Best known for kicking ass in the courtroom, Ruth Bader Ginsburg is proving to be a major force at the box office as well. Julie Cohen and Betsy West’s new documentary about the iconic Justice of the Supreme Court has been bringing in impressive receipts since it hit theaters May 4. “RBG” now stands as the 37th-highest grossing doc since 1982, according to Box Office Mojo.
“RBG” has taken in over $6.2 million so far. That might seem like chump change compared to top-earners like “Black Panther” and “Infinity War,” but bear in mind that docs are an entirely different ball game. “It’s almost unheard of to see a [documentary] perform this well in summer blockbuster season,” Jeff Bock, an analyst at Exhibitor Relations, told Variety. “For the documentaries to hit $1 million, it’s like a regular film hitting $100 million. By that logic, “RBG” has in fact taken in the equivalent of “Black Panther” and “Infinity War,” which have each grossed over $600 million at the U.S. box office.
To put things into perspective, “RBG” just overtook Justin Bieber doc “Believe’s” earnings. Ginsburg is proving more powerful than Beliebers could’ve ever imagined. “RBG” has grossed more than celebrated award winners such as “Grizzly Man,” “Citizenfour,” “Searching for Sugar Man,” “Inside Job,” “Paris Is Burning,” and “Spellbound.” Only 10 other docs released since 2013 have surpassed “RBG’s” earnings.
“Maybe Gloria Steinem was right when she told us that Ruth Bader Ginsburg was the closest thing she knows to a superhero,” West told The Los Angeles Times. “She certainly has been that at the box office.”
Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at the online measurement company ComScore, contextualized, “We’re in blockbuster mode right now, and for a film about Ruth Bader Ginsburg to be in the top 10 over Memorial [Day] weekend is pretty astonishing and really a testament to how politically aware people are right now.”
“The reasons for ‘RBG’s’ success are no doubt historically and culturally specific: In an era of weaponized partisan rancor, the diminutive, fiercely resilient Ginsburg is that rare transcendent figure who personifies personal integrity and grace,” The Washington Post speculates. Ginsburg is a “part of a generation of women — including Madeleine Albright, Elizabeth Warren, the late Barbara Bush, and Maxine Waters — who are being rediscovered by millennials and Gen-Zers as avatars of candor, principle, and steadfastness worthy of admiration, whether by way of tattoos (Ginsburg has inspired a few) or viral hashtags.”
West thinks the film’s success is partly tied to the #TimesUp and #MeToo movements. “There seems to be something for everybody,” she observed. “For millennials who admire her as the Notorious RBG, to boomers who appreciate what she was up against and how she changed the world. And by young people who dress up like RBG and seem to really appreciate the idea of an elderly grandmother who is speaking truth to power.”
In anticipation of “RBG’s” world premiere at Sundance in January, we asked West and Cohen what they hoped audiences thought about when leaving the theater. “How a single woman, if she’s smart enough and tough enough, can change the world,” the collaborators answered. “Aside from what they’re thinking, we also want people to walk out of the theater feeling energized.”
“Rogue One’s” Felicity Jones will play Ginsburg in Mimi Leder’s upcoming biopic of the trailblazer, “On the Basis of Sex,” slated for release November 9. There’s also a limited series about Ginsburg in the works. Currently untitled, the project tells the story of Ginsburg and Sandra Day O’Connor. The latter made history as the first woman to serve on the Court. Ginsburg followed in her footsteps to become the second woman, and the first Jewish woman.
