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What was the most successful film of '91? If you said Terminator 2 you'd be wrong. T2 was the most popular release, with box office receipts exceeding $200 million, but in terms of a percentage return on investment, Boyz N the Hood emerges as the champ. Budgeted at a trifling $6.5 million, Boyz earned $56.1 million. By that system, the $90 million T2 wouldn't place in the top 20. In this chart we took the best available box office figures and contrasted them with each movie's estimated costs to determine the year's best performers. The title is followed by the estimated production budget (excluding prints and advertising), its gross theatrical receipts (excluding ancillary revenues), and the ratios between. Only films released nationally on more that 400 screens were included. MOVIE TITLE BUDGET GROSS RATIO
1 BOYZ N THE HOOD $6.5 Million $56.1 Million 8.63 2 HOME ALONE* $8 Million $132.3 Million 7.35 3 THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS $19 Million $130.7 Million 6.88 4 NEW JACK CITY $8 Million $47.6 Million 5.95 5 DANCES WITH WOLVES* $22 Million $122.5 Million 5.57 6 SLEEPING WITH THE ENEMY $19 Million $100.4 Million 5.28 7 CITY SLICKERS $27 Million $123.5 Million 4.57 8 HOUSE PARTY 2 $5 Million $19.0 Million 3.80 9 THE NAKED GUN 2 1 2. . $23 Million $86.8 Million 3.77 10TEENAGE MUTANT...TURTLES II $21 Million $78.6 Million 3.74
The list includes revenues generated solely in 1991, so several holiday releases missed our cut. The Addams Family, Beauty and the Beast, and Father of the Bride are all headed for ratios of 3.0 and better. Star Trek VI should settle in a half point under that. Likely to bring in twice its budget is The Prince of Tides, while Hook, JFK, Bugsy, and The Last Boy Scout should earn more than their costs. An American Tail: Fievel Goes West and For the Boys will gross less than their budgets. The high-profile flops sized up like this: Billy Bathgate cost $50 million and returned a paltry $15 million; Hudson Hawk, costing $60 million, earned $17 million; and Scenes From a Mall, which cost $34 million, brought in a mere $9.2 million. *Does not include revenues from 1990
