List of highest-grossing independent films explained

The following page lists the highest-grossing films that were distributed by independent, arthouse, and mini-major studios. The Passion of the Christ is the highest-grossing independent film of all time. Independent films that were co-distributed by major film studios, such as Inglourious Basterds and Paranormal Activity, are not included.

Highest-grossing films

Rank	Title	Date	Worldwide gross	Countries	Film distributor	Ref/s
1	The Passion of the Christ	February 25, 2004	$611,486,736	United States	Newmarket Films	^[1]
2	The Intouchables	September 23, 2010	$484,630,908	France	Gaumont	^[2]
3	Dances with Wolves	November 9, 1990	$424,208,805	North America	Orion Pictures	^[3]
4	The King's Speech	September 6, 2010	$423,999,102	Australia United Kingdom	Momentum Pictures
5	Slumdog Millionaire	August 30, 2008	$378,410,113	United Kingdom	Pathé Distribution
6	My Big Fat Greek Wedding	April 19, 2002	$368,744,044	North America	IFC Films
7	American Beauty	September 8, 1999	$356,258,047	North America	DreamWorks Pictures	^[4]
8	Black Swan	September 1, 2010	$329,398,046	North America	Fox Searchlight Pictures	^[5]
9	Se7en	September 15, 1995	$328,125,643	North America	New Line Cinema	^[6]
10	The Silence of the Lambs	February 14, 1991	$275,726,716	North America	Orion Pictures	^[7]
11	Parasite	May 21, 2019	$262,857,186	South Korea	CJ Entertainment (South Korea) Neon (North America)	^[8]
12	The Full Monty	August 15, 1997	$261,249,383	United Kingdom	Fox Searchlight Pictures
13	Sound of Freedom	July 4, 2023	$250,570,396	North America	Angel Studios
14	The Blair Witch Project	January 23, 1999	$248,639,099	North America	Artisan Entertainment
15	Silver Linings Playbook	November 16, 2012	$236,412,453	North America	The Weinstein Company	^[9]
16	Juno	September 1, 2007	$231,450,102	North America	Fox Searchlight Pictures
17	Fahrenheit 9/11	May 17, 2004	$222,446,882	North America	FLIC Distributors
18	Good Will Hunting	December 2, 1997	$225,925,989	North America	Miramax
19	Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets	July 21, 2017	$225,874,228	France United States China Germany Belgium United Arab Emirates	STX Entertainment	^[10]
20	Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon	May 18, 2000	$213,514,672	Taiwan	Sony Pictures Classics	^[11]
21	Pulp Fiction	May 21, 1994	$212,894,343	North America	Miramax	^[12]
22	Traffic	December 27, 2000	$207,515,725	North America	Focus Features	^[13]
23	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles	March 30, 1990	$202,084,756	North America	Golden Harvest	^[14]
24	The Shape of Water	December 1, 2017	$195,333,312	North America	Fox Searchlight Pictures	^[15]
25		October 10, 2003	$180,899,045	North America	Miramax	^[16]
26	Brokeback Mountain	December 9, 2005	$178,062,759	North America	Focus Features	^[17]
27	The Grand Budapest Hotel	March 7, 2014	$173,082,189	North America Germany	Fox Searchlight Pictures	^[18]
28	No Country for Old Men	November 9, 2007	$171,627,166	North America	Miramax (North America) Paramount Vantage (International)	^[19]
29	One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest	November 19, 1975	$163,281,275	North America	United Artists
30	The Hateful Eight	December 25, 2015	$156,480,177	North America	The Weinstein Company	^[20]
31		April 16, 2004	$154,116,796	North America	Miramax	^[21]
32	Everything Everywhere All at Once	March 25, 2022	$141,054,397	North America	A24	^[22]
33	Longlegs	July 12, 2024	$126,867,598	United States	Neon	^[23]
34	Coraline	February 6, 2009	$124,596,837	North America	Focus Features	^[24]
35	Civil War	April 12, 2024	$122,533,193	United States United Kingdom	A24 (United States) Entertainment Film Distributors (United Kingdom)	^[25]
36	Lost in Translation	September 12, 2003	$117,085,297	North America Japan	Focus Features	^[26]
37	Sideways	October 22, 2004	$109,726,800	North America	Fox Searchlight Pictures
38	Birdman	October 17, 2014	$103,215,094	North America	Fox Searchlight Pictures	^[27]
39	Crash	May 6, 2005	$101,173,038	North America	Lionsgate
40	Little Miss Sunshine	July 26, 2006	$101,058,954	North America	Fox Searchlight Pictures	^[28]
41	Terrifier 3	October 11, 2024	$94,436,616	United States	Cineverse	^[29]
42	Fritz the Cat	April 12, 1972	$90,000,000	North America	Cinemation Industries	^[30]
43	The Amityville Horror	July 27, 1979	$86,432,000	North America	American International Pictures	^[31]
44	Hereditary	June 7, 2018	$82,729,816	United States	A24	^[32]
45	Moonlight	October 21, 2016	$65,172,611			^[33]
46	The Whale	December 9, 2022	$54,883,206			^[34]
47	Whiplash	January 16, 2014	$48,982,041	North America	Sony Pictures Classics (North America) Stage 6 Films (International)	^[35]
48	Midsommar	July 3, 2019	$48,059,189	United States Sweden	A24 (North America) Nordisk Film (Sweden)	^[36]
49	The Witch	February 19, 2016	$40,423,945	United States Canada	A24 (United States) Elevation Pictures (Canada)	^[37]
50	The Iron Claw	December 22, 2023	$40,667,158	United Kingdom United States	A24 (North America) Lionsgate (United Kingdom)	^[38]

