The Pelican Brief backdrop
The Pelican Brief movie poster

The Pelican Brief

1993 • PG-13 • 2h 21m • Crime, Drama, Thriller • Warner Bros.

Two Supreme Court Justices have been assassinated. One lone law student has stumbled upon the truth. An investigative journalist wants her story. Everybody else wants her dead.

🍅 56% 61% MC 51 LB 3.33 IMDb 6.7

The Pelican Brief Box Office

Opening Weekend
$16.9M
3-day opening
Domestic Total
$100.8M
Final
Worldwide Total
$188.0M
$87.2M international
Domestic Legs6.0x
Budget$45M
1993 Rank#8
Compare with other movies
Save comparisonsSave your matchups and
revisit them any time
Predict the weekendPredict the top five and
move up the leaderboard
Rate filmsRate movies and pin your
favorites to your profile
One account.
The whole box office.
Save comparisonsSave and track the matchups you create
Predict the weekendPredict this weekend’s top 5, top the leaderboard
Rate filmsRate movies and display favorites on your profile
Create free account
Box office performance
Weekend Rank Gross Chg Total Theaters Average Wks
Dec 17-19 1 $16.86M — $16.86M 1,993 $8.5K 1
Dec 24-26 1 $11.12M -34.0% $36.00M 2,008 $5.5K 2
Dec 31-Jan 2 2 $13.13M +18.0% $61.06M 2,008 $6.5K 3
Jan 7-9 2 $8.57M -34.7% $73.50M 2,022 $4.2K 4
Jan 14-16 5 $5.80M -32.3% $81.66M 1,934 $3.0K 5
Jan 21-23 6 $3.71M -36.0% $86.56M 1,809 $2.1K 6
Jan 28-30 8 $2.83M -23.9% $90.34M 1,730 $1.6K 7

Profitability

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

Domestic vs International Split

Cast & Crew

Directed byAlan J. Pakula
ScreenplayAlan J. Pakula
Produced byAlan J. Pakula, Pieter Jan Brugge
CinematographyStephen Goldblatt
Music byJames Horner
StarringJulia Roberts, Denzel Washington, Sam Shepard, John Heard, Tony Goldwyn, James B. Sikking, William Atherton, Robert Culp
StudioWarner Bros.

Similar Movies

Presumed Innocent 1990 · Pakula $86.3M All the President's Men 1976 · Pakula $51M The Mule 2018 · Eastwood $103.8M A Time to Kill 1996 · Schumacher $108.8M The Town 2010 · Affleck $92.2M

Box Office Comparisons

No head-to-head comparisons featuring The Pelican Brief yet — build one in seconds.

Build your own comparison →