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Official Trailer

12 Years a Slave(2013)
Released
2013 · FILM

12 Years a Slave

A free African-American violinist from New York is kidnapped and sold into slavery in 1841, forcing him to endure brutal captivity and deception while secretly plotting his escape and reclaiming his identity.

“The extraordinary true story of Solomon Northup.”

Directed by
Steve Mcqueen, Steve Mcqueen Nm2588606
Written by
John Ridley, Solomon Northup
Rated
MPA · R
Runtime
134 min
BiographyDramaHistory

Synopsis

Set in the pre-Civil War United States, the story follows Solomon Northup, a free Black man from upstate New York, who is kidnapped and sold into slavery. Enduring both cruelty and occasional acts of kindness, Solomon fights to survive while maintaining his sense of self. During the twelfth year of his harrowing journey, he encounters a Canadian abolitionist, an event that will change the course of his life.

Credits

Actors
Editor
Production Designer
Director of Photography
Writers
Directors

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How many hands made this film

The scale of the collaboration

A crew of 321+ credited

Why a floor?

This is a minimum, not a total. We only count the credits we’ve captured so far, and coverage is uneven — a blockbuster might show a few hundred names while another of the same size shows a couple dozen. The real crews all ran into the thousands. The number here only grows as full credits are enriched — so we frame it as a floor, never a headcount.

Craft leads on file

Edited by Joe WalkerShot by Sean BobbittScored by Hans ZimmerDesigned by Adam StockhausenSound by Ryan CollinsCostumes by Patricia NorrisStunts by Andy DylanVFX by Tim Ledoux

Box Office

2013 · Box office

💰 Box-office hit — grossed 9.3× its budget

Why 2.5×?

Cinemas keep roughly half of every ticket sold, and a wide release’s marketing often costs about as much again as the film — so a movie needs to gross around 2.5× its production budget just to break even theatrically. It’s a rule of thumb, not the studio’s ledger (home video and streaming come later).

Worldwide gross

$187.0M

Budget$20.0M
Worldwide gross$187.0M
break-even (2.5×)

US & Canada: $56.7M — 30% of worldwide · International: $130.3M (70%)

Opening weekend: $924K — 2% of its US run. It had legs — it kept earning long after opening weekend.

Opening week (7-day): $1.3M — 2% of its US & Canada run.

Peak 19 theaters

Full synopsis

Also known as

  • (Bulgarian)12 години в робство
  • 12 Years a Slavede
  • Twelve Years a Slaveen
  • 12 Años de esclavitudes
  • 12 anni schiavoit
Release dates around the world2 countries · show
  • United StatesAug 30, 2013
  • CanadaSep 6, 2013

Companies

ProductionRegency Enterprizes, River Road Entertainment, Plan B Entertainment

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