A Christmas Story backdrop
A Christmas Story poster
#5,577 All-time worldwide
#39 1983 releases

Movie profile

A Christmas Story

1983 · 93 min · Metro Goldwyn Mayer

Comedy Family
IMDb FilmDB Where to watch

Box office snapshot

Financial performance

Reference figures based on available reported data.
Worldwide gross $20.7M
Budget $3.3M
Gross minus budget $17.4M
ROI 6.27x

Domestic gross

$8.9M

Estimated from worldwide gross

International gross

$11.8M

Estimated from worldwide gross

Opening weekend

$2.7M

Estimated from worldwide gross

Ranking context

Where A Christmas Story ranks

Positioned across the all-time chart, release year, studio, franchise and genre indexes where enough mapped data exists.
Open rankings
All-time worldwide #5,577 All-time chart position of 12,922 titles Compared with every rankable movie in the current worldwide dataset. 1983 releases #39 Release-year chart position of 150 titles Ranked against movies released in 1983. Studio / company #52 Metro Goldwyn Mayer of 281 titles Position inside the mapped Metro Goldwyn Mayer movie set. Primary genre #2,186 Comedy of 4,840 titles Genre context based on the first mapped genre on this profile.

Nearby worldwide ranks

Comparable titles immediately around this movie by reported worldwide gross.

#5,574 Pandemic 2009 · $20.7M #5,575 Once 2007 · $20.7M #5,576 Dumb Money 2023 · $20.7M #5,580 The Photograph 2020 · $20.7M #5,581 Guntur Kaaram 2024 · $20.7M #5,582 Cat Ballou 1965 · $20.7M

Quick answer

How did A Christmas Story (1983) perform at the box office?

High confidence

A Christmas Story (1983) earned a reported $20.7M worldwide against a reported $3.3M production budget. Its gross-minus-budget figure is about $17.4M. The current gross-to-budget multiple is 6.27x. In this database it currently ranks #5,577 in the current all-time worldwide chart set and #39 among 1983 releases.

Worldwide gross
$20,700,000
Budget
$3,300,000
Gross minus budget
$17,400,000
ROI
6.27x
Source: TMDb. Last updated: Jul 13, 2026. View source Gross-minus-budget is not studio net profit. It excludes marketing, distribution fees, revenue splits, tax incentives and later home/streaming revenue.

Synopsis

Story

The comic mishaps and adventures of a young boy named Ralph, trying to convince his parents, teachers, and Santa that a Red Ryder B.B. gun really is the perfect Christmas gift for the 1940s.

Movie facts

Production details

Release date
Nov 18, 1983
Production
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Countries
US

Related indexes

Browse related box office pages

Studio / production companyMetro Goldwyn Mayer FranchiseA Christmas Story Release year chart1983 box office Genre chartComedy Genre chartFamily

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AI summary

Why this movie matters

Released in 1983, A Christmas Story is positioned in this dataset as a Comedy, Family title from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Its box office profile shows that available worldwide gross is $20.7M, reported production budget is $3.3M, gross-minus-budget is $17.4M, ROI is 6.27x. For comparison, it currently sits #5,577 all-time in the current chart set and #39 among 1983 releases. Streaming availability should be checked against the selected United States region because provider rights can change.

AI-generated contextual summary based on available movie, genre, ranking and box office data. It does not replace official distributor notes or financial reporting.
Data noteGross minus budget is not studio net profit. It excludes marketing, distribution fees, revenue splits, tax incentives and downstream revenue. Domestic, international and opening weekend figures marked as estimated are modelled estimates.