Summary
- The highest grossing biopics cover a range of genres and showcase individuals overcoming challenges to achieve something extraordinary in their lives.
- Box office success is primarily driven by word-of-mouth and audiences finding something special in the biopic subjects that they want to see succeed.
- Biopics like "12 Years a Slave" and "Hidden Figures" have been both critical and financial successes, proving that uplifting stories can resonate with viewers and be among the highest grossing biopics of all time.
The highest grossing biopics in history include a strong mix of genres, from the historical epic to musical biopics to the story of regular people in extraordinary situations. When it comes to these movies, the entire purpose is to show audiences how a person can overcome all odds and end up doing something spectacular in their lives, whether this is something that helps the world or something that just shows that they can become special in their own ways. It doesn't matter if a person is a politician, a musical sensation, or a person who overcomes homelessness, the best biopics offer an uplifting story for viewers.
However, not all the highest grossing biopics are equal. There are some that have won countless awards at the Oscars and there are others that achieved public acclaim that seemed to fly right by the critics and award committees. When it comes to box office success, it is all about word-of-mouth, and while awards and critical recognition can play a role in it, what is most important is that people find something special when it comes to the subjects of these biopics and make them someone they want to see succeed. With 2023's Oppenheimer stealing the top spot, there is a biopic for everyone when it comes to the box office winners. All grossing information is from Box Office Mojo.
25 12 Years A Slave (2013) - $187.7 Million
Based on the memoir by Solomon Northup, 12 Years a Slave tells the story of Northup as he was kidnapped as a free man in Washington, D.C. by two conmen and sold into slavery. He ended up working on plantations as an enslaved person in Louisiana for 12 years before he finally was released. With Chiwetel Ejiofor as Solomon and ing turns from Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt, Paul Dano, and Lupita Nyong'o, the movie picked up nine Oscar nominations and won the award for Best Picture.
At the box office, 12 Years a Slave brought in 187.7 million worldwide on a production budget of just $22 million, making it a huge financial success story for director Steve McQueen and one of the highest-grossing biopics of all time. It was also a critical hit, with a very high 95 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
24 Rocketman (2019) - $195.3 Million
Rocketman is the highest grossing biopic about Elton John and his rise in the music industry. Taron Egerton is Elton John in this movie, directed by Dexter Fletcher (who worked with Taron Egerton on Eddie the Eagle before this). The film also sees Egerton actually singing the John songs in the movie rather than lip-syncing, which makes it feel different from other musical biopics.
The movie was a huge success, and while it only picked up one Oscar nomination, it did win for Best Original Song. At the box office, Rocketman earned $195.3 million worldwide on a production budget of $40 million, while facing a tough competition that included Godzilla: King of the Monsters and Aladdin.
23 Straight Outta Compton (2015) - $201.6 Million
F. Gary Gray directed one of the highest grossing biopics of all time with Straight Outta Compton in 2015. This musical biopic tells the story of the iconic and legendary hip hop group N.W.A. and takes viewers behind the scenes in the moments of their early careers where they were fighting to make their name while also struggling with racism and hatred every day of their lives.
By the time all was said and done, Straight Outta Compton became the highest-grossing music biopic of all time, although that record has since fallen. It even made $60.2 million in its opening weekend and received good reviews, thanks in part to original Ice Cube and Dr. Dre serving as producers on the movie.
22 Braveheart (1995) - $213.2 Million
While painted as a historical war epic, Braveheart is a loose biopic of the legendary Sir William Wallace, a Scottish warrior who led his people into the First War of Scottish Independence against King Edward I of England. The script was inspired by the 15th-century epic poem The Actes and Deidis of the Illustre and Vallyeant Campioun Schir William Wallace. Though it was met with high praise, Braveheart was criticized for its historical inaccuracies.
Mel Gibson starred as William Wallace and directed the movie, which went on to pick up 10 Oscar nominations, winning for both Best Picture and Best Director. Overall, it won five total awards at the Oscars, and was also a box office success, earning $213.2 million on a $65-$70 million budget.
