Box Office

Learn how budget, effects costs, and worldwide gross shape whether a prestige drama counts as a hit.

Learn to read holiday box-office numbers like an analyst and compare three-day and four-day totals fairly.

Understand which markets each box-office total covers so you can compare movie results correctly.

See which Fincher thriller leads worldwide and why broad dramas outearn cult favorites at the box office.

Learn what opening weekend and worldwide gross measure and how to compare box-office figures fairly.

Learn how a small-budget ballet drama used limited release and steady expansion to find its audience.

See how Panic Room turned a tense opening into lasting worldwide reach for adult thrillers.

See the $90M budget and $232.6M worldwide split, and why that gross still left MGM reporting a loss.

Se7en’s $33M budget, $327M worldwide gross, territory split, 1995 rank, and why reported totals vary slightly.

Understand how Zodiac’s costs and domestic-international split explain its modest theatrical outcome.