20 Things You Didn't Know About Raising Arizona
16. It Was The Only Financial Success For The Coens For 20 Years
In 2000, Ethan Coen referred to Raising Arizona as "the last movie [we] made that made any significant amount of money". This would remain true for several more years to come.
Generally, a film needs to make back double its combined production and marketing budget to be deemed a financial success for the studio, and despite making cult classic after cult classic, Raising Arizona had this honour to itself for twenty years.
Key features of cult classics are that they under-performed both critically and financially upon release, and a lot of Coen brothers films fit either of those two conditions. Despite being well-received and leading to an illustrious career, Blood Simple only made $3.8 million on a $1.5 million production budget. The Big Lebowski, despite topping all-time bests lists these days, received mixed reviews upon release and only mildly respectable box office returns.
It wasn't until Best Picture winner No Country for Old Men came along in 2007 and blew all other Coen brothers movies' box office receipts out of the water, making $170 million on only a $25 million budget.
While not soaring to the sky heights of No Country for Old Men, Raising Arizona more than quadrupled its production budget of $6 million, making $29 million worldwide.