Summary
One of the most widely celebrated and studied movies of the 1990s,Fight Clubhad a bumpy start when it came to its box office performance. David Fincher is a widely celebrated director, who has created masterful works of art and emotion in his stories. But even in Fincher’s body of work,Fight Clubstands out as a movie that resonated with audiences across the board, and earned the praise which would see publications like The New York Times dub it the “defining cult movie of our time.”
However, with the movie’s provocative themes and the blatant criticism it directs toward capitalism and the structures of modern industry, it ruffled feathers for the executives and studios that funded the picture in the first place. Despite spending approximately $65 million on the film (viaThe Numbers), the marketing was not fully there, and the movie ended up massively underperforming at the box office despite rave reviews and high projections. Ultimately,Fight Clubfound success when audienceswere able to purchase the DVD, and it grew to become an incredibly influential hit.
Fight Club Ending Explained (In Detail)
Fight Club ends with one of cinema’s most iconic twists, but even decades later, there’s more to the somewhat ambiguous ending than meets the eye.
Fight Club
$100,820,947
WhileFight Clubdid manage to bring in nine figures at the box office, just barely crossing the $100 million mark, the spend on the movie meant this figure was less exciting for executives. In an industry where successful movies can pull in anywhere from two times the budget, to hundreds of times the initial budget,Fight Club’sreturns made the movie a commercial disappointment. However, due to the sheer volume of tickets purchased,Fight Clubmanaged to rank in the top 40 movies released in 1999 (viaBox Office Mojo).
This achievement is nothing to be sniffed at, but the fact remains that it was stifled by the studios who were weary of the movie’s core message. The fact thatFight Clubstill managed to pull in over $100 million in the face of this, and rank where it did for the year, is astonishing. However, after the commercial failure of the movie, itrelied heavily on the subsequent home release to improve its situation, andpeople continue to addFight Clubto their collection.
$190,128,577.57 (Adjusted for Inflation)
$190,304, 772
Insidious: The Red Door (2023)
$189,086,877
Even when compared to modern films, such as movies released in the last five years, the total box office forFight Clubisn’t very impressive. Especially when compared to movies that might have a similar budget. For example,Fight Club’s$65 million budget would be equivalent to more than $122 milliontoday. Whereas some modern movies manage to earn well over a billion dollars with budgets that sit around $150 million, such asInside Out 2, andFrozen 2. However, this could highlight another issue forFight Club’slower box office.
Traditionally, movies with age ratings that exclude a large portion of audiences tend to perform less well at the box office. By 1999,only a handful ofmovies with an R rating were able to earn multiple hundreds of millions, and the highest earner,Terminator 2: Judgment Day, was a part of a major franchise. So whetherFight Club’sbox office is viewed in isolation with the year it was released, or adjusted for inflation, it didn’t have a great run, but maybe it was never going to have a great run.
Fight Club’s Tyler Durden Twist Explained (In Full)
While Fight Club’s ending is a little confusing, the connection between Brad Pitt’s Tyler Durden and Edward Norton’s narrator can be clarified.
Why Fight Club Didn’t Perform Better At The Box Office
Fight Club Deserved A Better Box Office
The reality is that the studios behindFight Clubwere not behindFight Club’smessage. Despite funding a movie adaptation of Chuck Palahnuik’s novel of the same name, which carried this same anti-capitalist sentiment, the movie was deemed too controversial.Studios felt uncomfortable being in the firing linewith a movie that so clearly demonized the accumulation of wealth and stuff, and so the film failed to get a fortune in advertising spent on it, which in some ways aligns with the movie’s sentiments.
And on top of this, the movie’s intense violence and the presence of sex and drugs made it unwatchable for families or younger viewers, which further restricted the overall potential for success. Fortunately, when the movie made it onto DVD, audiences flocked to buy the physical copy, and watch the controversial movie in a more private setting. Thus,Fight Clubmaintained its status as an underdog, and something to be kept secret, all while becoming a massive cult hit.
Cast
Fight Club, released in 1999 and directed by David Fincher, stars Edward Norton as an insomniac who forms an underground fight club with a soap salesman, played by Brad Pitt.
