Box office
1917 grossed $159.2 million in the United States and Canada, and $225.4 million in other countries, for a worldwide total of $384.6 million,[5] against a production budget of $90–100 million.[3][4] Deadline Hollywood calculated the net profit of the film to be $77 million.[39]
In the US, the film made $251,000 on its first day of limited release.[42] It went on to have a limited opening weekend of $570,000, and a five-day gross of $1 million, for an average of $91,636 per-venue.[43] The film would go on to make a total of $2.7 million over its 15 days of limited release. It then expanded wide on 10 January, making $14 million on its first day, including $3.25 million from Thursday night previews. It went on to gross $36.5 million for the weekend (beating the original projections of $25 million), becoming the first film to dethrone Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker at the box office.[44] In its second weekend of wide release the film made $22 million (and $26.8 million over the four-day Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday), finishing third behind Bad Boys for Life and Dolittle.[45] It then made $15.8 million and $9.7 million the following two weekends, remaining in second both times.[46][47] During the four-day-weekend of the Academy Awards, the film made $9.3 million.[48][49]
Critical response
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 89% based on 460 reviews, with an average rating of 8.4/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Hard-hitting, immersive, and an impressive technical achievement, 1917 captures the trench warfare of World War I with raw, startling immediacy."[50] Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 78 out of 100 based on 57 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[51] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale, and PostTrak reported it received an average 4.5 out of 5 from viewers they surveyed, with 69% saying they would definitely recommend it.[44]
Several critics named the film among the best of 2019, including Kate Erbland of IndieWire[52] and Sheri Linden of The Hollywood Reporter.[53] Writing for the Hindustan Times, Rohan Naahar stated, "I can only imagine the effect 1917 will have on audiences that aren't familiar with the techniques Sam Mendes and Roger Deakins are about to unleash upon them."[54] In his review for NPR, Justin Chang was less positive. He agreed the film was a "mind-boggling technical achievement" but did not think it was that spectacular overall, as Mendes's style with its impression of a continuous take "can be as distracting as it is immersive".[55]
Manohla Dargis of The New York Times called the film, "A carefully organized and sanitized war picture [...] that turns one of the most catastrophic episodes in modern times into an exercise in preening showmanship."[56] Alison Willmore of Vulture compared it unfavourably to the war film Dunkirk (2017), writing, "The artifice of the aesthetic premise overwhelms any of the film's other intentions."[57]
In 2023, Parade included the film on its list of the "50 Best War Movies of All Time."[58]
Accolades
1917 received ten nominations at the 92nd Academy Awards, winning for Best Cinematography, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Visual Effects.[59][60] It received three nominations at the 77th Golden Globe Awards and won two awards: for Best Motion Picture – Drama and Best Director.[61] It also received eight nominations at the 25th Critics' Choice Awards, winning three awards, including Best Director,[62][63] and nine nominations at the 73rd British Academy Film Awards, winning the most awards – seven, including Best Film, Best Director and Outstanding British film.[64][65] It was chosen by the National Board of Review and the American Film Institute as one of the top ten films of the year.[66][67]
