While many of Hollywood’s most prestigious films struggle to find audiences this awards season, Russell Crowe’s historical drama “Nuremberg” has quietly become a box office success story.
This Sony Pictures Classics release grossed $46 million worldwide, a high gross that places it as a hidden gem compared to some of its award season competitors. The Smashing Machines, starring Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt, grossed just $21.1 million worldwide despite some critical acclaim, while the more attention-grabbing films Bugonia and The Phoenician Project barely made more than $40 million each. Of course, it fell short of the box office success of “Marty Supreme,” which earned $79.5 million worldwide.
“Nuremberg” has done particularly well internationally, with international box office receipts already double its domestic box office receipts. The film has grossed more than $31 million overseas, where major markets have not yet opened, such as France and Germany. In Italy alone, Nuremberg grossed more than $8 million, beating last year’s major awards contender Conclave’s $6.9 million. The film also outperformed “Conclave” in the Netherlands, Denmark, Poland, Greece, Portugal, and Romania.
Directed by James Vanderbilt, “Nuremberg” follows Douglas Kelly (Rami Malek), a U.S. Army psychiatrist who examines Hermann Göring (Krowe) and other high-ranking Nazi officials during a historic war crimes trial. Crowe delivers what Variety calls “perfect command” performance as Hitler’s narcissistic second-in-command, with lines he learned in German.
The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September before being released in theaters in November. Despite being largely ignored during awards season, Nuremberg earned six slots on the BAFTA longlist, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Crowe, and two slots on the Academy Award shortlist. The two-and-a-half-hour drama maintains a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 95% to 96% and ranks as the second most popular movie on Amazon and Apple TV after its December 23 release on premium video on demand.
France is scheduled to open at the end of January, and Germany in April, so the global total for Nuremberg is expected to continue to increase. But it’s unclear whether these strong ticket sales will translate into Oscar love when nominations are announced next week.
