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Released
1994 · FILM

Airheads

A desperate heavy‑metal trio hijacks a Los Angeles FM station and holds its staff hostage to force the airplay of their demo tape, sparking a chaotic showdown that could make—or break—their dreams.

“The amps are on but nobody's home.”

Directed by
Michael Lehmann, Joe Camp Iii
Written by
Rich Wilkes, Michael Anthony Jackson
Rated
MPA · PG-13
Runtime
92 min
ComedyCrimeMusic
Streaming on
  • Paramount+

Synopsis

The Lone Rangers are a band with aspirations in heavy metal and a single demo tape that has yet to gain any attention. To address this, they decide to take drastic action by hijacking an FM rock radio station and taking the deejays hostage until the station agrees to air their tape.

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 201+ 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 Stephen SemelShot by John SchwartzmanScored by Carter BurwellDesigned by David NicholsSound by Douglas AxtellCostumes by Bridget Kelly

Box Office

1994 · Box office

📉 Underperformed — grossed 0.4× 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

$5.8M

Budget$15.0M
Worldwide gross$5.8M
break-even (2.5×)

Opening weekend: $1.9M — 33% of its US run.

Opening week (7-day): $3.3M — 57% of its US & Canada run.

Peak 1,228 theaters

Also known as

  • (English)Airheads
  • Cabezas huecases
  • Radio Rebelsfr
  • (Bulgarian)Въздухари
Release dates around the world4 countries · show
  • United StatesJul 27, 1994
  • United KingdomOct 21, 1994
  • SpainOct 28, 1994
  • MexicoOct 28, 1994

Companies

Production20th Century Fox, Island World, Robert Simonds Productions
Distribution20th Century Fox, Manuel Salvador, Filmes Castello Lopes
Special effectsPacific Data Images (PDI)
Other companies20th Century Fox Sound Department, Animals for Hollywood, Bill Dance Casting, C.A.S.T. Security, Central Casting

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