Great Balls of Fire!
A rebellious rockabilly legend battles personal demons and public outrage as he fights to reclaim his place in the music industry.
“The true story of a legend.”
Synopsis
Jerry Lee Lewis was one of the most prominent and controversial musicians of the 1950s, widely regarded as one of the wildest figures of the era. Known for his arrogance, exceptional talent, and unconventional lifestyle, he frequently found himself at odds with others in the music industry. His behavior and personal life also drew public criticism and condemnation.
Credits
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How many hands made this film
The scale of the collaboration
Principal cast & crew: 22
These are the principals we have on file — the full crew ran to the hundreds. Every film this size was made by far more hands than any credits list ever names.
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 Lisa DayShot by Affonso BeatoDesigned by David Nichols
Box Office
1989 · Box office
📉 Underperformed — grossed 0.8× 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
$13.7M
Opening weekend: $3.8M — 28% of its US run.
Opening week (7-day): $6.3M — 46% of its US & Canada run.
Peak 1,417 theaters
Also known as
- Great Balls of Firede
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Cast & Crew
22 unique people credited
Top billed cast
John Doe
as J.W. Brown
Stephen Tobolowsky
as Jud Phillips
Trey Wilson
as Sam Phillips
Steve Allen
as Steve Allen
Lisa Blount
as Lois Brown
Dennis Quaid
as Jerry Lee Lewis
Winona Ryder
as Myra Gale Brown
Alec Baldwin
as Jimmy Swaggart
Joshua Sheffield
as Rusty Brown
Mojo Nixon
as James Van Eaton
Stephanie Sipe
as as Haney's Big House Dancer
Directors
1Writers
4Producers
1Other crew
6Parents Guide
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