Hoop Dreams
Two determined Chicago teens battle a grueling commute, cultural barriers, and relentless competition to turn their basketball dreams into NBA futures.
“An Extraordinary True Story.”
Synopsis
Every school day, African-American teenagers William Gates and Arthur Agee make a 90-minute commute from inner-city Chicago to St. Joseph High School in Westchester, Illinois, a predominantly white suburban school known for its strong basketball program. Gates and Agee aspire to become NBA stars, and with the support of their close families, they face the social and physical challenges along the way. The documentary, which was filmed over five years, follows their journey.
Credits
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How many hands made this film
The scale of the collaboration
Principal cast & crew: 18
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 William HaugseShot by Peter GilbertScored by Ben Sidran
Box Office
1994 · Box office
💰 Box-office hit — grossed 11× 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
$7.8M
Opening weekend: $33K — 0% of its US run. It had legs — it kept earning long after opening weekend.
Opening week (7-day): $33K — 0% of its US & Canada run.
Peak 3 theaters
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Cast & Crew
18 unique people credited
Top billed cast
William Gates
as Self
Arthur Agee
as Self
Emma Gates
as Self - William's Mother
Gene Pingatore
as Self
Curtis Gates
as Self - William's Brother
Steve James
as Narrator (voice)
Sheila Agee
as Self - Arthur's Mother
Dick Vitale
as Self
Arthur Bo Agee
as Self - Arthur's Father
Bobby Knight
as Self
Earl Smith
as Self - Talent Scout
Spike Lee
as Self
Supporting cast
2Directors
1Producers
3Other crew
5Parents Guide
AI Personalities
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Where to watch
Live · bot-verified- The Criterion ChannelStream
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