Northern Lights backdrop
Northern Lights poster
#12,599 All-time worldwide
#85 1978 releases

Movie profile

Northern Lights

1978 · 95 min · New Front Films

Drama History
IMDb FilmDB Where to watch

Box office snapshot

Financial performance

Reference figures based on available reported data.
Worldwide gross $19,368
Budget $300,000
Gross minus budget -$280,632
ROI 0.06x

Domestic gross

$9,684

Estimated from worldwide gross

International gross

$9,684

Estimated from worldwide gross

Opening weekend

$1,743

Estimated from worldwide gross

Ranking context

Where Northern Lights ranks

Positioned across the all-time chart, release year, studio, franchise and genre indexes where enough mapped data exists.
Open rankings
All-time worldwide #12,599 All-time chart position of 12,922 titles Compared with every rankable movie in the current worldwide dataset. 1978 releases #85 Release-year chart position of 89 titles Ranked against movies released in 1978. Primary genre #5,710 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.

#12,596 The Journey 1959 · $19,873 #12,597 Trouble in Mind 1985 · $19,632 #12,598 Kill Code 2026 · $19,426 #12,600 Windrider 1986 · $19,367 #12,601 Bedevil 1993 · $19,183 #12,602 The Secret Rapture 1993 · $18,719

Quick answer

How did Northern Lights (1978) perform at the box office?

High confidence

Northern Lights (1978) earned a reported $19.4K worldwide against a reported $300.0K production budget. Its gross-minus-budget figure is about -$280.6K. The current gross-to-budget multiple is 0.06x. In this database it currently ranks #12,599 in the current all-time worldwide chart set and #85 among 1978 releases.

Worldwide gross
$19,368
Budget
$300,000
Gross minus budget
-$280,632
ROI
0.06x
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 bittersweet story of young lovers caught up in a political struggle waged by farmers against the grain trade, the banks, and the railroads. Set in 1915–16 North Dakota, a largely forgotten era of American history.

Movie facts

Production details

Release date
Nov 17, 1978
Production
New Front Films, Cine Manifest
Countries
US

Related indexes

Browse related box office pages

Studio / production companyNew Front Films Release year chart1978 box office Genre chartDrama Genre chartHistory

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AI summary

Why this movie matters

Released in 1978, Northern Lights is positioned in this dataset as a Drama, History title from New Front Films. Its box office profile shows that available worldwide gross is $19,368, reported production budget is $300,000, gross-minus-budget is -$280,632, ROI is 0.06x. For comparison, it currently sits #12,599 all-time in the current chart set and #85 among 1978 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.