Waiting for Guffman backdrop
Waiting for Guffman poster
#9,983 All-time worldwide
#170 1997 releases

Movie profile

Waiting for Guffman

1997 · 84 min · Pale Morning Dun

Comedy Music
IMDb FilmDB Where to watch

Box office snapshot

Financial performance

Reference figures based on available reported data.
Worldwide gross $2.9M
Budget $4.0M
Gross minus budget -$1.1M
ROI 0.73x

Domestic gross

$1.2M

Estimated from worldwide gross

International gross

$1.7M

Estimated from worldwide gross

Opening weekend

$324,800

Estimated from worldwide gross

Ranking context

Where Waiting for Guffman ranks

Positioned across the all-time chart, release year, studio, franchise and genre indexes where enough mapped data exists.
Open rankings
All-time worldwide #9,983 All-time chart position of 12,922 titles Compared with every rankable movie in the current worldwide dataset. 1997 releases #170 Release-year chart position of 246 titles Ranked against movies released in 1997. Primary genre #3,865 Comedy of 4,840 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.

#9,980 Made in Italy 2020 · $2.9M #9,981 Homework 1982 · $2.9M #9,982 A Better Tomorrow II 1987 · $2.9M #9,993 Flamingo Road 1949 · $2.9M #9,994 The House Next Door: Meet the Blacks 2 2021 · $2.9M #9,995 Tadpole 2002 · $2.9M

Quick answer

How did Waiting for Guffman (1997) perform at the box office?

High confidence

Waiting for Guffman (1997) earned a reported $2.9M worldwide against a reported $4.0M production budget. Its gross-minus-budget figure is about -$1.1M. The current gross-to-budget multiple is 0.73x. In this database it currently ranks #9,983 in the current all-time worldwide chart set and #170 among 1997 releases.

Worldwide gross
$2,900,000
Budget
$4,000,000
Gross minus budget
-$1,100,000
ROI
0.73x
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

Aspiring director Corky St. Clair and the marginally talented amateur cast of his hokey small-town musical production go overboard when they learn that Broadway theater agent Mort Guffman will be in attendance.

Movie facts

Production details

Release date
Jan 31, 1997
Production
Pale Morning Dun
Countries
US

Related indexes

Browse related box office pages

Studio / production companyPale Morning Dun Release year chart1997 box office Genre chartComedy Genre chartMusic

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AI summary

Why this movie matters

Released in 1997, Waiting for Guffman is positioned in this dataset as a Comedy, Music title from Pale Morning Dun. Its box office profile shows that available worldwide gross is $2.9M, reported production budget is $4.0M, gross-minus-budget is -$1.1M, ROI is 0.73x. For comparison, it currently sits #9,983 all-time in the current chart set and #170 among 1997 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.