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Poster for Wild Things
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Released
1998 · FILM

Wild Things

A charming high school counselor in Miami faces a devastating double accusation from a popular cheerleader and a troubled outcast, forcing him to fight for his reputation and freedom in a trial that exposes a town's dark secrets.

“They're dying to play with you.”

Directed by
John Mcnaughton, Ty Arnold
Written by
Stephen Peters, Raymond Consing
Rated
MPA · R
Runtime
108 min
CrimeDramaMystery

Synopsis

When teen socialite Kelly Van Ryan and troubled bad girl Suzie Toller accuse guidance counselor Sam Lombardo of rape, he is suspended by the school, rejected by the town, and struggles to reclaim his life. One police officer begins to suspect a conspiracy, but nothing is as it appears.

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

A crew of 215+ 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 Elena MaganiniShot by Jeffrey L KimballScored by George S ClintonDesigned by Edward T McavoySound by Peter J DevlinCostumes by Kimberly A Tillman

Box Office

1998 · 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

$67.2M

Budget$20.0M
Worldwide gross$67.2M
break-even (2.5×)

US & Canada: $30.1M — 45% of worldwide · International: $37.1M (55%)

Opening weekend: $9.6M — 32% of its US run.

Opening week (7-day): $12.5M — 42% of its US & Canada run.

Peak 2,177 theaters

Full synopsis

Versions & cuts

  • Unrated Edition· 115 min

Also known as

  • Sexcrimesfr
  • Sex Crimes - Giochi pericolosiit
  • (English)Sex Crimes
  • (literal English title)Wild Creatures
Release dates around the world5 countries · show
  • CanadaMar 20, 1998
  • United StatesMar 20, 1998
  • AustraliaMay 14, 1998
  • United KingdomMay 15, 1998
  • SlovakiaJun 4, 1998

Companies

ProductionMandalay Entertainment
DistributionColumbia Pictures, Columbia TriStar Films, Entertainment Film Distributors, Buena Vista International, Columbia TriStar Egmont Film Distributors
Special effectsSony Pictures Imageworks (SPI)
Other companiesIuvit Media Sales, Sapphire Media International, Summit Entertainment, Vantage Media International, Bill Baggs State Park, Chapman/Leonard Studio Equipment, Cinema Research, Coast to Coast Catering, FCM

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