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The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas (2008) trailer

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas(2008)
Released
2008 · FILM

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

A naive eight‑year‑old German boy in occupied Poland forms a forbidden friendship with a Jewish peer behind a concentration‑camp fence, forcing him to confront the brutal reality of his family's ideology and risk everything for compassion.

“Lines may divide us, but hope will unite us.”

Directed by
Mark Herman, Heidi Gower
Written by
John Boyne, Mark Herman
Rated
MPA · PG-13
Runtime
94 min
DramaWar

Synopsis

When his family moves from their home in Berlin to a new house in Poland, young Bruno befriends Shmuel, a boy who lives on the other side of a fence where people are seen wearing striped pajamas. Unaware of Shmuel's status as a Jewish prisoner or the role his own father, a Nazi officer, plays in Shmuel's imprisonment, Bruno undertakes a dangerous journey inside the camp's perimeter.

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 373+ 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 Michael EllisShot by Alastair RaeScored by James HornerDesigned by Martin ChildsSound by Rodney GlennCostumes by Natalie WardStunts by Gyorgy KivesVFX by Michael Bruce Ellis

Box Office

2008 · Box office

✅ Made its money back — grossed 3.2× 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

$40.4M

Budget$12.5M
Worldwide gross$40.4M
break-even (2.5×)

US & Canada: $9.0M — 22% of worldwide · International: $31.4M (78%)

Opening weekend: $253K — 3% of its US run. It had legs — it kept earning long after opening weekend.

Opening week (7-day): $353K — 4% of its US & Canada run.

Peak 17 theaters

Full synopsis

Also known as

  • Der Junge im gestreiften Pyjamade
  • The Boy in the Striped Pajamasen
  • El niño con el pijama de rayases
  • Le Garçon au pyjama rayéfr
  • Il bambino con il pigiama a righeit
  • (Bulgarian)Момчето с раираната пижама
Release dates around the world4 countries · show
  • United KingdomAug 28, 2008
  • IrelandSep 12, 2008
  • SpainSep 19, 2008
  • BrazilSep 26, 2008

Production & Distribution

Production companies
MiramaxBBC FilmHeyday Films
Distributors
Andes FilmsAudio Visual EnterprisesBuena Vista InternationalFalconForum Hungary
Special effectsDouble Negative (DNEG)
Other companiesEurofilm Stúdió, Koko, HB Studió, Marionette, Oxy-Med

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