No, no, the good kind of gross...as in moolah that UHF made at the box office!
All Time Rank - Australian Box Office Information - Current Adjusted Gross
Well, not much. Only $6,157,157 in the United States.
Not too well, considering how many 1989 films grossed higher than that:*
1. Batman - $251,188,924
2. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - $197,171,806
3. Lethal Weapon 2 - $147,253,986
4. Look Who's Talking - $140,088,813
5. Honey, I Shrunk the Kids - $130,724,200
6. Back to the Future Part II - $118,450,002
7. Ghostbusters II - $112,494,738
8. Driving Miss Daisy - $106,593,296
9. Parenthood - $100,047,830
10. Dead Poets Society - $95,860,116
11. When Harry Met Sally... - $92,823,546
12. The Little Mermaid - $84,355,863
13. Steel Magnolias - $83,759,091
14. The War of the Roses - $83,699,711
15. Christmas Vacation - $71,319,546
16. Turner & Hooch - $71,079,915
17. Born on the Fourth of July - $70,001,698
18. Uncle Buck - $66,758,538
19. Field of Dreams - $64,431,625
20. Tango & Cash - $63,408,614
21. Harlem Nights - $60,857,262
22. Sea of Love - $58,571,513
23. Pet Sematary - $57,469,179
24. The Abyss - $54,222,000
25. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier - $52,210,049
26. Major League - $49,797,148
27. See No Evil, Hear No Evil - $46,908,987
28. Black Rain - $45,645,204
29. K-9 - $43,247,647
30. Always - $41,843,630
31. Three Fugitives - $40,590,000
32. Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure - $40,485,039
33. The Karate Kid III - $38,793,278
34. The 'Burbs - $35,382,246
35. Licence to Kill - $34,667,015
36. Fletch Lives - $33,266,859
37. Lean on Me - $31,906,454
38. Weekend at Bernie's - $30,218,387
39. Road House - $30,050,028
40. The Bear - $29,564,471
41. The Dream Team - $28,890,240
42. Glory - $26,593,580
43. All Dogs Go to Heaven - $26,220,877
44. Do the Right Thing - $26,004,026
45. Sex, Lies, and Videotape - $24,741,667
46. To the Limit - $23,500,000
47. A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child - $22,168,359
48. Lock Up - $22,099,847
49. Cousins - $22,030,000
50. Say Anything... - $20,781,385
51. An Innocent Man - $20,047,604
52. The Fly II - $20,021,322
53. Dad - $19,738,015
54. Skin Deep - $19,674,852
55. Blaze - $19,049,727
56. Her Alibi - $18,699,037
57. Casualties of War - $18,671,317
58. Crimes and Misdemeanors - $18,254,702
59. The Fabulous Baker Boys - $16,823,529
60. Shocker - $16,554,699
61. Chances Are - $16,278,590
62. Prancer - $16,115,398
63. No Holds Barred - $16,093,651
64. Next of Kin - $15,942,628
65. Leviathan - $15,704,614
66. She-Devil - $15,351,421
67. Kickboxer - $14,697,005
68. Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan - $14,343,976
69. The Wizard - $14,278,900
70. My Left Foot - $14,041,353
71. Great Balls of Fire! - $13,741,060
72. The Adventures of Milo and Otis - $13,245,219
73. Pink Cadillac - $12,143,484
74. She's Out of Control - $12,065,892
75. Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers - $11,642,254
76. Gross Anatomy - $11,604,598
77. Police Academy 6: City Under Siege - $11,567,217
78. Young Einstein - $11,536,599
79. Family Business - $11,053,835
80. Who's Harry Crumb? - $10,982,364
81. New York Stories - $10,763,469
82. The Package - $10,647,219
83. We're No Angels - $10,555,348
84. Cyborg - $10,166,459
85. Henry V - $10,161,099
86. Criminal Law - $9,974,446
87. Tap - $9,114,702
88. Warlock - $9,094,451
89. Renegades - $9,015,164
90. Scandal - $8,800,000
91. True Believer - $8,742,750
92. Troop Beverly Hills - $8,508,843
93. Cheetah - $8,153,677
94. DeepStar Six - $8,143,225
95. Dead-Bang - $8,125,592
96. The Adventures of Baron Munchausen - $8,040,008
97. Dead Calm - $7,825,009
98. Enemies: A Love Story - $7,815,403
99. Disorganized Crime - $7,723,506
100. Johnny Handsome - $7,237,794
101. Relentless - $6,985,999
102. Shag - $6,957,975
103. Roger & Me - $6,706,368
104. Shirley Valentine - $6,353,913
105. Music Box - $6,263,883
Considerably more (a lot better than our 1999 tally anyway), but remember that many of the following movies had incredibly short releases (or were screened in just one or two cities). So ultimately, UHF fell almost exactly in the middle of all 1989 grosses.
