Theatrical release and box office
Being John Malkovich was given limited release in the United States theatres on October 22, 1999 and opened across 25 screens. On its opening weekend, the film grossed US$637,731 across 25 screens with a per-screen average of $25,495.[26] It expanded to another 150 screens the following week,[26] bringing in $1.9 million with a per-screen average of $10,857.[27] In its third week, the film's release widened to 467 locations and grossed $2.4 million, averaging a lower $5,041 per screen with a cumulative gross of $6.1 million.[28] It moved into a wide release the next week, expanding to 591 screens, and grossed $1.9 million with a 20% drop in ticket sales.[29] Its fifth week brought in $2.2 million with a 17% increase in ticket sales,[30] which dropped a further 33% the following week despite further expansion to 624 screens.[31] It finished its theatrical run after 26 weeks with a total gross of $22,863,596.[32]
PolyGram Filmed Entertainment was originally supposed to release this film outside the United States.[33] However, as a result of Seagram acquiring PolyGram's assets, its film division was folded into a new entity named Universal Pictures International, with all projects in different stages of development now transferred to that company.[34] The film opened in the United Kingdom in March 2000, earning £296,282 in its debut week[35] and closing after fifteen weeks with a total gross of £1,098,927.[36] In France, the film opened in December 1999 with a gross of US$546,000 from 94 venues and went on to further success due to positive reviews and word of mouth.[37][38] It grossed $205,100 from 109 screens on its opening weekend in Italy and ticket sales dropped by 37% the following week with a cumulative gross of $480,000 from 82 screens.[37][39] Its German release brought in a total of $243,071.[40] Being John Malkovich had a total foreign gross of $9,523,455, combined with its domestic gross to give an international total of over $32 million.[1]
Home media
Being John Malkovich was initially released in 2000 on VHS, both as a regular edition and a limited edition collector's set,[41][42] and on DVD, with special features including a theatrical trailer, TV spots, cast and crew biographies, the director's photo album and featurettes on floor 7½ and puppeteering.[43] A special edition DVD, released later the same year, included the aforementioned features, an interview with Jonze and two behind-the-scenes featurettes.[44] It was released on HD DVD in 2008. The Criterion Collection released a special edition of the film on Blu-ray and DVD in 2012.[45]
