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Poster for The Pagemaster
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Released
1994 · FILM

The Pagemaster

A timid boy who avoids risk is thrust into a magical library where classic stories come alive, and he must conquer his fears and outwit literary villains to find his way back to the real world.

“All the adventure your imagination can hold.”

Directed by
Pixote Hunt, Joe Johnston
Written by
David Kirschner, David Casci
Runtime
75 min
AdventureAnimationComedy

Synopsis

Rich is deeply aware of accidents and has become so cautious that he avoids activities that might put him at risk, such as riding his bike or climbing into his treehouse. While in an old library, he is mysteriously transported into the unknown world of books, and he must find a way to return home.

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

Principal cast & crew: 25

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 Dan MolinaShot by Alexander GruszynskiScored by James HornerDesigned by Gay Lawrence

Box Office

1994 · Box office

📉 Underperformed — grossed 0.5× 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

$13.7M

Budget$27.0M
Worldwide gross$13.7M
break-even (2.5×)

Opening weekend: $4.2M — 31% of its US run.

Peak 1,803 theaters

Also known as

  • Der Pagemaster – Richies fantastische Reisede
  • Richard au pays des livres magiquesfr
  • Pagemaster - L'avventura meravigliosait

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