Beckham Turns Five
March 11, 2008 6:41 am
March 12th marks the fifth anniversary of Bend It Like Beckham, the highest grossing soccer movie ever internationally. Beckham brought in $32.5 million domestically at the box office, but of course it scored even higher overseas, with another $44 million.
What's more remarkable about those domestic box office numbers is the way that they were accumulated, basically about $1 million per week over a long period of time in theaters. Bend It Like Beckham incredibly opened in only six theaters domestically and brough it only about $161,000, which is a complete disaster by any measure. It wasn't until April that it finally got into more than 100 theaters and just then grossed $1 million for the week, which is still miserable at the box office. However, it stayed in theaters until mid October, and by then had gone past $30 million in the U.S.!
Naturally, the movie benefitted more overseas from the huge popularity soccer star David Beckham, so it makes perfect sense that sales were even higher there. Who could have predicted that Beckham would later come to the U.S., where he now plays in Los Angeles?
As for the movie, it really is a terrific, feel-good story, and we highly recommend it for your collection.
Buy It
