20 Things You Didn’t Know About Whiplash
14. The Film’s One Dubious Honour
Whiplash definitely has its fans, got stellar reviews upon release and won a slew of awards (especially for J.K. Simmons’s performance). This level of success unfortunately did not quite translate to its box office earnings.
The film made just shy of $50 million at the box office, only of which 13.1 million came from North America. Technically, this is a success seeing that the film cost a mere $3 million and was always considered an indie underdog next to the likes of Birdman and Boyhood.
That said, the feature is one of the lowest grossing Best Picture nominees, making less domestically than The Hurt Locker, which was the lowest grossing Best Picture winner until 2021’s Nomadland. While box office receipts are not the sole bar for success, it is a shame that the film did not reach a wider audience.