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Poster for The History Boys
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Released
2006 · FILM

The History Boys

A sharp‑witted group of history‑obsessed boys at a Yorkshire grammar school battle rival teaching methods, parental expectations, and their own ambitions as they scramble to secure coveted places at Oxford or Cambridge.

“History. It's just one bloody thing after another.”

Directed by
Nicholas Hytner
Written by
Alan Bennett, Alan Bennett Nm0003141
Runtime
109 min
ComedyDramaRomance

Synopsis

The story follows a spirited and mischievous group of intelligent and humorous history students at a grammar school in Yorkshire, all striving to secure a place at Oxford or Cambridge. Navigating the challenges of their education, the boys are guided by a maverick English teacher, a young and ambitious instructor tasked with improving their exam results, a history teacher vastly outnumbered by his students, and a headmaster fixated on academic performance. As they juggle these influences, the students work to succeed in their studies.

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: 21

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 John WilsonShot by Andrew DunnScored by George FentonDesigned by John Beard

Box Office

2006 · Box office

✅ Made its money back — grossed 3.4× 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

$13.4M

Budget$4.0M
Worldwide gross$13.4M
break-even (2.5×)

Opening week (7-day): $42K

Peak 6 theaters

Also known as

  • Die History Boys – Fürs Leben lernende

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