Zelig backdrop
Zelig poster
#7,261 All-time worldwide
#57 1983 releases

Movie profile

Zelig

1983 · 79 min · Orion Pictures

Comedy
IMDb FilmDB Where to watch

Box office snapshot

Financial performance

Reference figures based on available reported data.
Worldwide gross $11.8M
Budget $13.5M
Gross minus budget -$1.7M
ROI 0.87x

Domestic gross

$4.7M

Estimated from worldwide gross

International gross

$7.1M

Estimated from worldwide gross

Opening weekend

$1.3M

Estimated from worldwide gross

Ranking context

Where Zelig ranks

Positioned across the all-time chart, release year, studio, franchise and genre indexes where enough mapped data exists.
Open rankings
All-time worldwide #7,261 All-time chart position of 12,922 titles Compared with every rankable movie in the current worldwide dataset. 1983 releases #57 Release-year chart position of 150 titles Ranked against movies released in 1983. Studio / company #39 Orion Pictures of 80 titles Position inside the mapped Orion Pictures movie set. Primary genre #2,818 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.

#7,257 Back Roads 1981 · $11.8M #7,257 Sita Ramam 2022 · $11.8M #7,260 3 Ninjas Kick Back 1994 · $11.8M #7,262 The Belko Experiment 2017 · $11.8M #7,263 This Must Be the Place 2011 · $11.8M #7,264 I Can Quit Whenever I Want 2019 · $11.8M

Quick answer

How did Zelig (1983) perform at the box office?

High confidence

Zelig (1983) earned a reported $11.8M worldwide against a reported $13.5M production budget. Its gross-minus-budget figure is about -$1.7M. The current gross-to-budget multiple is 0.87x. In this database it currently ranks #7,261 in the current all-time worldwide chart set and #57 among 1983 releases.

Worldwide gross
$11,798,616
Budget
$13,500,000
Gross minus budget
-$1,701,384
ROI
0.87x
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

Fictional documentary about the life of human chameleon Leonard Zelig, a man who becomes a celebrity in the 1920s due to his ability to look and act like whoever is around him. Clever editing places Zelig in real newsreel footage of Woodrow Wilson, Babe Ruth, and others.

Movie facts

Production details

Release date
Jul 15, 1983
Production
Orion Pictures, Jack Rollins & Charles H. Joffe Productions
Countries
US

Related indexes

Browse related box office pages

Studio / production companyOrion Pictures Release year chart1983 box office Genre chartComedy

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AI summary

Why this movie matters

Released in 1983, Zelig is positioned in this dataset as a Comedy title from Orion Pictures. Its box office profile shows that available worldwide gross is $11.8M, reported production budget is $13.5M, gross-minus-budget is -$1.7M, ROI is 0.87x. For comparison, it currently sits #7,261 all-time in the current chart set and #57 among 1983 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.