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Poster for The Prisoner of Zenda
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Released
1979 · FILM

The Prisoner of Zenda

Directed by
Richard Quine
Written by
Ian La Frenais, Anthony Hope
Runtime
108 min
AdventureComedy

Synopsis

Anthony Hope's classic tale gets a decidedly 'un-classic' treatment at the hands of Peter Sellers. Following the story somewhat, friends of the new King Rudolph of Ruritania fear for his life, and switch him with a look-a-like London cabby. Throw in two(!) lovely blondes, treachery, and a battle for life and honour, and enjoy life at its zaniest.

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 Byron Buzz BrandtShot by Arthur IbbetsonScored by Henry ManciniDesigned by John J Lloyd

Box Office

1979 · Box office

⚖️ Fell short of break-even — grossed 1.5× 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

$15.3M

Budget$10.0M
Worldwide gross$15.3M
break-even (2.5×)

US & Canada: $7.7M — 50% of worldwide · International: $7.6M (50%)

Also known as

  • Der Gefangene von Zendade
  • Le Prisonnier de Zendafr
  • Il prigioniero di Zendait

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