1. Immediate Family - $5,932,613
2. Millennium - $5,777,099
3. Dream a Little Dream - $5,552,441
4. Second Sight - $5,368,865
5. Let It Ride - $4,973,285
6. See You in the Morning - $4,795,009
7. Drugstore Cowboy - $4,729,352
8. January Man - $4,611,062
9. The Mighty Quinn - $4,557,214
10. Pumpkinhead - $4,385,516
11. Staying Together - $4,348,025
12. Red Scorpion - $4,192,440
13 Listen to Me - $4,177,448
14. Loverboy - $3,960,327
15. The Phantom of the Opera - $3,953,745
16. Earth Girls Are Easy - $3,916,303
17. A Dry White Season - $3,766,879
18. Worth Winning - $3,690,400
19. Old Gringo - $3,574,256
20. Fat Man and Little Boy - $3,563,162
21. Physical Evidence - $3,560,932
22. In Country - $3,531,971
23. Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects - $3,416,846
24. Cruising Bar - $3,400,000
25. Camille Claudel - $3,331,297
26. Rude Awakening - $3,169,719
27. Speed Zone! - $3,077,361
28. Fright Night Part II - $2,983,784
29. 976-EVIL - $2,955,917
30. Gleaming the Cube - $2,777,280
31. Blind Fury - $2,692,037
32. Farewell to the King - $2,420,917
33. Chocolat - $2,317,091
34. Sing - $2,260,616
35. Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills - $2,156,471
36. Jacknife - $2,049,769
37. Rooftops - $2,043,889
38. Winter People - $2,023,282
39. Erik the Viking - $1,932,642
40. Communion - $1,919,653
41. Breaking In - $1,877,618
42. Cookie - $1,869,417
43. Miss Firecracker - $1,852,655
44. Bloodfist - $1,770,082
45. The Horror Show - $1,738,897
46. Last Exit to Brooklyn - $1,730,005
47. Best of the Best - $1,700,000
48. How I Got Into College - $1,642,239
49. Stepfather II - $1,519,796
50. True Love - $1,354,268
51. Romero - $1,316,495
52. Little Vera - $1,262,598
53. Lost Angels - $1,247,946
54. Miracle Mile - $1,145,404
55. Valmont - $1,132,112
56. Babar: The Movie - $1,305,187
57. Heathers - $1,108,462
58. Heart of Dixie - $1,097,333
59. Wired - $1,089,000
60. The Music Teacher - $1,086,894
61. The Little Thief - $1,055,416
62. Welcome Home - $1,029,822
63. Getting It Right - $960,385
64. Sweetie - $938,065
65. Queen of Hearts - $917,820
66. American Ninja 3: Blood Hunt - $902,152
67. Parents - $870,532
68. Crack House - $862,551
69. The Terror Within - $858,591
70. Little Monsters - $793,775
71. The Toxic Avenger, Part II - $792,966
72. For All Mankind - $770,132
73. Vampire's Kiss - $725,131
74. The Reader - $699,397
75. Distant Voices, Still Lives - $688,329
76. My Twentieth Century - $682,016
77. Apartment Zero - $670,774
78. War Party - $657,190
79. Cage - $618,178
80. Eddie and the Cruisers II: Eddie Lives! - $540,000
81. River of Death - $535,031
82. Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser - $518,918
83. Fast Food - $472,340
84. Slaves of New York - $463,972
85. The Rainbow - $444,055
86. Story of Women - $438,483
87. Othello - $431,795
88. Out of the Dark - $419,428
89. How to Get Ahead in Advertising - $418,053
90. Virgin - $410,109
91. Triumph of the Spirit - $408,839
92. Warm Nights on a Slow Moving Train - $400,000
93. Mystery Train - $367,879
94. The Toxic Avenger Part III: The Last Temptation of Toxie - $363,561
95. Night Game - $337,812
96. A Taxing Woman's Return - $333,584
97. Crusoe - $315,421
98. Out Cold - $294,266
99. Cold Feet - $289,975
100. Powwow Highway - $283,747
101. Kill Me Again - $283,694
102. Heavy Petting - $272,371
103. Paperhouse - $241,278
104. Eat a Bowl of Tea - $231,423
105. Fist Fighter - $221,163
106. A Chorus of Disapproval - $216,373
107. Four Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle - $215,073
108. The Rachel Papers - $201,468
109. The Return of Swamp Thing - $192,816
110. Beverly Hills Brats - $192,561
111. For Queen and Country - $191,051
112. Hell High - $187,920
113. The Experts - $169,203
114. Night Visitor - $166,635
115. Bye Bye Blues - $161,323
116. 84 Charlie Mopic - $154,264
117. I, Madman - $151,203
118. Under the Boardwalk - $147,542
119. Cameron's Closet - $136,203
120. Sidewalk Stories - $131,433
