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Official Trailer

Burn After Reading(2008)
Released
2008 · FILM

Burn After Reading

A disgraced CIA analyst desperate to protect his explosive memoir teams up with a clueless gym trainer who believes the stolen disc contains top‑secret data, forcing them into a high‑stakes race against corrupt lawyers and dangerous operatives before the truth destroys their lives.

“Intelligence is relative.”

Directed by
Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Written by
Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Rated
MPA · R
Runtime
96 min
ComedyCrimeDrama
Streaming on
  • Netflix

Synopsis

When a disc containing memoirs of a former CIA analyst comes into the possession of gym employees Linda and Chad, they recognize an opportunity to earn enough money to fund life-changing cosmetic surgery for Linda. As expected, the situation quickly spirals beyond their control, affecting them and those around them.

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 480+ 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 Ethan CoenShot by Emmanuel LubezkiScored by Carter BurwellDesigned by Jess GonchorSound by Craig Berkey Nm0075389Costumes by Mary ZophresStunts by Jery HewittVFX by Randall Balsmeyer

Box Office

2008 · Box office

💰 Box-office hit — grossed 4.4× 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

$163.7M

Budget$37.0M
Worldwide gross$163.7M
break-even (2.5×)

US & Canada: $60.4M — 37% of worldwide · International: $103.3M (63%)

Opening weekend: $19.1M — 32% of its US run.

Opening week (7-day): $25.1M — 42% of its US & Canada run.

Peak 2,651 theaters

Full synopsis

Also known as

  • (English)Burn After Reading
  • Burn After Readingde
  • Burn After Reading - Wer verbrennt sich hier die Finger?de
  • Burn After Reading - A prova di spiait
  • (Bulgarian)Изгори след прочитане
Release dates around the world5 countries · show
  • ItalyAug 27, 2008
  • CanadaSep 5, 2008
  • BelgiumSep 6, 2008
  • NetherlandsSep 12, 2008
  • United StatesSep 12, 2008

Companies

ProductionFocus Features, StudioCanal, Relativity Media

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