What was Stanley Kubrick’s highest-grossing movie?
Even though Stanley Kubrick is responsible for making some of the greatest arthouse movies of all time, such as 1971’s A Clockwork Orange, and 1999’s Eyes Wide Shut, the director wasn’t exclusively concerned with pleasing the newspaper critics. In fact, Kubrick was known to hold the opinion of the general public in high regard, with the director relying on the box office success of his movies in order to thrive throughout the late 20th century.
Indeed, you won’t find Kubrick on the list of the highest-grossing movies of all time, with this exclusive club being dominated by the movies of Marvel, Star Wars and director James Cameron, but the filmmaker was still capable of great financial success. Often making pretty great profits off the back of his movies, Kubrick is one of the few filmmakers who made commercial arthouse triumphs.
His first great success came with the release of Dr. Strangelove in 1964, which earned $9.2million from a budget of just $1.8m. Years later, A Clockwork Orange became a massive commercial and critical hit, earning $114m from a budget of $1.3m, and Kubrick became seen as a master director capable not only of critical acclaim but box office hits too.
His greatest commercial triumph would come in 1999, however, when Kubrick released his final film, Eyes Wide Shut, starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman.
When not adjusted for inflation, the $162.1m that Eyes Wide Shut collected makes it the highest-grossing movie of his career. Due to the star power that was behind the movie, this fact shouldn’t come as too much of a shock. In addition, the film was the first of his entire career to receive a wide release, opening on July 16th, 1999, at number one before quickly falling, spending only three weeks in the top ten.
At one time referred to as the worst of Kubrick’s filmography, Eyes Wide Shut is considered something of a misunderstood great in contemporary cinema, telling an ethereal post-modern tale of the American dream. It all follows the story of a Manhattan doctor who goes on an indulgent late-night odyssey after his wife admits to years of unfulfilled sexual longing.
Whilst most people weren’t too keen on the 1999 film upon its release, there were a select few who admired the peculiar piece of art, Martin Scorsese included.
“I think a lot of people were looking at Eyes Wide Shut from the wrong angle – it’s not to be taken literally,” the Goodfellas director said of Kurbick’s final movie, “It’s Manhattan as you’d experience it in a dream, where everything feels familiar but very strange. And I think Eyes Wide Shut is a profound film about love, sex, and trust in a marriage, about learning to take things day by day, and either accepting or ignoring whatever unpleasant truths come along”.
Speaking more generally about the influence of one of cinema’s greatest minds, he adds, “It’s also a film I cherish because it puts you in the authoritative hands of an old master, with a style that flies in the face of every modern convention.”