Highest-grossing independent films by year

Year	Title	Worldwide gross	Budget
	Civil War	$122,533,193	$50 million
	Sound of Freedom	$250,570,396	$14.5 million
2022	Everything Everywhere All at Once	$141,054,397	$14.3–25 million	^[39] ^[40] ^[41]
	Halloween	$70 million	$300,000–325,000	Halloween (1978 film)
	Grizzly	$39 million	$750,000	Grizzly (film)
	The Texas Chain Saw Massacre	$30.9 million	$80,000–140,000	The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
	Night of the Living Dead	$30,236,452	$114,000–$125,000	Night of the Living Dead

Timeline of highest-grossing independent film

Film	Established	Record-setting gross	Ref
Dances with Wolves	1990	$424,208,805	^[42]
The Passion of the Christ	2004	$611,486,736	^[43]
	2005	$612,054,506

See also

• List of highest-grossing films
• List of highest-grossing non-English films
• List of highest-grossing R-rated films

Notes and References

1. Web site: Barker . Stephen . 2020-10-17 . The 10 Highest-Grossing Independent Films Of All Time . 2022-09-13 . ScreenRant . en-US.
2. Web site: Les Intouchables (2012) - Financial Information . 2022-10-13 . The Numbers.
3. Web site: Dances with Wolves (1990) - Financial Information . 2022-10-13 . The Numbers.
4. Web site: The Highest Grossing Independent Films of All Time – Page 11 – 24/7 Wall St. . 2022-09-13 . en-US.
5. Web site: Black Swan . 2022-09-13 . Box Office Mojo.
6. Web site: Se7en (1995) - Financial Information . 2022-09-13 . The Numbers.
7. Web site: The Silence of the Lambs (1991) - Financial Information . 2022-10-13 . The Numbers.
8. Web site: Parasite . 2022-09-13 . Box Office Mojo.
9. Web site: The Highest Grossing Independent Films of All Time – Page 6 – 24/7 Wall St. . 2022-10-14 . en-US.
10. Web site: Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets . 2024-05-14 . Box Office Mojo.
11. Web site: The Highest Grossing Independent Films of All Time – Page 8 – 24/7 Wall St. . 2022-09-13 . en-US.
12. Web site: The Highest Grossing Independent Films of All Time – Page 9 – 24/7 Wall St. . 2022-09-13 . en-US.
13. Web site: Traffic . 2022-10-14 . Box Office Mojo.
14. Web site: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles . 2023-11-15 . Box Office Mojo.
15. Web site: The Shape of Water . 2022-10-14 . Box Office Mojo.
16. Web site: Kill Bill: Vol. 1 . 2022-10-14 . Box Office Mojo.
17. Web site: Brokeback Mountain . 2022-10-14 . Box Office Mojo.
18. Web site: The Grand Budapest Hotel . 2022-10-14 . Box Office Mojo.
19. Web site: No Country for Old Men . 2022-10-14 . Box Office Mojo.
20. Web site: The Hateful Eight . 2022-10-14 . Box Office Mojo.
21. Web site: Kill Bill: Vol. 2 . 2022-10-14 . Box Office Mojo.
22. Web site: Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022) - Financial Information . 2022-10-13 . The Numbers.
23. Web site: Longlegs . 2024-12-02 . Box Office Mojo.
24. Web site: Coraline . 2022-10-14 . Box Office Mojo.
25. Web site: Civil War . 2024-08-17 . Box Office Mojo.
26. Web site: The Highest Grossing Independent Films of All Time – Page 4 – 24/7 Wall St. . 2022-10-14 . en-US.
27. Web site: Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) . 2022-10-14 . Box Office Mojo.
28. Web site: The Highest Grossing Independent Films of All Time – Page 3 – 24/7 Wall St. . 2022-10-14 . en-US.
29. Web site: Terrifier 3. 2024-12-02. Box Office Mojo.
30. Web site: 2000-12-06 . Ralph Bakshi . 2022-09-13 . The A.V. Club . en-us.
31. Web site: The Amityville Horror . 2023-11-15 . Box Office Mojo.
32. Web site: Hereditary. 2024-01-06. Box Office Mojo.
33. Web site: Moonlight. 2024-01-06. Box Office Mojo.
34. Web site: The Whale. 2024-01-06. Box Office Mojo.
35. Web site: Whiplash . 2022-09-13 . Box Office Mojo.
36. Web site: Midsommar. 2024-01-06. Box Office Mojo.
37. Web site: The Witch. 2024-01-06. Box Office Mojo.
38. Web site: The Iron Claw (2023) - Financial Information. 2024-02-28. The Numbers.
39. Rubin. Rebecca. July 31, 2022. 'Everything Everywhere All at Once' Is A24's First Movie to Hit $100 Million Globally. Variety. July 31, 2022. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20220731130924/https://variety.com/2022/film/box-office/everything-everywhere-all-at-once-box-office-milestone-1235325126/. July 31, 2022.
40. News: Buchanan. Kyle. October 21, 2022. Everything Everywhere, All Through Awards Season?. The New York Times. subscription. January 25, 2023. dead. https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20230129190100/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/21/movies/everything-everywhere-all-at-once-oscars.html. January 29, 2023.
41. Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022). 6710474. June 22, 2023.
42. Web site: Dances with Wolves .
43. Web site: The Passion of the Christ .