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Released
1990 · FILM

Arachnophobia

When a deadly South American spider escapes into a quiet California town, a skeptical doctor and a gritty exterminator must race to eradicate the rapidly spreading arachnid menace before the community is wiped out.

“Eight legs, two fangs and an attitude.”

Directed by
Frank Marshall, Frank Marshall Nm0550881
Written by
Don Jakoby, Al Williams
Rated
MPA · PG-13
Runtime
109 min
ComedyHorrorThriller
Streaming on
  • Paramount+

Synopsis

A large spider native to the jungles of South America is unintentionally brought to America inside a crate containing a dead body. There, it mates with a local spider. Shortly afterward, the residents of a small town in California begin to vanish due to spider bites inflicted by the dangerous offspring. Two doctors, with the assistance of an insect exterminator, take on the task of eliminating these deadly eight-legged creatures.

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 181+ 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 Michael KahnShot by Mikael SalomonScored by Trevor JonesDesigned by Jim BissellSound by Kevin BartnofCostumes by Jennifer L ParsonsStunts by Chuck WatersVFX by David Sosalla

Box Office

1990 · Box office

⚖️ Fell short of break-even — grossed 1.7× 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

$53.2M

Budget$31.0M
Worldwide gross$53.2M
break-even (2.5×)

Opening weekend: $8.0M — 15% of its US run. It had legs — it kept earning long after opening weekend.

Opening week (7-day): $15.7M — 29% of its US & Canada run.

Peak 1,479 theaters

Also known as

  • (French)Arachnophobie
  • Aracnofobiaes
  • Arachnophobiefr
  • Aracnofobiait
  • (Bulgarian)Арахнофобия
Release dates around the world5 countries · show
  • CanadaJul 18, 1990
  • United StatesJul 18, 1990
  • ArgentinaOct 18, 1990
  • NetherlandsDec 14, 1990
  • AustraliaDec 26, 1990

Companies

ProductionHollywood Pictures, Amblin Entertainment, Interscope Communications, Ricardo Mestres Productions, Tangled Web Productions
DistributionBuena Vista Pictures Distribution, Warner Bros., Columbia TriStar Warner Filmes de Portugal, Ephraim Gilad & Co, Jadran Film
Special effectsIndustrial Light & Magic (ILM), Matte World Digital
Other companiesArriflex, CMMP Studios, Cenex Casting, Clairmont Camera Film & Digital, Dolby Stereo

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