When filmmakers first started making movies, one of the most popular genres was the Western. The first movies ever made were short genre pictures, and one of them was a Western called The Great Train Robbery. Following this, Westerns rose in popularity and remained box office kings until they began to slowly fall out of style in the 1970s.
Since then, there have still been some successful Westerns, but they are often prestige movies made by big-name Hollywood directors as love letters to the past. It is mostly these later efforts that made blockbuster-level money at the box office. These financial totals are based on worldwide box office takes, come from the-numbers.com, and do not for inflation.
Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid (1969) - $102 Million
In 1969, William Goldman sold his first screenplay and George Roy Hill turned it into an Oscar-nominated box office hit. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid grossed $102 million worldwide and is considered a critical hit as well, picking up seven Oscar nominations, including for Best Picture and Best Director, while winning four, including one for Goldman's script.
The movie starred Robert Redford and Paul Newman as the legendary outlaws and has one of the most iconic final shots, as both men are caught in a freeze-frame, leaving the audience to imagine what happened next.
The Hateful Eight (2015) - $152 Million
Quentin Tarantino's second Western is a polarizing movie. Even when looking at Tarantino's best movies, this is one that splits even his most hardcore fans down the middle. The movie is a long and brutal drama, with eight very bad people stuck in the same small inn during a snow storm.
As with most Tarantino movies, The Hateful Eight has a lot of violence and no one makes it out of this movie in one piece. But despite its divisiveness, it was still a big success and made $152 million worldwide at the box office.
Unforgiven (1992) - $159 Million
By 1992, few Westerns were coming out of Hollywood, so it makes sense that the most successful one at the time came from an icon of 1970s Wild West movies. Clint Eastwood, who was a mainstay in Spaghetti Westerns when he was younger, directed and starred in his love letter to the genre, Unforgiven.
Eastwood was a retired outlaw who lived into his old age, but then found himself pulled back in when a young gun showed up on his doorstep. Praised for the way it deconstructed and rebelled again the Western genre, Unforgiven picked up nine Oscar nominations and was a massive box office success, bringing in $159 million worldwide.
Legends Of The Fall (1994) - $160 Million
Released in 1994, Legends of the Fall had an all-star cast and took the idea of a big-screen Western very seriously. Anthony Hopkins stars as a father in the Wild West in this movie that deals with the effects of World War I on those living in the American West.
Brad Pitt had an early role as one of his sons, with Aiden Quinn starring as the oldest sibling. Directed by Edward Zwick, this movie is a gripping drama and picked up three Oscar nominations, winning for Best Cinematography, and featured great shots of the sweeping landscapes of the country.
The Magnificent Seven (2016) - $162 Million
In 2016, Hollywood remade the classic Western movie, The Magnificent Seven. The movie had an all-star cast, led by Denzel Washington, Ethan Hawke, and Chris Pratt, and retold the story about seven outlaws who worked together to save a small town from a corrupt gold tycoon.
While the movie was not a great Western remake, with a low 6.5 rating on IMDb, it was a major box office success, likely thanks to the all-star cast, bringing in $162 million at the worldwide box office.
Maverick (1994) - $183 Million
Mel Gibson starred in a fun Western movie in 1994, a big-screen remake of the classic TV series, Maverick. Gibson starred as Maverick, a con artist who swindled his way through the movie with partners in another con artist (Jodie Foster) and a Marshal (James Garner), the star of the aforementioned Maverick TV show.
Fans loved it, giving it a 7.0 on IMDb, making it one of the highest-ranked Westerns of the '90s. It was also a financial success, earning $183 million at the box office.
True Grit (2010) - $252 Million
The Coen Brothers made a Western in 2010 and it was both a huge critical success and a box office blockbuster. The remake of the classic John Wayne Western, True Grit starred Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon and told the story of a young girl (Hailee Steinfeld), looking for justice.
The movie made $252 million worldwide and was also a favorite at the Oscars that year, picking up 10 Oscar nominations, although it didn't win any. Both Bridges and Seinfeld were nominated, with the young actress only 15 at the time. It also has a very high 96% Tomatometer rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the highest for any Western movie made in the 2010s.
The Lone Ranger (2013) - $261 Million
estimated $220-250 million to make, on a $150 million marketing budget, which is more than almost any Western has ever made.
The movie starred Armie Hammer as the legendary Lone Ranger, while Johnny Depp was controversially cast as the Native American Tonto. Add in a low 30% Tomatometer score and it was dead on arrival.
Dances With Wolves (1990) - $424 Million
Kevin Costner began to appear in a lot of Westerns starting in the 1990s, and his most successful one hit in 1990 with Dances With Wolves. The movie was a massive box office success, bringing in $424 million worldwide in 1990, which was more than any other Western movie until 2012.
Costner directed the movie and starred as a former Union soldier who meets up and deals with a group of Lakota while trying to find a military post. The movie was the fourth highest-grossing movie of 1990 and picked up 12 Oscar nominationsW winning Best Picture and Best Director.
Django Unchained (2012) - $449 Million
Quentin Tarantino made two western movies in his career and it was the first that is the box-office champion for the genre. The movie is Django Unchained and stars Jamie Foxx as Django Freeman, a man freed by a bounty hunter (Christophe Waltz) on the condition he helps him find his latest targets.
This is one of the most successful Western movies both by the box office, where it brought in $449 million worldwide, and by fans, who rank it at 8.4 on IMDb, making it one of the highest-rated Westerns of all time.
