List of highest-grossing independent films

The following page lists the highest-grossing films that were distributed by independent, arthouse, and mini-major studios. The Passion of the Christ is the highest-grossing independent film of all time.^[1] Independent films that were co-produced or co-distributed by major film studios, such as Inglourious Basterds and Paranormal Activity, are not included.

Highest-grossing films

  † Background shading indicates films playing in the week commencing 8 August 2025 in theaters around the world.

Rank	Title	Date	Worldwide gross	Countries	Film distributor	Ref/s
1	The Passion of the Christ	February 25, 2004	$611,486,736	United States	Newmarket Films	[2]
2	The Intouchables	September 23, 2010	$484,630,908	France	Gaumont	[3]
3	Dances with Wolves	November 9, 1990	$424,208,805	North America	Orion Pictures	[4]
4	The King's Speech	September 6, 2010	$423,999,102	Australia United Kingdom	Momentum Pictures	[2]
5	My Big Fat Greek Wedding	April 19, 2002	$368,744,044	North America	IFC Films	[2]
6	American Beauty	September 8, 1999	$356,258,047	North America	DreamWorks Pictures	[1]
7	Se7en	September 15, 1995	$328,125,643	North America	New Line Cinema	[5]
8	The Silence of the Lambs	February 14, 1991	$275,726,716	North America	Orion Pictures	[6]
9	Parasite	May 21, 2019	$262,857,186	South Korea	CJ Entertainment	[7]
10	Sound of Freedom	July 4, 2023	$250,570,396	North America	Angel Studios	[8]
11	The Blair Witch Project	January 23, 1999	$248,639,099	North America	Artisan Entertainment	[2]
12	Silver Linings Playbook	November 16, 2012	$236,412,453	North America	The Weinstein Company	[9]
13	Fahrenheit 9/11	May 17, 2004	$222,446,882	North America	Lionsgate	[2]
14	Good Will Hunting	December 2, 1997	$225,925,989	North America	Miramax	[2]
15	Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets	July 21, 2017	$225,874,228	France United States China Germany Belgium United Arab Emirates	STX Entertainment	[10]
16	Pulp Fiction	May 21, 1994	$212,894,343	North America	Miramax	[11]
17	Traffic	December 27, 2000	$207,515,725	North America	USA Films	[12]
18	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles	March 30, 1990	$202,084,756	North America	New Line Cinema	[13]
19	Kill Bill: Volume 1	October 10, 2003	$180,899,045	North America	Miramax	[14]
20	One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest	November 19, 1975	$163,281,275	North America	United Artists	[1]
21	The Hateful Eight	December 25, 2015	$156,480,177	North America	The Weinstein Company	[15]
22	Kill Bill: Volume 2	April 16, 2004	$154,116,796	North America	Miramax	[16]
23	Everything Everywhere All at Once	March 25, 2022	$141,054,397	North America	A24	[17]
24	Longlegs †	July 12, 2024	$126,867,598	United States	Neon	[18]
25	Civil War	April 12, 2024	$122,533,193	United States United Kingdom	A24 (United States) Entertainment Film Distributors (United Kingdom)	[19]
26	Crash	May 6, 2005	$101,173,038	North America	Lionsgate	[20]
27	Terrifier 3 †	October 11, 2024	$94,436,616	United States	Cineverse	[21]
28	Fritz the Cat	April 12, 1972	$90,000,000	North America	Cinemation Industries	[22]
29	The Amityville Horror	July 27, 1979	$86,432,000	North America	American International Pictures	[23]
30	Hereditary	June 7, 2018	$82,729,816	United States	A24	[24]
31	Moonlight	October 21, 2016	$65,172,611			[25]
32	The Whale	December 9, 2022	$54,883,206			[26]
33	Midsommar	July 3, 2019	$48,059,189	United States Sweden	A24 (North America) Nordisk Film (Sweden)	[27]
34	The Iron Claw	December 22, 2023	$45,745,981	United Kingdom United States	A24 (North America) Lionsgate (United Kingdom)	[28]
35	The Witch	February 19, 2016	$40,423,945	United States Canada	A24 (United States) Elevation Pictures (Canada)	[29]

Highest-grossing independent films by year

Year	Title	Worldwide gross	Budget	Ref
2024	Civil War	$122,533,193	$50 million	[30]
2023	Sound of Freedom	$250,570,396	$14.5 million	[8]
2022	Everything Everywhere All at Once	$141,054,397	$14.3–25 million	[31][32][33]
1978	Halloween	$70 million	$300,000–325,000	Halloween (1978 film)
1976	Grizzly	$39 million	$750,000	Grizzly (film)
1974	The Texas Chain Saw Massacre	$30.9 million	$80,000–140,000	The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
1968	Night of the Living Dead	$30,236,452	$114,000–$125,000	Night of the Living Dead

Timeline of highest-grossing independent film

Film	Established	Record-setting gross	Ref
Dances with Wolves	1990	$424,208,805	[34]
The Passion of the Christ	2004	$611,486,736	[35]
	2005	$612,054,506

See also

• List of highest-grossing films
• List of highest-grossing non-English films
• List of highest-grossing R-rated films

Notes