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Poster for Fargo
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Official Trailer #2

Fargo(1996)
Released
1996 · FILM

Fargo

A desperate car dealer schemes to save his marriage by orchestrating his wife's kidnapping, only to find himself trapped in a brutal game of lies and violence with two ruthless criminals.

“A homespun murder story.”

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

Synopsis

Jerry, a car salesman from a small town in Minnesota, is deeply in debt and has devised a plan to hire two thugs to kidnap his wife in an attempt to collect a large ransom from his wealthy father-in-law. He believes the scheme will be simple and that no one will be harmed—until a series of deaths complicates matters. Police Chief Marge, a heavily pregnant investigator known for her coffee consumption and parka-wearing, is determined to bring the criminals to justice. With her small-town investigative skills, she is ready to give the crooks a challenge they won't forget.

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 46+ 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 Roger DeakinsScored by Carter BurwellDesigned by Rick Heinrichs

Box Office

1996 · Box office

💰 Box-office hit — grossed 8.7× 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

$60.6M

Budget$7.0M
Worldwide gross$60.6M
break-even (2.5×)

US & Canada: $24.6M — 41% of worldwide · International: $36.0M (59%)

Opening weekend: $730K — 3% of its US run. It had legs — it kept earning long after opening weekend.

Opening week (7-day): $1.0M — 4% of its US & Canada run.

Peak 36 theaters

Full synopsis

Also known as

  • Fargo - Blutiger Schneede

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