Why Would I Lie? backdrop
Why Would I Lie? poster
#11,075 All-time worldwide
#102 1980 releases

Movie profile

Why Would I Lie?

1980 · 105 min · Metro Goldwyn Mayer

Comedy Drama
IMDb FilmDB Where to watch

Box office snapshot

Financial performance

Reference figures based on available reported data.
Worldwide gross $1.2M
Budget $4.5M
Gross minus budget -$3.3M
ROI 0.26x

Domestic gross

$587,928

Estimated from worldwide gross

International gross

$587,927

Estimated from worldwide gross

Opening weekend

$105,827

Estimated from worldwide gross

Ranking context

Where Why Would I Lie? ranks

Positioned across the all-time chart, release year, studio, franchise and genre indexes where enough mapped data exists.
Open rankings
All-time worldwide #11,075 All-time chart position of 12,922 titles Compared with every rankable movie in the current worldwide dataset. 1980 releases #102 Release-year chart position of 126 titles Ranked against movies released in 1980. Studio / company #244 Metro Goldwyn Mayer of 281 titles Position inside the mapped Metro Goldwyn Mayer movie set. Primary genre #4,247 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.

#11,072 Chuck & Buck 2000 · $1.2M #11,073 True to the Game 2 2020 · $1.2M #11,074 Nightwatch 1997 · $1.2M #11,076 Our Father 2020 · $1.2M #11,077 Undine 2020 · $1.2M #11,078 Heathers 1989 · $1.2M

Quick answer

How did Why Would I Lie? (1980) perform at the box office?

High confidence

Why Would I Lie? (1980) earned a reported $1.2M worldwide against a reported $4.5M production budget. Its gross-minus-budget figure is about -$3.3M. The current gross-to-budget multiple is 0.26x. In this database it currently ranks #11,075 in the current all-time worldwide chart set and #102 among 1980 releases.

Worldwide gross
$1,175,855
Budget
$4,500,000
Gross minus budget
-$3,324,145
ROI
0.26x
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

Cletus is a compulsive liar. He prefers the term 'fabrication' to lie though. When Cletus becomes a social worker he's assigned the case of a boy called Jorge (with a 'J') who was taken from his mother. Cletus sets out to reunite Jorge with his mother, but to do so he has to fabricate many a story to keep Jorge from being adopted. In search of the mother, Cletus meets and falls in love with a women's advice councillor.

Movie facts

Production details

Release date
Aug 10, 1980
Production
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Countries
US

Related indexes

Browse related box office pages

Studio / production companyMetro Goldwyn Mayer Release year chart1980 box office Genre chartComedy Genre chartDrama

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Where to watch

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AI summary

Why this movie matters

Released in 1980, Why Would I Lie? is positioned in this dataset as a Comedy, Drama title from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Its box office profile shows that available worldwide gross is $1.2M, reported production budget is $4.5M, gross-minus-budget is -$3.3M, ROI is 0.26x. For comparison, it currently sits #11,075 all-time in the current chart set and #102 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.