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Released
1982 · FILM

The Toy

A lonely rich boy chooses a janitor as his birthday "toy," setting off a heartwarming journey where roles reverse and true friendship is discovered.

“When Jackie Gleason told his son he could have any present he wanted, he picked the most outrageous gift of all...Richard Pryor.”

Directed by
Richard Donner
Written by
Francis Veber, Carol Sobieski
Runtime
102 min
Comedy

Synopsis

During one of his son Eric's annual visits, the wealthy businessman U.S. Bates takes him to his department store and offers him anything in the store as a gift. Eric selects a Black janitor whose humorous behavior has entertained him. Initially, the janitor endures numerous humiliations as Eric's "toy," but over time, he helps the lonely boy understand what it means to have and be a friend.

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 Richard A HarrisShot by Laszlo KovacsScored by Patrick WilliamsDesigned by Charles Rosen

Box Office

1982 · Box office

⚖️ Fell short of break-even — grossed 1.7× 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

$47.1M

Budget$28.0M
Worldwide gross$47.1M
break-even (2.5×)

Opening weekend: $6.3M — 13% of its US run. It had legs — it kept earning long after opening weekend.

Opening week (7-day): $8.3M — 18% of its US & Canada run.

Peak 1,381 theaters

Also known as

  • Der Spielgefährtede
  • Su juguete preferidoes
  • Le Jouetfr
  • Giocattolo a oreit

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