Dead Poets Society backdrop
Dead Poets Society movie poster

Dead Poets Society

1989 • PG • 2h 8m • Drama • Touchstone Pictures

He was their inspiration. He made their lives extraordinary.

🍅 85% 92% MC 79 LB 4.36

Box office summary

Opening Weekend
$340K
Limited · 8 theaters
Domestic Total
$95.9M
Final
Worldwide Total
$236M
$140M international
Domestic Legs12.7x
Budget$16.4M
1989 Rank#10
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Cast & Crew

Full Weir filmography
Peter Weir Peter Weir Director Robin Williams Robin Williams Starring Ethan Hawke Ethan Hawke Starring Josh Charles Josh Charles Starring Kurtwood Smith Kurtwood Smith Starring
ScreenplayTom Schulman Produced bySteven Haft, Paul Junger Witt, Tony Thomas CinematographyJohn Seale Music byMaurice Jarre StudioTouchstone Pictures
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The run

WkWeekendRankGrossChgTheatersAvgTotal
1 Jun 2-4 14 $340.5K — 8 $42,557 $340.5K
2 Jun 9-11 3 $7.5M +2,114.8% 687 $10,975 $8.1M
3 Jun 16-18 3 $9.1M +20.7% 1,091 $8,343 $22.5M
4 Jun 23-25 5 $7.3M −19.3% 1,091 $6,732 $35.6M
5 Jun 30-Jul 2 6 $6.7M −8.7% 1,109 $6,049 $46.3M
6 Jul 7-9 6 $5.2M −22.7% 1,109 $4,676 $56.8M
7 Jul 14-16 8 $4.3M −17.9% 1,047 $4,067 $63.9M
8 Jul 21-23 7 $3.5M −16.7% 1,062 $3,340 $70.0M
9 Jul 28-30 9 $2.6M −26.4% 993 $2,627 $74.7M
10 Aug 4-6 10 $2.1M −19.1% 902 $2,340 $78.3M
11 Aug 11-13 11 $1.8M −15.8% 846 $2,100 $81.1M
12 Aug 18-20 15 $1.0M −41.2% 633 $1,650 $83.0M
13 Aug 25-27 17 $963.4K −7.8% 671 $1,435 $84.5M
14 Sep 1-4 Labor Day 14 $1.4M — 721 $1,901 $86.4M
15 Sep 8-10 15 $943.9K — 739 $1,277 $87.6M
16 Sep 15-17 11 $1.1M +18.3% 963 $1,159 $89.1M
Charts show the first 10 weeks · the run above is the full record
Weekend grossWk 10 · $2.1M
$340.5K
$7.5M
$9.1M
$7.3M
$6.7M
$5.2M
$4.3M
$3.5M
$2.6M
$2.1M
W1W2W3W4W5W6W7W8W9W10
Weekend-over-weekend dropWk 10 · −19.1%
+2,114.8%
W1→2
+20.7%
W2→3
−19.3%
W3→4
−8.7%
W4→5
−22.7%
W5→6
−17.9%
W6→7
−16.7%
W7→8
−26.4%
W8→9
−19.1%
W9→10
Steepest −26.4%Biggest gain +2,114.8%

Profitability

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

Domestic vs International Split

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