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21 (2008) Trailer

21(2008)
Released
2008 · FILM

21

A brilliant MIT math student teams up with a covert casino‑hustling crew to win enough money for an elite medical scholarship, but as the high‑stakes games intensify, he must outwit ruthless rivals and his own conscience before his dream of becoming a doctor—and his freedom—are both lost.

“They proved the Vegas Blackjack System was beatable...by beating the hell out of it.”

Directed by
Robert Luketic
Written by
Peter Steinfeld, Allan Loeb
Rated
MPA · PG-13
Format
Shot on 35mm film
Runtime
123 min
CrimeDramaThriller

Synopsis

21 is inspired by real events and people, and follows six MIT students who train to become experts in card counting in blackjack. They then use their skills to win millions of dollars from Vegas casinos.

Credits

Actors
Editor
Production Designer
Director of Photography
Writers
Director

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How many hands made this film

The scale of the collaboration

A crew of 286+ 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 Elliot GrahamShot by Russell CarpenterScored by David SardyDesigned by Missy Stewart

Box Office

2008 · Box office

💰 Box-office hit — grossed 4.6× 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

$159.8M

Budget$35.0M
Worldwide gross$159.8M
break-even (2.5×)

US & Canada: $81.2M — 51% of worldwide · International: $78.6M (49%)

Opening weekend: $24.1M — 30% of its US run.

Opening week (7-day): $31.4M — 39% of its US & Canada run.

Peak 2,648 theaters

Full synopsis

Also known as

  • Las Vegas 21fr

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