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Poster for Naked Lunch
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Released
1991 · FILM

Naked Lunch

A disillusioned exterminator chasing a hallucinogenic high must navigate a nightmarish, ever‑shifting city and confront a murderous doctor before his own mind—and reality— implode.

“Exterminate all rational thought.”

Directed by
David Cronenberg, John Board
Written by
William S Burroughs, David Cronenberg
Rated
MPA · R
Runtime
115 min
DramaMystery
Streaming on
  • Paramount+

Synopsis

Bill Lee, a blank-faced bug killer, and his dead-eyed wife, Joan, enjoy getting high on Bill's pest poisons while relaxing with his Beat poet friends. After encountering the sinister Dr. Benway, Bill receives a drug derived from a centipede. After using it, he accidentally kills Joan, begins receiving orders from his typewriter, which has transformed into a cockroach, finds himself in a continuously mutating Mediterranean city, and discovers that his laid-back friends have published his work—something he has no memory of writing.

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 157+ 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 Ronald SandersShot by Peter SuschitzkyScored by Ornette ColemanDesigned by Carol SpierSound by David ApplebyCostumes by Denise Cronenberg

Box Office

1991 · 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

$2.6M

Budget$16.0M
Worldwide gross$2.6M
break-even (2.5×)

Opening weekend: $64K — 2% of its US run. It had legs — it kept earning long after opening weekend.

Opening week (7-day): $125K — 5% of its US & Canada run.

Peak 5 theaters

Also known as

  • Naked Lunch - Nackter Rauschde
  • El almuerzo desnudoes
  • (Alternative Title)Festín Desnudo
  • Le Festin nufr
  • Il pasto nudoit
  • (Bulgarian)Гол обяд
Release dates around the world4 countries · show
  • United StatesNov 12, 1991
  • United KingdomDec 12, 1991
  • PortugalFeb 14, 1992
  • GermanyFeb 16, 1992

Production & Distribution

Production companies
Recorded Picture Company (RPC)Téléfilm CanadaOntario Film Development CorporationFilm Trustees Ltd.Pierson, Heldring & Pierson N.V.
Distributors
20th Century FoxFirst Independent FilmsActeurs Auteurs Associés (AAA)Egmont FilmEuropafilm
Special effectsBalsmeyer and Everett, Film Effects
Other companiesHanWay Films, Association of Canadian Film Craftspeople (ACFC), C.T.S. Studios, Directors Guild of Canada (DGC), Dolby Stereo, London Philharmonic Orchestra

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