Ian McKellen
Actor

Ian McKellen

15 films•1998–2026•Adventure · Fantasy · Drama
74%average critics78%average audience$187.5Mdomestic average
Compare their films →
Films
15
1998–2026
Domestic
$2.81B
lifetime
Worldwide
$8.31B
lifetime
Avg opening
$50.7M
3-day
Avg legs
3.75x
opening → total
Return
4.4x
on $1.87B of budget

Box Office Watch tracks 15 films featuring Ian McKellen, from Gods and Monsters (1998) to The Christophers (2026), together grossing $2.81B domestic and $8.31B worldwide. The biggest hit is The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) at $1.12B worldwide; the biggest opening weekend belongs to X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) at $103.0M.

Filmography

15 films
FilmYearOpeningDomesticLegsWorldwideCinemaScoreRTYearly rank
Ebenezer2026—————0%—
The ChristophersR · 1h 40m2026$605K$1.8M3.00x$1.8M—97%#96
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five ArmiesPG-13 · 2h 24m2014$54.7M$255.1M4.66x$940.3MA59%#6
The Hobbit: The Desolation of SmaugPG-13 · 2h 41m2013$73.6M$258.0M3.51x$958.0MA-74%#8
The Hobbit: An Unexpected JourneyPG-13 · 2h 49m2012$84.6M$303.0M3.58x$1.02BA64%#5
The Golden CompassPG-13 · 1h 53m2007$25.8M$70.1M2.70x$372.0MB42%#38
Flushed AwayPG · 1h 25m2006$18.8M$64.7M3.44x$178.0MB+72%#41
The Da Vinci CodePG-13 · 2h 29m2006$77.1M$218.0M2.82x$760.0MB+25%#5
X-Men: The Last StandPG-13 · 1h 44m2006$103.0M$234.0M2.28x$460.0MA-56%#4
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the KingPG-13 · 3h 21m2003$72.6M$377.0M5.19x$1.12BA+94%#1
X2: X-Men UnitedPG-13 · 2h 14m2003$85.6M$215.0M2.51x$408.0MA85%#6
The Lord of the Rings: The Two TowersPG-13 · 2h 59m2002$62.0M$340.0M5.48x$923.0MA95%#2
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the RingPG-13 · 2h 58m2001$47.2M$313.0M6.64x$868.0MA-91%#2
X-MenPG-13 · 1h 44m2000$54.5M$157.0M2.89x$296.0MA-82%#8
Gods and MonstersR · 1h 45m1998$76K$6.5M———96%—
Click any column to sort. Yearly rank is the film’s place on its release year’s domestic chart; a film outside that year’s top 50 shows a dash.

Film by film

in release order
0$500M$1B
Gods and Monsters1998X-Men2000The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring2001The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers2002The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King2003X2: X-Men United2003Flushed Away2006The Da Vinci Code2006X-Men: The Last Stand2006The Golden Compass2007The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey2012The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug2013The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies2014Ebenezer2026The Christophers2026
DomesticInternationalColumn height is worldwide · one film every 2.0 years

Profitability

the 12 of 15 films with a reported budget
Return on Budget
4.4x
$8.30B worldwide on $1.87B of production budget
Budget$1.87B
Domestic$2.80B
Worldwide$8.30B
Theatrical breakeven point is approx. 2.5x production budget
Domestic vs International Split
34%DOMESTIC
Domestic $2.80BInternational $5.50B
Return by film · worldwide ÷ budget
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King2003 · $94.0M budget11.9x
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers2002 · $94.0M budget9.8x
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring2001 · $93.0M budget9.3x
The Da Vinci Code2006 · $125.0M budget6.1x
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug2013 · $234.0M budget4.1x
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey2012 · $258.0M budget4.0x
X-Men2000 · $75.0M budget3.9x
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies2014 · $250.0M budget3.8x
X2: X-Men United2003 · $110.0M budget3.7x
X-Men: The Last Stand2006 · $210.0M budget2.2x
The Golden Compass2007 · $180.0M budget2.1x
Flushed Away2006 · $149.0M budget1.2x
Gods and Monsters1998 · $3.5M budget0.0x
0x2.5x breakeven11.9x
Budgets are reported production costs and exclude marketing, so this is a gross-to-budget ratio rather than studio profit. Films with no reported budget are left out of this section entirely, including from the totals, rather than counted as zero.

Records held

All records →
#6Best multipliersThe Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers5.48x#8Best multipliersThe Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King5.19x#16Best multipliersThe Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies4.66x#40Biggest worldwide runsThe Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King$1.12B
4 placings across 2 all-time charts. Where a film places on the same chart in consecutive weekends, only its best placing is shown.

What’s next

Full schedule →
No upcoming movies announced yet.

Connected

Series
The Lord of the Rings3The Hobbit3X-Men2
Studios
New Line Cinema420th Century Fox3Warner Bros.3
Counted from this filmography. The number is how many of these films each one accounts for.

Comparisons

Build your own →
Complete TrilogyThe Lord of the RingsThree Decembers, three marathons — Return of the King finishes on top.Complete TrilogyThe Hobbit TrilogyMiddle-earth’s second run, with An Unexpected Journey out in front.