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Poster for Real Genius
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Released
1985 · FILM

Real Genius

A brilliant college student teams up with a new prodigy to finish a cutting‑edge laser, only to discover the military plans to weaponize it and must outwit their handlers before the technology turns deadly.

“When he gets mad, he doesn't get even… he gets creative.”

Directed by
Martha Coolidge
Written by
Neal Israel, Pat Proft
Rated
MPA · PG
Runtime
106 min
ComedyRomanceSci-Fi

Synopsis

Teenage geniuses Mitch Taylor and Chris Knight are working on an advanced laser project when they discover that the military intends to use it as a weapon. Concerned about its potential for harm, they decide to take action to stop the plan.

Credits

Actors
Editor
Production Designer
Director of Photography
Writers
Director

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How many hands made this film

The scale of the collaboration

Principal cast & crew: 23

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 Richard ChewShot by Vilmos ZsigmondScored by Thomas NewmanDesigned by Josan F Russo

Box Office

1985 · 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

$13.0M

Budget$8.0M
Worldwide gross$13.0M
break-even (2.5×)

Opening weekend: $2.6M — 20% of its US run.

Opening week (7-day): $4.5M — 35% of its US & Canada run.

Peak 990 theaters

Also known as

  • Was für ein Geniede
  • Escuela de genioses
  • Profession: Géniefr
  • Scuola di geniit

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