The Coen brothers are two of the greatest filmmakers working today, as they write and direct most of their work, and they have such a unique visual and narrative vision that no other director can replicate. While Ethan Coen's current working status isn't clear, as the newly released The Tragedy of Macbeth is credited to just Joel Coen, they two work best as a team.
However, their movies' box office results would suggest otherwise, as their cult classics aren't immediately popular. And, interestingly, the brothers' movies that aren't beloved by their committed fanbase are the ones that are the most successful at the box office.
Inside Llewyn Davis (2013) - $32.9 Million
Inside Llewyn Davis is a typically moody Coen brothers movie, as it follows a struggling folk singer in the middle of the increasing popularity of the genre in Greenwich Village in the 1960s. The movie stars Oscar Isaac, who wasn't so much of a star in 2013 as he is today, and it also features fellow Star Wars star Adam Driver in a surprisingly hilarious role.
Because those actors have become world-famous stars in the time since the movie would surely have made more if it was released today. The movie also stars Justin Timberlake, and if the marketing was geared toward the star power in Inside Llewyn Davis, it would have easily have been more successful at the box office. But instead, the marketing and trailers focused more on the moody tone, which isn't exactly a big-ticket seller.
The Big Lebowski (1998) - $46.7 Million
$46 million sounds like pocket change in this day and age, especially for a beloved movie like the film is a cult classic.
The 1998 movie is a stoner comedy, but not in the way that Harold and Kumar or Friday is, as the film follows the Dude, who gets mistaken for a millionaire mogul and then gets caught up in a kidnapping conspiracy. The Big Lebowski is such a unique movie, but given how quirky and out-there it is, it might not have been appealing to general audiences.
Fargo (1996) - $60.6 Million
Along with The Big Lebowski, Fargo is one of the Coen brothers' most beloved movies, as it intertwines comedy and crime, and though that's their bread and butter, they haven't done it more effortlessly than in 1996 movie. Between the snowy and moody aesthetic of Minnesota, the goofy "Minnesota nice" accents, and the riveting mystery, it's the perfect Coen bros movie. It even won two Academy Awards, s McDormand won for Best Actress, and the Coens won for Best Original Screenplay.
On top of that, though it again doesn't sound like a huge box office success, the film overperformed worldwide. The movie had a production cost of just $7 million, so it made more than eight times its budget. The success of Fargo also inspired a spin-off TV series, which is just as celebrated as the movie.
Hail, Caesar (2016) - $63.9 Million
At this point, it seems like studios play the long game with the Coen brothers. They bank on them making prestige pictures that might not be huge financial successes, but they will make the rounds during awards season and will be talked about and watched for decades from now.
That might have been Universal's thought when greenlighting the George Clooney-led The Player. Because of this, the movie sits somewhere in the middle and is kind of directionless, and it didn't capture many people's attention.
O Brother, Where Art Thou (2000) - $71.8 Million
O Brother, Where Art Thou is another collaboration between the Coen brothers and George Clooney, which is a big reason behind the movie's box office intake. The movie has a complex concept that's hard to sell without a bankable star attached to it, as it's based on the epic Greek poem The Odyssey by Homer, only it's set in 1930s rural Mississippi.
The 2000 movie seems like the Coens are indulging in their favorite things, as not only does it see them working with their friends, but it's also the first movie they made that heavily features folk music. Folk music is something that would be the main focus of 2013's Inside Llewyn Davis.
The Ladykillers (2004) - $76.6 Million
The Ladykillers should have been a huge hit, as the movie is part of an existing property, as it's based on a hilarious 1950s movie of the same name, and it has Tom Hanks in the lead role. The movie comes off the heels of Hanks' box office hits Catch Me If You Can, but The Ladykillers killed Hanks' hot streak, as the movie made less than $80 million.
The movie had a budget of $35 million, and given that the rule of thumb is that the marketing budget is equal to the production budget, the movie's net profit was razor-thin. The movie might never have gotten out of the red due to movie theatres taking their cut too, and it's one of the few Coen brothers movies that hasn't become a cult classic and isn't endlessly rewatchable.
Intolerable Cruelty (2003) - $120.8 Million
Intolerable Cruelty is one of the movies least like the Coens' typical style, as it's as close to a generic romantic comedy a Coens-directed film could get. And that's probably why it did so well at the box office, as there's no deeper meaning and there's more of a focus on narrative than ambiguity.
But that's also why it was negatively received by critics, as this kind of movie is a dime a dozen. It's hardly surprising that the movie sits outside of the usual Coen brothers-type movie, as, according to Decider, it was the first movie they wrote as writers-for-hire, and they originally had no interest in directing it. Unfortunately, that's exactly how the final product comes across.
Burn After Reading (2008) - $163.7 Million
Just as is the case with most Coen brothers films, fascinating mystery spy movie that unfolds in ways that viewers would least expect. And that's why the movie was such a hit at the box office, that and the fact that it was released at a time when audiences would show up in droves to see anything starring Brad Pitt and Clooney.
The box office result is probably the outcome that the studio wanted for The Ladykillers, as Burn After Reading had a similar budget to the 2003 film, but it made more than two times its box office intake. Burn After Reading was the second huge success in a row for the Coen brothers, as the writer-directors followed No Country For Old Men in extremely quick succession.
No Country For Old Men (2007) - $171.6 Million
No Country For Old Men marked a first for the brothers, as they had never seen both critical acclaim and huge box office success for a single movie. Whether it's Intolerable Cruelty or Barton Fink, it was always one or the other.
Though the writer-directors won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Fargo, the 2007 movie swept up at the Oscars, and the brothers took home three awards at the 80th Academy Awards. And at the same time, it was sweeping up in movie theatres too. It's somewhat of a surprise that the film was such a darling at the Oscars, as the Academy doesn't tend to recognize thriller movies, and Anton is scarier than any horror villain.
True Grit (2010) - $252.2 Million
In case anybody wasn't convinced with 2008's Burn After Reading and then 2009's True Grit proved that the Coen brothers are two of the most prolific visionaries working in the industry. The creativity the brothers had in the late-2000s is completely unmatched, and they released a movie every year for four years in a row, all of which were classics. And those four movies made a combined total of just over $600 million, with a combined budget of just $105 million.
The brothers ended that run with their biggest successes ever with True Grit. Not only did the movie make over a quarter of a billion dollars, but that was for a western, a genre that hadn't been popular for decades, and it was nominated for an astounding 10 Academy Awards too.
