Wag the Dog backdrop
Wag the Dog movie poster

Wag the DogFollow

1997 • R • 1h 37m • Comedy, Drama • New Line Cinema

A comedy about truth, justice and other special effects.

🍅 86% 76% MC 74 LB 3.55 IMDb 7.1
CS B-

Box office summary

Opening weekend
$92.1K
3-day opening
Domestic total
$43.10M
Final
Worldwide total
$64.30M
$21.20M international
Domestic legs5.5x from $7.8M first wide weekend
Budget$15M
1997 rank#49
Compare with other movies

Cast & crew

Full Levinson filmography
Barry Levinson Barry Levinson Director Dustin Hoffman Dustin Hoffman Starring Robert De Niro Robert De Niro Starring Anne Heche Anne Heche Starring Denis Leary Denis Leary Starring Andrea Martin Andrea Martin Starring
ScreenplayHilary Henkin, David Mamet Produced byBarry Levinson, Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal CinematographyRobert Richardson Music byMark Knopfler StudioNew Line Cinema

The run

WkWeekendRankGrossChgTheatersAvgTotal
1 Dec 26-28 35 $92.1K — 3 $30,693 $124.2K
2 Jan 2-4 17 $1.2M +1198.0% 69 $17,322 $1.4M
3 Jan 9-11 4 $7.8M +550.8% 1,665 $4,672 $9.7M
4 Jan 16-18 7 $5.8M −26.0% 1,752 $3,284 $17.3M
5 Jan 23-25 6 $4.4M −23.9% 1,726 $2,538 $23.3M
6 Jan 30-Feb 1 7 $4.8M +9.0% 1,685 $2,834 $29.5M
7 Feb 6-8 8 $3.4M −29.4% 1,586 $2,127 $33.8M
8 Feb 13-15 12 $2.6M −23.7% 1,102 $2,336 $37.0M
9 Feb 20-22 12 $1.6M −37.5% 1,031 $1,559 $39.1M
10 Feb 27-Mar 1 15 $987.1K −38.6% 850 $1,161 $40.5M
11 Mar 6-8 21 $416.0K −57.9% 540 $770 $41.2M
12 Mar 13-15 27 $297.8K −28.4% 319 $934 $41.7M
13 Mar 20-22 33 $172.2K −42.2% 321 $536 $42.0M
14 Mar 27-29 36 $95.2K −44.7% 130 $732 $42.1M
15 Apr 3-5 46 $64.5K −32.3% 103 $626 $42.2M
16 Apr 10-12 25 $264.6K +310.5% 395 $670 $42.5M
17 Apr 17-19 32 $157.9K −40.3% 280 $564 $42.8M
18 Apr 24-26 48 $70.4K −55.4% 170 $414 $43.0M
19 May 1-3 59 $39.6K −43.7% 102 $389 $43.0M
Charts show the first 10 weeks · the run above is the full record
Weekend grossWk 10 · $987.1K
$92.1K
$1.2M
$7.8M
$5.8M
$4.4M
$4.8M
$3.4M
$2.6M
$1.6M
$987.1K
W1W2W3W4W5W6W7W8W9W10
Weekend-over-weekend dropWk 10 · −38.6%
+1198.0%
W1→2
+550.8%
W2→3
−26.0%
W3→4
−23.9%
W4→5
+9.0%
W5→6
−29.4%
W6→7
−23.7%
W7→8
−37.5%
W8→9
−38.6%
W9→10
Steepest −38.6%Biggest gain +1198.0%

Profitability

Return on Budget
Theatrical breakeven point is approx. 2.5x production budget

Domestic vs International Split

Similar movies

Rain Man 1988 · Levinson $172.8M Sleepers 1996 · Levinson $53.3M The Intern 2015 · Meyers $75.8M Edtv 1999 · Howard $22.5M Biloxi Blues 1988 · Nichols $43.2M Lost in Translation 2003 · Coppola $44.6M

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