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Poster for The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc
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Released
1999 · FILM

The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc

A fearless teenage peasant claims divine guidance and rallies war‑torn France to drive out the invading English, risking her life and faith as she battles both battlefield foes and a skeptical kingdom on the brink of collapse.

Rated
MPA · R
Runtime
148 min
AdventureBiographyDrama

Synopsis

In 1429, a French teenager appeared before her king with a message she claimed was divinely inspired, asserting that she would lead the effort to defeat the English army and free France from its political and religious crisis. As she sought to restore what she saw as God's rightful domain, the young woman achieved several notable military successes before meeting a violent and premature death.

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How many hands made this film

The scale of the collaboration

A crew of 287+ 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 Sylvie LandraShot by Thierry ArbogastScored by Eric SerraDesigned by Hugues TissandierSound by Francois GroultCostumes by Catherine LeterrierVFX by Alain Carsoux

Box Office

1999 · Box office

📉 Underperformed — grossed 0.8× 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

$67.0M

Budget$85.0M
Worldwide gross$67.0M
break-even (2.5×)

US & Canada: $14.3M 21% of worldwide · International: $52.7M (79%)

Opening weekend: $6.4M 45% of its US run. Front-loaded — most of its money arrived opening weekend.

Opening week (7-day): $8.3M58% of its US & Canada run.

Peak 2,147 theaters

Also known as

  • Johanna von Orleansde
  • Luc Besson's Johanna von Orleansde
  • Juana de Arcoes
  • Jeanne d'Arcfr
  • Giovanna d'Arcoit
  • (complete title)Joana D'Arc de Luc Besson
Release dates around the world5 countries · show
  • United StatesOct 18, 1999
  • BelgiumOct 27, 1999
  • SwitzerlandOct 27, 1999
  • FranceOct 27, 1999
  • JapanOct 30, 1999

Production & Distribution

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