Kundun
A young spiritual prodigy must unite a fractured nation and safeguard its ancient traditions while confronting an invading empire determined to erase his people's identity.
“The destiny of a people lies in the heart of a boy.”
Synopsis
The Tibetans refer to the Dalai Lama as
Credits
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How many hands made this film
The scale of the collaboration
Principal cast & crew: 19
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 Thelma SchoonmakerShot by Roger DeakinsScored by Philip GlassDesigned by Dante Ferretti
Box Office
1997 · Box office
📉 Underperformed — grossed 0.2× 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
$5.7M
Opening weekend: $28K — 0% of its US run. It had legs — it kept earning long after opening weekend.
Opening week (7-day): $28K — 0% of its US & Canada run.
Peak 2 theaters
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Cast & Crew
19 unique people credited
Top billed cast
Tenzin Thuthob Tsarong
as Dalai Lama (Adult)
Gyurme Tethong
as Dalai Lama (Age 12)
Tulku Jamyang Kunga Tenzin
as Dalai Lama (Age 5)
Tenzin Yeshi Paichang
as Dalai Lama (Aged 2)
Tencho Gyalpo
as Mother
Tenzin Topjar
as Lobsang (5-10)
Tsewang Migyur Khangsar
as Father
Tenzin Lodoe
as Takster
Geshi Yeshi Gyatso
as Lama of Sera
Losang Gyatso
as The Messenger
Directors
1Writers
1Producers
1Other crew
6Parents Guide
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Where to watch
Live · bot-verified- Paramount+Stream
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