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Released
1998 · FILM

Simon Birch

A determined dwarf boy with a fierce faith teams up with his troubled best friend to uncover the truth about his father's identity, racing against a skeptical town and their own insecurities before time runs out.

“Destiny has big plans for little Simon Birch.”

Directed by
Mark Steven Johnson
Written by
Mark Steven Johnson, John Irving
Runtime
114 min
ComedyDramaFamily

Synopsis

Simon Birch and Joe Wenteworth are boys known for their eccentric behavior. Joe has never met his father, and his mother, Rebecca, refuses to discuss the matter despite his repeated attempts to get answers. Simon, an 11-year-old with dwarfism, possesses a larger-than-life personality that contrasts with his small stature. He frequently challenges the local reverend with complex theological questions and accompanies Joe on his search for his biological father.

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: 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 David FinferShot by Aaron SchneiderScored by Marc ShaimanDesigned by David Chapman

Box Office

1998 · Box office

📉 Underperformed — grossed 0.9× 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

$18.3M

Budget$20.0M
Worldwide gross$18.3M
break-even (2.5×)

Opening weekend: $3.3M — 18% of its US run.

Opening week (7-day): $4.4M — 24% of its US & Canada run.

Peak 596 theaters

Also known as

  • Über Gürteltiere, Simon und michde

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