The Big Blue backdrop
The Big Blue poster
#9,511 All-time worldwide
#126 1988 releases

Movie profile

The Big Blue

1988 · 168 min · Gaumont

Romance Adventure Drama
IMDb FilmDB Where to watch

Box office snapshot

Financial performance

Reference figures based on available reported data.
Worldwide gross $4.0M
Budget $13.5M
Gross minus budget -$9.5M
ROI 0.30x

Domestic gross

$2.0M

Estimated from worldwide gross

International gross

$2.0M

Estimated from worldwide gross

Opening weekend

$360,000

Estimated from worldwide gross

Ranking context

Where The Big Blue ranks

Positioned across the all-time chart, release year, studio, franchise and genre indexes where enough mapped data exists.
Open rankings
All-time worldwide #9,511 All-time chart position of 12,922 titles Compared with every rankable movie in the current worldwide dataset. 1988 releases #126 Release-year chart position of 248 titles Ranked against movies released in 1988. Studio / company #28 Gaumont of 34 titles Position inside the mapped Gaumont movie set. Primary genre #1,826 Romance of 2,607 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.

#9,508 The Wild North 1952 · $4.0M #9,509 Maytime 1937 · $4.0M #9,510 Restoration 1995 · $4.0M #9,547 Gordy 1995 · $4.0M #9,548 Stop! That! Train! 2026 · $4.0M #9,549 Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael 1990 · $4.0M

Quick answer

How did The Big Blue (1988) perform at the box office?

High confidence

The Big Blue (1988) earned a reported $4.0M worldwide against a reported $13.5M production budget. Its gross-minus-budget figure is about -$9.5M. The current gross-to-budget multiple is 0.30x. In this database it currently ranks #9,511 in the current all-time worldwide chart set and #126 among 1988 releases.

Worldwide gross
$4,000,000
Budget
$13,500,000
Gross minus budget
-$9,500,000
ROI
0.30x
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

Childhood friends Jacques and Enzo share a passion for the danger of free diving. Jacques, following in the footsteps of his father, who died at sea when Jacques was a boy, harbors a remarkable ability to adjust his heart rate and breathing patterns in the water, with his vital signs more closely resembling those of dolphins than men.

Movie facts

Production details

Release date
May 10, 1988
Production
Gaumont, Les Films du Loup
Countries
FR

Related indexes

Browse related box office pages

Studio / production companyGaumont Release year chart1988 box office Genre chartRomance Genre chartAdventure Genre chartDrama

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AI summary

Why this movie matters

Released in 1988, The Big Blue is positioned in this dataset as a Romance, Adventure, Drama title from Gaumont. Its box office profile shows that available worldwide gross is $4.0M, reported production budget is $13.5M, gross-minus-budget is -$9.5M, ROI is 0.30x. For comparison, it currently sits #9,511 all-time in the current chart set and #126 among 1988 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.