Greta Gerwig’s adaptation of Little Women just achieved a significant box office milestone. The critically acclaimed and Oscar-nominated film has surpassed the $100 million mark.
Little Women becomes the 30th and final film of 2019 to hit the milestone and it did so without catering to the guy-leaning crowd that typically dominates the box office. Since opening on Christmas Day of 2019, the film has made $100.005 million at the domestic box office and an impressive $64 million from overseas markets which gives it a worldwide total of $164 million. Little Women cost $40 million to make so this is a true win for Sony.
Little Women got to this point by being a truly good film (95% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) and by appealing to women, both young and old, during the holiday season. As an option for girls, the film shined with these particular demo break downs: 76% of its audience was under 12) while moms repped 83% of the audience. Little Women also drew 44% of females over 25, and 27% under 25. The box office failure of Cats during that period, which also catered to the female demo, allowed Little Women to be the new top choice for the demo when Cats failed to deliver.
Greta Gerwig, fresh off her five-time Oscar-nominated Lady Bird, also put a fresh spin on a very familiar story that allowed it to feel new for the audience. Louisa May Alcott’s novel has been adapted numerous times but Gerwig found a way to make it feel like it wasn’t another rehash and, in the process, led it to six Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture. Much was made about Greta Gerwig not securing a Best Director nomination at any of the major awards shows this season but let us not sneeze at her Best Adapted Screenplay nomination for the film, which acknowledges her true strength as a writer with a voice for her generation. Gerwig also showed her ability to draw great work from her performers with a Best Actress nomination for Saoirse Ronan and a Best Supporting Actress nod for Florence Pugh.
Little Women is the second Sony film nominated for Best Picture to cross $100 million at the domestic box office. Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which has 10 Oscar nominations, was the first as it has a current domestic tally of $142 million.
