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Official Trailer

The Aviator(2004)
Released
2004 · FILM

The Aviator

Obsessive‑minded prodigy Howard Hughes races to revolutionize both cinema and aviation, but his relentless pursuit of perfection threatens to destroy the very empire—and his sanity—he's building.

“Some men dream the future. He built it.”

Directed by
Martin Scorsese, Fabrice Barrilliet
Written by
John Logan, John Logan Nm0517589
Rated
MPA · PG-13
Runtime
170 min
BiographyDrama

Synopsis

The film is a biographical portrayal of filmmaker and aviation pioneer Howard Hughes, focusing on his life from 1927 to 1947. During this period, Hughes emerged as a successful film producer and a prominent figure in the aviation industry. Concurrently, he experienced increasing instability due to severe obsessive-compulsive disorder.

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 362+ 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 Thelma SchoonmakerShot by Robert RichardsonScored by Howard ShoreDesigned by Dante FerrettiSound by Tom FleischmanCostumes by Sandy Powell Nm0694309Stunts by Doug ColemanVFX by Ron Ames

Box Office

2004 · Box office

⚖️ Fell short of break-even — grossed 1.9× 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

$213.7M

Budget$110.0M
Worldwide gross$213.7M
break-even (2.5×)

US & Canada: $102.6M — 48% of worldwide · International: $111.1M (52%)

Opening weekend: $858K — 1% of its US run. It had legs — it kept earning long after opening weekend.

Opening week (7-day): $1.4M — 1% of its US & Canada run.

Peak 40 theaters

Full synopsis

Also known as

  • Aviatorde
  • El aviadores
  • Aviatorfr
Release dates around the world2 countries · show
  • United StatesDec 14, 2004
  • United KingdomDec 19, 2004

Companies

ProductionForward Pass, Appian Way, IMF Internationale Medien und Film GmbH & Co. 3. Produktions KG

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