121. Brown Bread Sandwiches - $120,513
122. The Big Picture - $117,463
123. Heart of Midnight - $113,275
124. No Retreat, No Surrender II - $108,154
125. Edge of Sanity - $102,219
126. Race for Glory - $100,326
If you're asking yourself, "Self, when all known movie grosses are factored in, how does our beloved UHF rank on the U.S. all time highest-grossing movies list?", then you've come to the right place!
As of November 14, UHF is the 2,766th highest-grossing film of all time!
(Ranking is based on research and calculations made exclusively for this web page, based on known grosses as reported by the Internet Movie Database and other sources. Other sources may come up with different results. For example, the Box Office Mojo web site for some reason has info on another six hundred or so movie grosses that nobody else seems to know about, so their ranking for UHF is considerably higher...or lower, depending how you look at it. Anyway, our tally is the more generous of the two.)
UHF's opening weekend
UHF was officially released July 21, 1989. Although it was up against all of the summer blockbusters that were already in theaters, the movie had very few new releases to compete with that weekend. The only other new wide release was Shag, while Valentino Returns was released in New York and Los Angeles and Eat a Bowl of Tea was only released in New York.
Unfortunately, it wasn't exactly a spectacular opening weekend. UHF brought in just $2,251,831, ranking #11 on that weekend's box office chart. Despite opening in an impressive 1,295 theaters, it only averaged about $1,738 per theater.
Meanwhile the summer's other big movies were doing quite well. The still-new Lethal Weapon 2 dominated the box office that weekend by taking in a little over $13 million. Batman, When Harry Met Sally..., Honey I Shrunk the Kids, and the James Bond adventure License to Kill rounded out the top five spots.
Despite the poor U.S. showing, Orion decided to release UHF around the rest of the world throughout 1989. In Australia the film, retitled The Vidiot from U.H.F., was released on November 2.
Apparently Australians didn't appreciate the movie right away either (although, to be fair, it wasn't exactly a major release in the country). Vidiot's opening weekend gross was just $81,161 AU (the equivalent of $55,384.27 when converted to the current U.S. dollar value). The movie would end up only taking in $168,506 AU (or $114,988.49 here), becoming the 109th highest-grossing movie of the year (out of 211).
NOTE! We're always on the lookout for more international release and gross information. If you have some, by all means let us know!
Since the average movie-ticket price has changed a little since 1989, some people may be curious to know what UHF's gross is when adjusted for inflation.
It doesn't really help much, but UHF's gross would be equal to about $8,811,370 today.
The movies that do usually benefit from such readjusting are ones that people got in to see for a nickel! Box-office ticket prices have increased since 1989, but not that much.
And also it's a very vague science of math. Almost every movie has been seen by different age groups at different times of day, meaning several different prices for tickets. Figuring out how much of a movie's actual gross was made up of senior tickets, or kids tickets, or matinee tickets is not only impossible but futile.
*All known grosses listed are for films originally released in the United States in the year 1989. Rereleases of older films are not included. Listed gross for each movie reflects the film's entire take at the box office in its original release, which may or may not include money earned in 1990. This list was compiled exclusively for this web page, based on grosses reported on the Internet Movie Database and The Numbers web sites.
Additional domestic gross information according to the Box Office Mojo web site. Australian release and gross information according to Moviemarshal.com.
UHF ©1989 Orion Pictures/MGM.
