Contrary to how it looks, Everything Everywhere All At Once is a box office success story, and has actually risen to become A24's most globally profitable movie. In 2023, the movie's earnings reached upwards of $70 million in the domestic box office and breached $100 million worldwide - versus a production budget of just $25 million. Beyond the commercial implications for A24, the film company behind Everything Everywhere All At Once, this underscores the movie's cultural relevance in an era where experimental movies have gone mainstream.
In fact, apart from getting the best picture nomination for the 2023 Oscars, Everything Everywhere All At Once's directors Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert are also nominated for best director. Meanwhile, the movie's stars Stephanie Hsu, Michelle Yeoh, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Ke Huy Quan are in contention for Oscars as well. Along with several other Academy Award nominations for technical categories like editing and musical score, the movie is nominated for a historic 11 total Academy Awards in 2023. This isn't that surprising, especially considering how the movie did very well even early on.
Everything Everywhere All at Once Early Box Office Success Explained
Even though it took Everything Everywhere All at Once several months before reaching the traditional break-even point of grossing more than double its production budget, the movie's early performance is still pretty amazing. In May 2022 — around two months after its theatrical release — Everything Everywhere All at Once did very solid business, raking in $5.3 million to bring its then domestic gross total to $35.2 million. Its box office actually increased by two percent, which is quite uncommon (via Forbes). Even then, it was clear that Everything Everywhere would overtake profane crime thriller Uncut Gems, as the highest-grossing A24 movie domestically.
The staying power that Everything Everywhere All at Once saw after six weeks in theaters was impressive, and it hinted at its now stellar trajectory. Forbes even speculated that the film could end its domestic run with $65-70 million if it continued its impressive non-Christmas or awards-season hold akin to The Sixth Sense or The Greatest Showman. This actually proved to be quite a conservative estimate of the movie's success, as Everything Everywhere All At Once has grossed a total of $72 million domestically - and counting, thanks to the Oscars prompting reissues of the movie in theaters.
Everything Everywhere All at Once's box office is also special because it means there is still interest in original stories. This is not a tentpole release tied to an existing IP or franchise, so the great box office performance is especially meaningful. Everything Everywhere All at Once's praiseful reviews and word-of-mouth led to unprecedented success, especially during the pandemic. This is a good sign for movie theaters going forward as well, as it means that audiences are still willing to come out and see movies that interest them.
Did Everything Everywhere's Box Office Success Predict Its 11 Oscar Nominations?
In a way, yes — early box office success doesn't necessarily translate to Oscars glory, but in this case, it's a crucial aspect of how Everything Everywhere All At Once became a cultural phenomenon. For a movie that risked combining absurdist comedy, a family-friendly story, heavy symbolism, and subversions of cinematic tropes, the way Everything Everywhere All At Once made four times its production budget within a year is an astounding feat. Apart from how the movie spun a $25 million budget into box office gold, Everything Everywhere All At Once's IMDb record — being the first movie from 2022 to break into IMDb's Top 250 Movies list — also provided early clues that the Academy would eventually recognize the Daniels' contribution to contemporary cinema. Commercial success and online notoriety isn't everything, but for experimental films like Everything Everywhere All At Once, they certainly helped pushed critical conversations about the movie in the right direction.