Box office of Leone

[Cusser]

Damn. I thought GBU played in 1966 for the US in general.

I believe that the premier was in Rome in December 1966. English language version was likely lower priority.

The art theater playing the original OUATIA is something I didn't know about also. I thought all Americans would only find about the real version 20 years later through DVD release (? Heard something like that multiple times.

It was at the Valley Art Theater in Tempe, Arizona between February and April 1985 (because I remember who I saw it with).  Years later, with Mrs. Cusser I also saw the extended GBU at same theater as part of United Artists 90th Anniversary celebration (had to take the afternoon off work for that).  That theater would show classic films like Casablanca, Adventures of Robin Hood....

Mrs. Cusser was also blessed with seeing Once Upon a Time in America at a theater in the 1980s; this was at Scottsdale Center for the Arts which used to have a program of "cult films" which even included Once Upon a Time in the West; she still remembers three old ladies who came to see "Hank Fonda" ("if Hank Fonda is in it, it's bound to be good"), but they quickly exited just after Frank's gang sent redhead freckles flying...

With the video tape rental business taking off soon after, theaters like this pretty much died out, with such films occasionally being screened near colleges.  Sometime about 2000-2010 we were in Flagstaff visiting my youngest daughter, and a downtown theater had GBU on its marquee.

[stanton]

I believe that the premier was in Rome in December 1966. English language version was likely lower priority.

The Dollar trilogy came to the USA in 1967, all 3 in that year.
FoD in January, FaFDM in May and GBU in December.

[Jenko Morningstar]

The Dollar trilogy came to the USA in 1967, all 3 in that year.
FoD in January, FaFDM in May and GBU in December.

Yess, I meant 1967 instead of 1966. Thanks stanton

[Jenko Morningstar]

I believe that the premier was in Rome in December 1966. English language version was likely lower priority.


It was at the Valley Art Theater in Tempe, Arizona between February and April 1985 (because I remember who I saw it with).  Years later, with Mrs. Cusser I also saw the extended GBU at same theater as part of United Artists 90th Anniversary celebration (had to take the afternoon off work for that).  That theater would show classic films like Casablanca, Adventures of Robin Hood....

Mrs. Cusser was also blessed with seeing Once Upon a Time in America at a theater in the 1980s; this was at Scottsdale Center for the Arts which used to have a program of "cult films" which even included Once Upon a Time in the West; she still remembers three old ladies who came to see "Hank Fonda" ("if Hank Fonda is in it, it's bound to be good"), but they quickly exited just after Frank's gang sent redhead freckles flying...

With the video tape rental business taking off soon after, theaters like this pretty much died out, with such films occasionally being screened near colleges.  Sometime about 2000-2010 we were in Flagstaff visiting my youngest daughter, and a downtown theater had GBU on its marquee.

LOL! Yeah, It's definitely not part of "Hank's" usual stuff. I doubt they would've enjoyed the rest of the film. Shame about the art theatres. I'll be extremely lucky if I ever find one screening GBU in my country, if it's rare in the US, here in Peru it's nearly impossible.

[uncknown]

 I mentioned on another thread that the US box- office figures for GBU.are total bullshit.
It was a smash hit in.1968 with both the 45 single and LP going gold.
It was definitely one of the top ten grossing films of 1968.
I have speculated that the low reported rentals is a result of the disputes with Eastwood and their European partners over profits.
UA underreported GROSSES to avoid payments.

[Cusser]

I mentioned on another thread that the US box- office figures for GBU.are total bullshit.
It was a smash hit in.1968 with both the 45 single and LP going gold.
It was definitely one of the top ten grossing films of 1968.
I have speculated that the low reported rentals is a result of the disputes with Eastwood and their European partners over profits.
UA underreported GROSSES to avoid payments.

Agree.

GBU was a big hit, played first run (with B film as double feature) when I saw it in 1968.

When I took a film class at Arizona State University in 1974 (I got "A", my brother was in the class and got "B" and is still mad about that), I asked the professor what he thought about Leone's films.  He panned them all, said they were junk, but said that he'd never seen them.  He was gay, obsessed with Judy Garland, his taste in films was definitely different than mine; however, he hosted a weekly classic film showing on the local PBS channel, and they broadcast such films without interruptions.  My girlfriend and I watched one of those films one week, then took a walk and her top "somehow" came off....

[thehealthreview01]

Thank you for sharing this information with us.

[stanton]

I'm not so sure about that.
What Eastwood said is maybe true, or maybe not, but if the figures for the Leones are wrong, than the others could also be too low.

In Germany, where Leone and SWs generally were considered as successful, FoD was only about # 30, FaFDM was in the top 10, but GBU than again only at # 30 with 1,15 mio admissions. The most successful western in 1967 was Massacre Time (2,03 mio, marketed as Django sequel and # 7 that year), followed by Five for Revenge (1,89 mio, only hardcore SW fans know today this film directed by Aldo Florio) and  the mediocre Texas Adios (1,46 mio, another false "Django). GBU was for westerns alone only # 7 in 67, also  beaten by John Wayne (El Dorado, 1,21 mio), another mediocre SW (Wanted, 1,24 mio with Giuliano Gemma) and even the bad Mag 7 sequel Return of the 7 (1,47 mio).

The "official" BO for GBU is now given with 38,9 mio, and that's a lot for a budget of only 1,2 mio, but for UA their Bond films made much more in these years:
Thunderball (141 mio)
You only Live Twice (112 mio)
On Her Majesty's SS (82 mio)
Diamonds Are Forever (116 mio)

The BO for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is given with 102 mio for North America alone. Interestingly, unlike later The Sting, that one was not a hit in Germany with only 1 mio tickets sold.


Actually it is very interesting to see which films were successful in the 60s, and which now famous ones were not. It is often very different form what I had assumed before we had figures at hand.