Akeelah and the Bee backdrop
Akeelah and the Bee poster
#5,846 All-time worldwide
#170 2006 releases

Movie profile

Akeelah and the Bee

2006 · 113 min · Lions Gate Films

Drama
IMDb FilmDB Where to watch

Box office snapshot

Financial performance

Reference figures based on available reported data.
Worldwide gross $18.9M
Budget $8.0M
Gross minus budget $10.9M
ROI 2.37x

Domestic gross

$9.5M

Estimated from worldwide gross

International gross

$9.5M

Estimated from worldwide gross

Opening weekend

$1.7M

Estimated from worldwide gross

Ranking context

Where Akeelah and the Bee ranks

Positioned across the all-time chart, release year, studio, franchise and genre indexes where enough mapped data exists.
Open rankings
All-time worldwide #5,846 All-time chart position of 12,922 titles Compared with every rankable movie in the current worldwide dataset. 2006 releases #170 Release-year chart position of 248 titles Ranked against movies released in 2006. Studio / company #7 Lions Gate Films of 15 titles Position inside the mapped Lions Gate Films movie set. Primary genre #2,364 Drama of 5,859 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.

#5,843 Hum Saath Saath Hain 1999 · $19.0M #5,844 The Octagon 1980 · $19.0M #5,845 Headhunters 2011 · $19.0M #5,847 Kazaam 1996 · $18.9M #5,848 A Mighty Heart 2007 · $18.9M #5,849 The Man Who Wasn't There 2001 · $18.9M

Quick answer

How did Akeelah and the Bee (2006) perform at the box office?

High confidence

Akeelah and the Bee (2006) earned a reported $18.9M worldwide against a reported $8.0M production budget. Its gross-minus-budget figure is about $10.9M. The current gross-to-budget multiple is 2.37x. In this database it currently ranks #5,846 in the current all-time worldwide chart set and #170 among 2006 releases.

Worldwide gross
$18,948,425
Budget
$8,000,000
Gross minus budget
$10,948,425
ROI
2.37x
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

11-year-old Akeelah Anderson has a way with words. After winning her schoolwide spelling bee, she decides to enter the competition, despite her classmates' derision and the antipathy of her mother Tanya. Thanks to the efforts of her teacher Dr. Larabee, she reaches the finals. As she gets to know her fellow competitors, Akeelah realizes that coming first isn't everything in life.

Movie facts

Production details

Release date
Apr 28, 2006
Production
Lions Gate Films, 2929 Productions, Out of the Blue... Entertainment
Countries
US

Related indexes

Browse related box office pages

Studio / production companyLions Gate Films Release year chart2006 box office Genre chartDrama

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AI summary

Why this movie matters

Released in 2006, Akeelah and the Bee is positioned in this dataset as a Drama title from Lions Gate Films. Its box office profile shows that available worldwide gross is $18.9M, reported production budget is $8.0M, gross-minus-budget is $10.9M, ROI is 2.37x. For comparison, it currently sits #5,846 all-time in the current chart set and #170 among 2006 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.