Skip to main content
Filmarian
All films
Poster for The Butler
Sign in to rateBe the first to rate
+ write a review
Released
2013 · FILM

The Butler

A dignified housekeeper rises from humble roots to serve generations of U.S. presidents, confronting the nation's turbulent history and his own fight for justice.

“One quiet voice can ignite a revolution.”

Directed by
Lee Daniels, Peter Dress
Written by
Danny Strong, Wil Haygood
Rated
MPA · PG-13
Runtime
132 min
BiographyDrama

Synopsis

Cecil Gaines was a sharecropper

Credits

Actors
Editor
Production Designer
Director of Photography
Writers
Directors

Related titles

No curated related titles yet. Use the edit affordance to add "More from this director", "Same franchise", or "Adaptation source material" entries — every change goes through the wiki review queue.

How many hands made this film

The scale of the collaboration

A crew of 385+ 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 Joe KlotzShot by Andrew DunnScored by Rodrigo LeaoDesigned by Tim GalvinSound by Steve C AaronCostumes by Ruth E CarterStunts by Chris J FanguyVFX by Daniel Cohen

Box Office

2013 · Box office

💰 Box-office hit — grossed 7.1× 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

$177.3M

Budget$25.0M
Worldwide gross$177.3M
break-even (2.5×)

US & Canada: $116.6M — 66% of worldwide · International: $60.7M (34%)

Opening weekend: $24.6M — 21% of its US run.

Opening week (7-day): $35.3M — 30% of its US & Canada run.

Peak 2,933 theaters

Also known as

  • Der Butlerde
  • Lee Daniels' The Butleren
  • Le Majordomefr
  • The Butler - Un maggiordomo alla Casa Biancait
  • (short title)O Mordomo
  • (Bulgarian)Иконом на седем президента
Release dates around the world4 countries · show
  • United StatesAug 5, 2013
  • CanadaAug 16, 2013
  • PhilippinesAug 21, 2013
  • FranceAug 30, 2013

Companies

ProductionLaura Ziskin Productions, Follow Through Productions, Salamander Pictures

Community tags

Be the first to tag this page — tags appear right away. Try a theme, capability, or subject (e.g. WWII, heist, slow burn, time travel, A24).