The Sea Wolves backdrop
The Sea Wolves poster
#12,016 All-time worldwide
#114 1980 releases

Movie profile

The Sea Wolves

1980 · 120 min · Richmond Light Horse Productions

War Action Thriller
IMDb FilmDB Where to watch

Box office snapshot

Financial performance

Reference figures based on available reported data.
Worldwide gross $220,181
Budget $12.0M
Gross minus budget -$11.8M
ROI 0.02x

Domestic gross

$88,072

Estimated from worldwide gross

International gross

$132,109

Estimated from worldwide gross

Opening weekend

$24,660

Estimated from worldwide gross

Ranking context

Where The Sea Wolves ranks

Positioned across the all-time chart, release year, studio, franchise and genre indexes where enough mapped data exists.
Open rankings
All-time worldwide #12,016 All-time chart position of 12,922 titles Compared with every rankable movie in the current worldwide dataset. 1980 releases #114 Release-year chart position of 126 titles Ranked against movies released in 1980. Primary genre #448 War of 483 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.

#12,013 Lesbian Schoolgirls and the Pleasure of Perverting 1983 · $222,087 #12,014 Under Suspicion 1991 · $221,295 #12,015 Santa with Muscles 1996 · $220,198 #12,017 The Cure for Love 1949 · $220,000 #12,017 Dala ilbanat 1969 · $220,000 #12,017 Lady Oscar 1979 · $220,000

Quick answer

How did The Sea Wolves (1980) perform at the box office?

High confidence

The Sea Wolves (1980) earned a reported $220.2K worldwide against a reported $12.0M production budget. Its gross-minus-budget figure is about -$11.8M. The current gross-to-budget multiple is 0.02x. In this database it currently ranks #12,016 in the current all-time worldwide chart set and #114 among 1980 releases.

Worldwide gross
$220,181
Budget
$12,000,000
Gross minus budget
-$11,779,819
ROI
0.02x
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

A German spy is passing on information about the location of Allied ships in the neutral harbor of Goa, India, with catastrophic results. Unable to undertake a full military operation in the Portuguese stronghold, English intelligence brings out of retirement a crew of geriatric ex-soldiers, veterans from World War I, using their age as cover. These old soldiers are asked to take to the seas and pull off an unlikely undercover mission.

Movie facts

Production details

Release date
Jul 3, 1980
Production
Richmond Light Horse Productions, Varius Entertainment Trading A.G., Lorimar Motion Pictures
Countries
US, GB, CH

Related indexes

Browse related box office pages

Studio / production companyRichmond Light Horse Productions Release year chart1980 box office Genre chartWar Genre chartAction Genre chartThriller

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AI summary

Why this movie matters

Released in 1980, The Sea Wolves is positioned in this dataset as a War, Action, Thriller title from Richmond Light Horse Productions. Its box office profile shows that available worldwide gross is $220,181, reported production budget is $12.0M, gross-minus-budget is -$11.8M, ROI is 0.02x. For comparison, it currently sits #12,016 all-time in the current chart set and #114 among 1980 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.