Spotlight Movie: A “Hard Sell” but $88m in Global Sales

Source: Box Office MoJo

Since premiering in the United States in late 2015, the movie Spotlight has been a critical success, earning two Academy Awards (Best Picture, Best Screenplay) and giving journalists around the world a needed boost.

The film has also made money, costing $20 million to make and earning US$88 million in revenue, split almost evenly between U.S. ($45 million) and international sales ($43 million). Outside the U.S., the movie did particularly well in Catholic countries such as Spain, Italy, France, Brazil, and Mexico.

Still, Spotlight’s success is modest compared to such blockbusters as Batman v Superman ($827 million) and The Jungle Book ($291 million).

Even winning top Academy Awards didn’t lift Spotlight too high. Following the Oscars, the movie was the second lowest-grossing Best Picture winner in the last 38 years, according to Box Office Mojo. But the fact that Spotlight was made at all is impressive. Making a movie about reporting on pedophilia was not easy, recalled producer Blye Faust at the Logan Symposium earlier this month. Said Faust: “It was a hard sell.”