‘One Battle After Another’ Crosses $200M Worldwide — 65% of Total Gross Comes From Overseas

Back in September, when Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another” had that $22M domestic opening, it was seen as a potential bomb for a film that cost $150M+. Quite honestly, in any other pre-COVID year, we’d be assessing it as just that: a commercial failure.

However, these are difficult times for Hollywood, and we’re currently going through a phase where Oscar-vying films have stumbled at the box office this fall. The list is lengthy and brutal: “The Smashing Machine,” “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere,” “A Big Bold Beautiful Journey,” “Anemone,” “Roofman,” “Bugonia,” “Christy,” “Die My Love,” and “Kiss of the Spider-Woman.”

Yet here’s “One Battle After Another,” an original creation, unbound by IP, that has somehow managed to hit $200M worldwide this weekend. In 2025, that would be a feat unto itself if it weren’t for that ridiculous budget, which included a $25M salary for star Leonardo DiCaprio.

How did it even manage to cross the $200M mark? Warner Bros can thank international audiences. Despite the film having only made $70M domestically, its overseas tallies have been tremendous, especially in the UK, France, Spain, Italy, and Australia.

It’s the seventeenth Hollywood release to gross over $200M worldwide this year. It’s been a rough year at the box office, and hitting $200M is hard to do in today’s market. It’s actually semi-impressive that a nearly three-hour, R-rated, hard-to-describe political satire like this managed to make that much money

Now, if only studios could control the budgets on these films, then maybe they wouldn’t be losing so much money on them.

Last month, Variety estimated “One Battle After Another” would need to gross around $300M worldwide in order to break-even. The trade also projected the film would lose Warner Bros. around $100M during its theatrical run. That seems about right.

Then again, a film like this wasn’t made to only make money; it was made to attract awards attention, and in that regard, mission accomplished. PTA’s epic will likely earn 10, 11, maybe even 12 Oscar nominations by next year. With that will come curiosity seekers who stream or rent it. In the long run—and it could take a few years—it might eventually break even. For now, it’s certainly no commercial success.