21 The Aviator (2004) - $213.7 Million
While he is best known for his gangster genre films, Martin Scorsese has his fair share of biopics in his filmography, and one of the highest grossing biopics of them all was his 2004 movie The Aviator. The movie tells the story of Howard Hughes, a filmmaker and innovator, and Scorsese mostly focuses on Hughes deg aircraft, which later played into his movie Hell's Angels.
The cast was top-notch with Leonardo DiCaprio as Howard Hughes and Cate Blanchett as legendary screen star Katherine Hepburn. The movie earned six Oscar nominations, with Blanchett winning Best Actress and the movie picking up the Best Film award. The great cast and awards recognition helped The Aviator finish as one of the highest grossing biopics of all time, with a $213.7 million box office take on a $110 million budget.
20 Public Enemies (2009) - $214.1 Million
Michael Mann directed the crime biopic Public Enemies in 2009, telling the story of bank robber John Dillinger while on the run from FBI agent Melvin Purvis. This highest grossing biopic was based on the non-fiction novel, Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933–34, and had an all-star cast, with Johnny Depp as Dillinger and Christian Bale as Purvis.
While a biopic mostly on John Dillinger, not everything was historically accurate as the information was mostly from the FBI's side, and anything concerning Dillinger's private life was mostly left to creative decisions in the script. This caused the reviews to be mixed, but it was still a nice success at the box office, bringing in $214.1 million on a $100 million production budget, all while competing with a Transformers and Ice Age movie.
19 The Terminal (2004) - $219.1 Million
Steven Spielberg has made several of the highest grossing biopics over his career, and one of the least likely to become a success was The Terminal in 2004. This movie did have a major star in Tom Hanks, but it was not based on someone famous and was mostly a quirky story about a unique, mostly unknown man. The movie is a biopic of Mehran Karimi Nasseri, who lived in Terminal 1 of the Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport in for 18 years when he was unable to return home after a military coup in his home country, and after denied him entry.
Spielberg changed the location for the American-made movie to the John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City and renamed the character Viktor Navorski, casting Hanks in the role. The Terminal received mostly positive reviews and earned an impressive $219.1 million off a $60 million budget.
18 The Imitation Game (2014) - $233.5 Million
The Imitation Game saw Benedict Cumberbatch star as Alan Turing and was based on his biography, Alan Turing: The Enigma by Andrew Hodges. Turing was the cryptanalyst who helped decrypt German messages for the British government during World War II. The movie also starred Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode, Charles Dance, and Mark Strong, and it plays out as Turing telling the story of his time in World War II to two officers investigating a break-in at his home.
The life and death of Turing were tragic and this biopic reveals everything in his life, from his greatest success to his tragic demise at the hands of the government he helped in the war. The Imitation Game picked up eight Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor, but it only won one for the screenplay. It was still a big success at the box office, making $233 million in a small $14 million budget.
17 Hidden Figures (2016) - $235.9 Million
Hidden Figures is a biopic that tells the story of three African-American female mathematicians who helped the United States win the Space Race while they worked at NASA. However, since this took place in the 1960s, the three women remained behind the scenes and received little of the credit compared to their White male counterparts. While all the women were eventually replaced by computers, they played a huge role in John Glenn's rocket launches into space and this movie tells their story.
The cast was superb, with Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, and Janelle Monáe as the mathematicians and a ing cast that includes Kevin Costner, Jim Parsons, Mahershala Ali, and Kirsten Dunst. The movie earned three Oscar nominations, winning none of them, but it still managed to earn $235.9 million on a $25 million budget, making it one of the highest grossing biopics.
16 Sully (2016) - $240.7 Million
Clint Eastwood directed the 2016 biopic Sully, which told the story of Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger as originally told in his autobiography Highest Duty. The movie starred Tom Hanks as Sully, a captain piloting a plane for US Airways that ended up needing to crash land after hitting a flock of birds, which damaged both engines. He ended up landing the plane successfully in the Hudson River and saved all the crew and engers, becoming a hero.
However, when the National Transportation Safety Board attempt to prove it was a pilot error, rather than a heroic landing, Sully has to set out to prove his innocence and save his career. There was controversy about making the NTSB the villains, and even the real-life Sully felt it was too harsh. However, it made for a good movie and it ended up as one of the highest grossing biopics, making $240.7 million on a $60 million budget.
