The box office may still be doing its best to return to its pre-pandemic heights, but there continue to be encouraging signs all around. The latest is Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Poor Things” crossing $100 million at the global box office. This was confirmed by the studio today, February 27. The Best Picture nominee joins A24’s “Everything Everywhere All At Once” as the only initial limited release, “independent” or non-major studio release to hit that figure since the March 2020 pandemic. It also sits alongside “Barbie,” “Oppenheimer,” and “Killers of the Flower Moon” as the fourth Best Picture nominee to cross this box office threshold this year.
READ MORE: Emma Stone & Yorgos Lanthimos Are Ready For You To Experience The Fantastical World Of ‘Poor Things’ [Interview]
In a statement for The Playlist, Producers Ed Guiney and Andrew Lowe remarked, “We are so delighted to have past the $100m mark worldwide – the film is a high-wire act so it means so much that audiences have embraced the brilliant Bella Baxter and Yorgos’ incredible rendering of her world. We are very grateful to Searchlight for pushing it out so wonderfully right across the world.”
“Poor Things” has grossed $33 million in the U.S. but a staggering $67 million overseas. Highlights include Italy ($8 million), Mexico ($4.7 million), France ($4.1 million), Germany ($4.4 million), Greece ($3.3 million) and the U.K. ($8.6 million). It arrives in its last international destination, South Korea, on February 26th. Celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, “Poor Things” marks the 14th film in the history of the studio to cross $100 million worldwide.
Much to the chagrin of movie fans, Searchlight held a majority of “Poor Thing’s” international rollout until after the Oscar nominations were announced. The proven strategy worked as the film has exploded overseas since. Other studios have had success with that rollout plan including Focus Features’ “The Holdovers ($22.7 million internationally) and A24’s “The Zone of Interest” ($8.9 million overseas).
This is Lanthimos’ first film to cross the $100 million mark after his previous, “The Favourite,” came oh so close with $95 million worldwide following a 2018 release. His next movie will be another Searchlight Pictures release, “Kinds of Kindness,” which will be his third theatrical collaboration with star and producer Emma Stone. “Kindness” is expected to hit theaters sometime this year. Lanthimos and Stone are also set to reunite in a remake of “Save the Green Planet!” which will reportedly shoot this summer. That film does not have a domestic distributor at this time.
Guiney and Lowe, who are celebrating their third Best Picture nomination with “Poor Things” (they were previously nominated for “Room” and “The Favourite”) are set to produce “Green Planet.” They first began working with Lanthimos on 2015’s “The Lobster.” Their credits also include the Emmy-nominated mini-series “Normal People” “Red Rock,” “The Guard,” “Disobedience,” “The Souvenir, Part II,” “The Wonder,” and “The Eternal Daughter.“
Nominated for both Best Actress and Best Picture, “Poor Things” marks the 16th, yes 16th movie, Stone has been a part of that has crossed $100 million worldwide (and we’re guessing everyone has already forgotten about 2013’s “Gangster Squad”). This is also the fourth film Stone has starred in which has earned a Best Picture nomination after “Birdman,” “La La Land,” and “The Favourite.” She won Best Actress in 2017 for Damien Chazelle‘s Los Angeles-set musical.
“Poor Things” is up for 11 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Actress, Supporting Actor (Mark Ruffalo), Director, Adapted Screenplay, Original Score, Cinematography, Costume Design, Production Design, Makeup and Hairstyling, and Editing. It is available for digital download in the United States today.