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Poster for Meet Joe Black
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Trailer #1

Meet Joe Black(1998)
Released
1998 · FILM

Meet Joe Black

A media mogul on the brink of his 65th birthday begins hearing a mysterious voice that turns out to be Death itself, thrusting him and his estranged daughters into a high‑stakes battle to confront mortality before time runs out.

“Sooner or later everyone does.”

Directed by
Martin Brest, Laura Cercone Fiorino
Written by
Ron Osborn, Jeff Reno
Rated
MPA · PG-13
Runtime
178 min
DramaFantasyRomance
Streaming on
  • Paramount+

Synopsis

Bill Parrish is a successful, wealthy, and powerful man. Days before his 65th birthday, he is visited by a mysterious stranger named Joe Black, who soon reveals himself to be the personification of Death. Bill agrees to serve as Joe's earthly guide in exchange for more time. However, Bill begins to question his decision when Joe unexpectedly falls in love with Bill's beautiful daughter, Susan.

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 253+ 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 Joe HutshingShot by Emmanuel LubezkiScored by Thomas NewmanDesigned by Dante FerrettiSound by Ron Bartlett Nm0058897Costumes by Aude Bronson HowardVFX by Michael Owens Nm0654424

Box Office

1998 · Box office

⚖️ Fell short of break-even — grossed 1.6× 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

$142.9M

Budget$90.0M
Worldwide gross$142.9M
break-even (2.5×)

US & Canada: $44.6M — 31% of worldwide · International: $98.3M (69%)

Opening weekend: $15.0M — 34% of its US run.

Opening week (7-day): $18.6M — 42% of its US & Canada run.

Peak 2,503 theaters

Full synopsis

Versions & cuts

  • edited TV· 129 min

Also known as

  • Rendezvous mit Joe Blackde
  • ¿Conoces a Joe Black?es
  • Rencontre avec Joe Blackfr
  • Vi presento Joe Blackit
  • (Bulgarian)Да срещнеш Джо Блек
Release dates around the world3 countries · show
  • United StatesNov 2, 1998
  • JapanNov 8, 1998
  • BrazilDec 11, 1998

Companies

ProductionUniversal Pictures, City Light Films

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