Box office
The Wolf of Wall Street grossed $116.9 million in the United States and Canada, and $289 million internationally, for a worldwide total of $406.9 million;[2] it is Scorsese's highest-grossing film.[59]
In the United States, the film finished in fifth place in its first weekend with $19.4 million from 3,387 theaters, for a five-day total of $34.2 million.[60] The film made $13.2 million (a drop of just 27.9%) and $8.8 million (33%) in its second and third weekends, finishing in fourth place both times.[61][62]
In Australia, it is the highest grossing R-rated film, earning $12.96 million.[63]
Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 80% of 289 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.8/10. The website's consensus reads: "Funny, self-referential, and irreverent to a fault, The Wolf of Wall Street finds Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio at their most infectiously dynamic."[64] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 75 out of 100, based on 47 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[65]
Peter Travers of Rolling Stone magazine named The Wolf of Wall Street the third-best movie of 2013, behind 12 Years a Slave and Gravity.[66] Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote, "it is the best and most enjoyable American film to be released this year."[67] Richard Brody of The New Yorker called the film "Olympian", saying that if it was Scorsese's last film it "would rank among the most harshly awe-inspiring farewells of the cinema."[68] The Chicago Sun-Times's Richard Roeper gave the film a B+, calling it "good, not great Scorsese".[69]
Dana Stevens of Slate was more critical, calling the film "epic in size, claustrophobically narrow in scope."[70] Marshall Fine of The Huffington Post argued that the story "wants us to be interested in characters who are dull people to start with, made duller by their delusions of being interesting because they are high".[71] Some critics viewed the film as an irresponsible glorification of Belfort and his associates rather than a satirical takedown. DiCaprio defended the film, arguing that it does not glorify the excessive lifestyle it depicts.[72][73]
In 2016, the film was ranked #78 on the BBC's 100 Greatest Films of the 21st Century list.[74] In 2017, Richard Brody named The Wolf of Wall Street the second-best film of the 21st century so far, behind Jean-Luc Godard's In Praise of Love.[75] In 2019, Brody named The Wolf of Wall Street the best film of the 2010s.[76]
Audience response
The film received an average grade of C on an A+ to F scale from audiences surveyed by CinemaScore,[77] the lowest rating of any film opening that week.[78] The Los Angeles Times suggested that the film's marketing may have attracted conservative viewers who expected a more moralistic tone than the film presents.[79]
Christina McDowell, daughter of Tom Prousalis, who worked closely with Belfort at Stratton Oakmont, wrote an open letter to Scorsese, DiCaprio, and Belfort, criticizing the film for insufficiently portraying the victims of Stratton Oakmont's financial crimes, disregarding the damage done to her family as a result, and giving celebrity status to people (Belfort and his partners, including her father) who do not deserve it.[80]
Steven Perlberg of Business Insider saw an advance screening of the film at a Regal Cinemas near the Goldman Sachs building with an audience of finance workers. Perlberg reported cheers from the audience at what he considered all the wrong moments, writing, "When Belfort—a drug addict attempting to remain sober—rips up a couch cushion to get to his secret coke stash, there were cheers."[81]
Former Assistant United States Attorney Joel M. Cohen, who prosecuted Belfort, criticized both the film and the book on which it is based. He said that he believes some of Belfort's claims were "invented": for instance, Belfort "aggrandized his importance and reverence for him by others at his firm." He strongly criticized the film for not depicting the "thousands of victims who lost hundreds of millions of dollars", not accepting the filmmakers' argument that it would have diverted attention from the wrongdoers. He deplored the ending—"beyond an insult" to Belfort's victims—in which the real Belfort appears, while showing "a large sign advertising the name of Mr. Belfort's real motivational speaking company", and a positive depiction of Belfort uttering "variants of the same falsehoods he trained others to use against his victims".[82]
Top ten lists
The Wolf of Wall Street was listed on many critics' top ten lists for films released in 2013,[83] and was chosen as one of the top ten films of the year by the American Film Institute.[84] Metacritic analysis found the film was the ninth-most mentioned film on "best of the year" film rankings[85] and the 22nd-most mentioned on "best of the decade" film rankings.[86]
- 1st – Sasha Stone, Awards Daily
- 1st – Stephen Schaefer, Boston Herald
- 1st – Richard Brody, The New Yorker (tied with To the Wonder)
- 2nd – Wesley Morris, Grantland
- 2nd – Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
- 2nd – Ben Kenigsberg, The A.V. Club
- 3rd – James Berardinelli, Reelviews
- 3rd – MTV
- 3rd – Glenn Kenny, RogerEbert.com
- 3rd – Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
- 4th – Scott Feinberg, The Hollywood Reporter
- 4th – Drew McWeeny, HitFix
- 4th – Yahoo! Movies
- 4th – Christopher Orr, The Atlantic
- 4th – Barbara Vancheri, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
- 5th – Caryn James, Indiewire[87]
- 5th – Stephen Holden, The New York Times
- 5th – Rex Reed, The New York Observer
- 5th – Katey Rich, Vanity Fair
- 5th – David Chen, /Film
- 6th – TV Guide
- 7th – Matt Zoller Seitz, RogerEbert.com[88]
- 7th – Film School Rejects
- 7th – Todd McCarthy, The Hollywood Reporter
- 7th – Scott Tobias, The Dissolve
- 7th – Scott Mantz, Access Hollywood
- 7th – Mark Mohan, The Oregonian
- 7th – Sam Adams, The A.V. Club
- 8th – Nathan Rabin, The Dissolve
- 8th – Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic
- 8th – Randy Myers, San Jose Mercury News
- 9th – Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News
- 10th – Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com
- 10th – Jessica Kiang and Katie Walsh, Indiewire
- 10th – A.O. Scott, The New York Times
- 10th – Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald
- 10th – Marjorie Baumgarten, Austin Chronicle
- 10th – Keith Uhlich, Time Out New York
- Top 10 – (unranked top 10 lists)
- Top 10 – James Verniere, Boston Herald
- Top 10 – Stephen Whitty, The Star-Ledger
- Top 10 – Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
