‘Get Out’ Is Now the Highest-Grossing Film by a Black Director
Get Out, the surprise smash thriller directed by Jordan Peele, just hit $163 million at the domestic box office, surpassing F. Gary Gray’s Straight Outta Compton to become the highest-grossing film ever made by a black director.
And it’s not done yet. Get Out has stubbornly remained in the weekend top 10 for seven weeks now, showing some strong legs due to fantastic word-of-mouth. Not bad for a movie with a $4.5 million budget. Its international performance hasn’t been particularly great so far — it’s made just under $14 million at the foreign box office — but it hasn’t opened in multiple major non-U.S. markets yet, so that total will surely climb.
However, it could be a short reign at the top. As Shadow and Act notes, Get Out’s hold on the top spot will likely be brief — as in, it could fall from the top as soon as this weekend, when F. Gary Gray’s The Fate of the Furious opens.
Last April, Furious 7 generated $147 million in its opening weekend, not far off from Get Out’s current total. Furious 7 needed just five days to hit $174 million, which will probably be right around Get Out’s final domestic haul. And as for worldwide? Furious 7 was the fastest movie ever to reach the $1 billion mark. Each of the last four entries in the F&F franchise has brought in more cash than one before it, a trend Fate surely aims to continue.
Back to Get Out, though, which also recently became the highest-grossing directorial debut from an original script. Yeah, its time as a box-office champ might be over quick, but it’s still a stunning achievement for a first-time director working on a (comparatively) tiny budget with a cast lacking any major stars. It speaks to both the quality of the film and the power of audience word-of-mouth.