City of Ember backdrop
City of Ember poster
#6,017 All-time worldwide
#174 2008 releases

Movie profile

City of Ember

2008 · 95 min · Playtone

Adventure Family Fantasy
IMDb FilmDB Where to watch

Box office snapshot

Financial performance

Reference figures based on available reported data.
Worldwide gross $17.9M
Budget $55.0M
Gross minus budget -$37.1M
ROI 0.32x

Domestic gross

$7.7M

Estimated from worldwide gross

International gross

$10.2M

Estimated from worldwide gross

Opening weekend

$2.3M

Estimated from worldwide gross

Ranking context

Where City of Ember ranks

Positioned across the all-time chart, release year, studio, franchise and genre indexes where enough mapped data exists.
Open rankings
All-time worldwide #6,017 All-time chart position of 12,922 titles Compared with every rankable movie in the current worldwide dataset. 2008 releases #174 Release-year chart position of 247 titles Ranked against movies released in 2008. Studio / company #4 Playtone of 5 titles Position inside the mapped Playtone movie set. Primary genre #1,368 Adventure of 2,138 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.

#6,014 Shield of Straw 2013 · $17.9M #6,015 Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie 2012 · $17.9M #6,016 A Prophet 2009 · $17.9M #6,018 Flyboys 2006 · $17.9M #6,019 Sibling Rivalry 1990 · $17.9M #6,020 Lucky Luke 2009 · $17.9M

Quick answer

How did City of Ember (2008) perform at the box office?

High confidence

City of Ember (2008) earned a reported $17.9M worldwide against a reported $55.0M production budget. Its gross-minus-budget figure is about -$37.1M. The current gross-to-budget multiple is 0.32x. In this database it currently ranks #6,017 in the current all-time worldwide chart set and #174 among 2008 releases.

Worldwide gross
$17,869,048
Budget
$55,000,000
Gross minus budget
-$37,130,952
ROI
0.32x
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

For generations, the people of the City of Ember have flourished in an amazing world of glittering lights. But Ember's once powerful generator is failing and the great lamps that illuminate the city are starting to flicker. Now, two teenagers, in a race against time, must search Ember for clues that will unlock the ancient mystery of the city's existence, before the the lights go out forever.

Movie facts

Production details

Release date
Oct 7, 2008
Production
Playtone, Walden Media
Countries
US

Related indexes

Browse related box office pages

Studio / production companyPlaytone Release year chart2008 box office Genre chartAdventure Genre chartFamily Genre chartFantasy

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AI summary

Why this movie matters

Released in 2008, City of Ember is positioned in this dataset as a Adventure, Family, Fantasy title from Playtone. Its box office profile shows that available worldwide gross is $17.9M, reported production budget is $55.0M, gross-minus-budget is -$37.1M, ROI is 0.32x. For comparison, it currently sits #6,017 all-time in the current chart set and #174 among 2008 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.