The Wave backdrop
The Wave poster
#4,401 All-time worldwide
#133 2008 releases

Movie profile

The Wave

2008 · 107 min · Rat Pack Filmproduktion

Drama Thriller
IMDb FilmDB Where to watch

Box office snapshot

Financial performance

Reference figures based on available reported data.
Worldwide gross $32.4M
Budget $7.5M
Gross minus budget $24.9M
ROI 4.31x

Domestic gross

$16.2M

Estimated from worldwide gross

International gross

$16.2M

Estimated from worldwide gross

Opening weekend

$2.9M

Estimated from worldwide gross

Ranking context

Where The Wave ranks

Positioned across the all-time chart, release year, studio, franchise and genre indexes where enough mapped data exists.
Open rankings
All-time worldwide #4,401 All-time chart position of 12,922 titles Compared with every rankable movie in the current worldwide dataset. 2008 releases #133 Release-year chart position of 247 titles Ranked against movies released in 2008. Studio / company #2 Rat Pack Filmproduktion of 5 titles Position inside the mapped Rat Pack Filmproduktion movie set. Primary genre #1,664 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.

#4,397 Alpha Dog 2006 · $32.4M #4,397 Stuber 2019 · $32.4M #4,400 Detective K: Secret of Virtuous Widow 2011 · $32.4M #4,402 Nothing in Common 1986 · $32.3M #4,403 All These Years 2023 · $32.3M #4,404 Pokémon the Movie: Genesect and the Legend Awakened 2013 · $32.3M

Quick answer

How did The Wave (2008) perform at the box office?

High confidence

The Wave (2008) earned a reported $32.4M worldwide against a reported $7.5M production budget. Its gross-minus-budget figure is about $24.9M. The current gross-to-budget multiple is 4.31x. In this database it currently ranks #4,401 in the current all-time worldwide chart set and #133 among 2008 releases.

Worldwide gross
$32,350,637
Budget
$7,500,000
Gross minus budget
$24,850,637
ROI
4.31x
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 school teacher discusses types of government with his class. His students find it too boring to repeatedly go over national socialism and believe that dictatorship cannot be established in modern Germany. He starts an experiment to show how easily the masses can become manipulated.

Movie facts

Production details

Release date
Mar 13, 2008
Production
Rat Pack Filmproduktion, B.A. Produktion, Constantin Film
Countries
DE

Related indexes

Browse related box office pages

Studio / production companyRat Pack Filmproduktion Release year chart2008 box office Genre chartDrama Genre chartThriller

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AI summary

Why this movie matters

Released in 2008, The Wave is positioned in this dataset as a Drama, Thriller title from Rat Pack Filmproduktion. Its box office profile shows that available worldwide gross is $32.4M, reported production budget is $7.5M, gross-minus-budget is $24.9M, ROI is 4.31x. For comparison, it currently sits #4,401 all-time in the current chart set and #133 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.