M −21.6% 1,459 $3,550 $48.6M
7 Oct 29-31 4 $3.8M −27.0% 1,528 $2,473 $54.1M
8 Nov 5-7 7 $3.3M −12.0% 1,553 $2,140 $58.9M
9 Nov 12-14 13 $2.4M −28.7% 1,264 $1,876 $62.7M
10 Nov 19-21 15 $1.3M −45.5% 815 $1,586 $64.7M
11 Nov 26-28 15 $1.2M −9.5% 585 $2,001 $66.5M
12 Dec 3-5 14 $780.2K −33.4% 694 $1,124 $67.6M
13 Dec 10-12 13 $603.1K −22.7% 595 $1,013 $68.5M
14 Dec 17-19 14 $527.5K −12.5% 452 $1,166 $69.3M
15 Dec 24-26 16 $322.1K −38.9% 293 $1,099 $70.0M
16 Dec 31-Jan 2 16 $499.0K +54.9% 293 $1,703 $71.0M
17 Jan 7-9 20 $577.3K +15.7% 289 $1,997 $71.9M
18 Jan 14-17 MLK Day 22 $598.4K +3.7% 276 $2,168 $72.8M
19 Jan 21-23 26 $431.0K −28.0% 267 $1,614 $73.3M
20 Jan 28-30 23 $704.2K +63.4% 344 $2,046 $74.3M
21 Feb 4-6 54 $75.2K −89.3% 10 $7,523 $74.7M
22 Feb 11-13 60 $64.3K −14.5% 7 $9,184 $74.8M
23 Feb 18-20 8 $5.6M +8,598.5% 1,287 $4,345 $80.4M
24 Feb 25-27 9 $4.6M −17.6% 1,323 $3,482 $87.5M
25 Mar 3-5 9 $4.0M −12.5% 1,339 $3,010 $93.0M
26 Mar 10-12 5 $3.7M −9.1% 1,522 $2,407 $98.0M
27 Mar 17-19 7 $3.2M −13.8% 1,661 $1,902 $103.0M
28 Mar 24-26 7 $4.0M +27.4% 1,662 $2,421 $108.5M
29 Mar 31-Apr 2 6 $5.4M +34.3% 1,990 $2,717 $116.7M
30 Apr 7-9 10 $3.3M −38.1% 1,934 $1,731 $121.6M
31 Apr 14-16 14 $2.0M −41.3% 1,467 $1,340 $124.7M
32 Apr 21-23 16 $1.4M −31.0% 1,130 $1,201 $127.0M
33 Apr 28-30 19 $670.7K −50.6% 791 $847 $128.1M
34 May 5-7 20 $429.0K −36.0% 603 $711 $128.8M
35 May 12-14 23 $307.8K −28.3% 425 $724 $129.4M
36 May 19-21 30 $193.2K −37.2% 302 $639 $129.7M
37 May 26-29 Memorial Day 43 $170.3K −11.9% 206 $826 $129.9M
38 Jun 2-4 50 $66.1K −61.2% 138 $479 $130.1M
Charts show the first 10 weeks · the run above is the full record
Cumulative total$65.0M
Sep 15Oct 2Oct 20Nov 6Nov 23
Weekend grossWk 10 · $1.3M
$861.5K
$5.9M
$8.2M
$9.5M
$6.6M
$5.2M
$3.8M
$3.3M
$2.4M
$1.3M
W1W2W3W4W5W6W7W8W9W10
Theater countPeak 1,553 → 815 −47.5%
6 open815 now
Weekend-over-weekend dropWk 10 · −45.5%
+589.4%
W1→2
+37.9%
W2→3
+16.1%
W3→4
−30.5%
W4→5
−21.6%
W5→6
−27.0%
W6→7
−12.0%
W7→8
−28.7%
W8→9
−45.5%
W9→10
Steepest −45.5%Biggest gain +589.4%

Run milestones

$100M in 185 days
$100M
Day 185
Mar 17

Profitability

Return on Budget
Theatrical breakeven point is approx. 2.5x production budget

Domestic vs International Split

Similar movies

Pay It Forward 2000 · Leder $33.5M Death on the Nile 2022 · Branagh $45.6M Road to Perdition 2002 · Mendes $104M Revolutionary Road 2008 · Mendes $23M Jarhead 2005 · Mendes $62.7M Away We Go 2009 · Mendes $9.5M

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