Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo teamed up to adapt their best-selling 1969 novel The Godfather into the 1972 crime thriller The Godfather, which Coppola directed.
Diane Keaton, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard Conte, and Richard Castellano also star in the picture alongside Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, and Robert Duvall.
The first film in The Godfather trilogy, it covers the years 1945–1955. It focuses on the Corleone family, led by patriarch Vito Corleone (Brando).
The film follows Michael Corleone’s (Pacino) youngest son as he goes from being an outcast in the family to a brutal mob lord. Paramount Pictures paid $80,000 for the rights to the novel before it became popular.
Studio chiefs struggled to hire a director for the film, and after numerous contenders turned them down, they settled on Coppola.
However, the two disagreed on the casting of key roles, most notably Vito (played by Marlon Brando) and Michael (played by Al Pacino).
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The majority of the production was shot on location in and around New York City and in Sicily, and filming wrapped up early. Nino Rota mostly composed the score, with assistance from Carmine Coppola. Now let’s find out how much did the godfather make.
What You Want to Know?
‘The Godfather’ Scores Top Weekend Box Office Average — 50 Years Later
In celebration of the film’s 50th anniversary, Paramount scheduled screenings of The Godfather during the weekend of February 25-27 in 156 theaters across North America.
Francis Ford Coppola’s classic Mafia picture raked in $970,000, making it the weekend’s highest-grossing release.
The film averaged $6,218 per theater. (The closest competitors were Uncharted ($5,438 per theater on average) and The Automat ($5,004 per theater on average).
In half of the 156 theaters where it was shown, The Godfather: 50 Years was the top grossing film.
It topped the box office at three of the nation’s busiest theaters, including New York City’s AMC Lincoln Square, San Francisco’s AMC Metreon, and Washington, DC’s AMC Georgetown.
Chris Aronson, head of Paramount’s domestic distribution, called the numbers “extraordinary.” Almost everyone has watched The Godfather, but not in a theater.
Paramount Pictures celebrated the anniversary of The Godfather with a party in Los Angeles last week. “A couple of times, I thought I was finished,” Coppola said, referring to his concerns about being let go from the production.
Obviously he wasn’t right, and the film adaptation of Mario Puzo’s novel ended up winning three Oscars, including best picture, and becoming a hit.
The 50th anniversary rerelease worked well in international markets as well, bringing in $1.4 million from only a few countries.
Why The Godfather Almost Didn’t Happen
The Godfather ranks among the very best films ever made. Francis Ford Coppola directed the film that cost $6 million to make and was the first to earn $1 million in a single day at the box office.
It received 11 Oscar nods, took home three, and revolutionized the film industry. If Paramount had its way, the seismic revolution in filmmaking would never have occurred.
Michael Corleone’s punch to the head and throat of a police captain, which resulted in brains all over his ivy league suit, was the final straw for the studio suits who despised everything about The Godfather.
They disliked everything about it, including the performances, the direction, the music, and the atmosphere.
Even the puppet strings logo that graphic designer S. Neil Fujita created for the book was rejected by the studio.
The First Italian Mob Drama Made by Italians
A new generation of American filmmakers emerged in the wake of the ultraviolent gangster film Bonnie and Clyde, which was released during the summer of love.
Although Francis Ford Coppola is today considered the leader of this pack, he was not first favored.
Absolutely not. Robert Evans, Paramount’s head of production, pushed to have an Italian-American helm The Godfather. Although Sergio Leone was the studio’s first option, he was also planning his own gangster epic, Once Upon a Time in America.
Peter Bogdanovich was then contacted by Paramount, but he declined since the mafia didn’t pique his interest.
Before settling on Coppola, the studio fired numerous directors, including Peter Yates, Richard Brooks, Arthur Penn, Costa-Gavras, Otto Preminger, Elia Kazan, Fred Zinnemann, Franklin J. Schaffner, and Richard Lester (who directed A Hard Day’s Night and Help! by The Beatles).
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Conclusion
In 50 years, when The Godfather was first released. The series was a huge financial success, bringing in $430-517 million around the world. It took home nine of the Academy’s twenty-eight awards.
In 50 years, when The Godfather was first released. The series was a huge financial success, bringing in $430-517 million around the world. It took home nine of the Academy’s twenty-eight awards. Hope now you know how much did the godfather make.
