Lethal Weapon backdrop
Lethal Weapon movie poster

Lethal Weapon

1987 • R • 1h 49m • Action, Crime, Thriller • Warner Bros.

If these two can learn to stand each other... the bad guys don't stand a chance.

🍅 82% 86% MC 68 LB 3.75 IMDb 7.6

Box office summary

Opening Weekend
$6.8M
3-day opening
Domestic Total
$65.2M
Final
Worldwide Total
$120.2M
$55.0M international
Domestic Legs9.5x
Budget$15M
1987 Rank#8
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Cast & Crew

Full Donner filmography
Richard Donner Richard Donner Director Mel Gibson Mel Gibson Starring Danny Glover Danny Glover Starring Gary Busey Gary Busey Starring Mitchell Ryan Mitchell Ryan Starring
Written byShane Black Produced byJoel Silver CinematographyStephen Goldblatt Edited byStuart Baird Music byMichael Kamen, Eric Clapton StudioWarner Bros. SeriesLethal Weapon
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The run

WkWeekendRankGrossChgTheatersAvgTotal
1 Mar 6-8 1 $6.8M — 1,256 $5,437 $6.8M
2 Mar 13-15 1 $7.1M +4.0% 1,256 $5,656 $16.9M
3 Mar 20-22 1 $6.3M −11.5% 1,420 $4,429 $26.0M
4 Mar 27-29 2 $5.0M −19.7% 1,420 $3,555 $33.6M
5 Apr 3-5 4 $4.1M −19.3% 1,408 $2,893 $39.3M
6 Apr 10-12 5 $3.0M −26.3% 1,356 $2,213 $43.6M
7 Apr 17-19 7 $2.8M −8.2% 1,336 $2,062 $47.7M
8 Apr 24-26 6 $2.1M −25.1% 1,268 $1,627 $50.8M
9 May 1-3 6 $1.7M −19.3% 1,132 $1,471 $53.2M
10 May 8-10 7 $1.4M −17.5% 1,064 $1,291 $55.2M
11 May 15-17 5 $1.4M −0.1% 1,017 $1,350 $57.1M
12 May 22-24 8 $1.2M −10.1% 872 $1,416 $58.8M
13 May 29-31 9 $830.8K −32.7% 859 $967 $59.9M
Charts show the first 10 weeks · the run above is the full record
Weekend grossWk 10 · $1.4M
$6.8M
$7.1M
$6.3M
$5.0M
$4.1M
$3.0M
$2.8M
$2.1M
$1.7M
$1.4M
W1W2W3W4W5W6W7W8W9W10
Weekend-over-weekend dropWk 10 · −17.5%
+4.0%
W1→2
−11.5%
W2→3
−19.7%
W3→4
−19.3%
W4→5
−26.3%
W5→6
−8.2%
W6→7
−25.1%
W7→8
−19.3%
W8→9
−17.5%
W9→10
Steepest −26.3%Biggest gain +4.0%

Profitability

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

Domestic vs International Split

Similar movies

Lethal Weapon 3 1992 · Donner $144.7M Lethal Weapon 2 1989 · Donner $147.3M Lethal Weapon 4 1998 · Donner $130.4M Assassins 1995 · Donner $30.3M 16 Blocks 2006 · Donner $36.9M Conspiracy Theory 1997 · Donner $76.1M

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