American Animals (2018)
87%RT Audience Score: 81%
Awards & Nominations: 10 wins & 22 nominations
American Animals tangles with a number of weighty themes, but never at the expense of delivering a queasily compelling true crime thriller
American Animals is a wild ride that will have you questioning your own morals and decision-making skills. The film manages to be both clever and weird, while also providing a poignant look at the arrogance and inexperience of its protagonists. It’s a haunting and electrifying story that will leave you on the edge of your seat, and maybe even make you want to plan your own heist (but please don’t). Overall, American Animals is a must-watch for anyone who loves a good crime thriller with a unique twist.
Production Company(ies)
Distributor
The Orchard
Release Type
Theatrical, Theatrical (Limited)
Filming Location(s)
Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
MPAA / Certificate
Rated R for language throughout, some drug use and brief crude/sexual material
Year of Release
2018
-
Color:Color
-
Sound mix:Dolby
-
Aspect ratio:NA
-
Runtime:1h 56m
-
Language(s):English, Dutch
-
Country of origin:United Kingdom
-
Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Jun 1, 2018 Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 14, 2018
Genre(s)
Crime/Mystery & thriller
Keyword(s)
Worldwide gross: $4,080,073
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $4,801,323
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,189
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 523,590
US/Canada gross: $2,856,954
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $3,361,988
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,916
US/Canada opening weekend: $134,793
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $158,621
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,760
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): NA
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): NA
Production budget ranking: NA
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA
Evan Peters – Warren Lipka
Jared Abrahamson – Eric Borsuk
Blake Jenner – Chas Allen II
Ann Dowd – Betty Jean Gooch
Udo Kier – Mr. Van Der Hoek
Director(s)
Bart Layton
Writer(s)
Bart Layton
Producer(s)
Derrin Schlesinger, Katherine Butler, Dimitri Doganis, Mary Jane Skalski
Film Festivals
Sundance, South by Southwest
Awards & Nominations
10 wins & 22 nominations
Academy Awards
All Critics (214) | Top Critics (58) | Fresh (188) | Rotten (26)
American Animals is a different kind of movie, a truly electrifying story with purpose and meaning but one that has also given us a new form of storytelling.
October 5, 2018 | Rating: 4.5/5
Wenlei Ma
News.com.au
TOP CRITIC
It’s a clever movie, but not too clever. It’s also thoughtful and engrossing, weird as hell. And it’s true – or truer than most films that claim that label.
October 4, 2018 | Rating: 4/5
Paul Byrnes
Sydney Morning Herald
TOP CRITIC
American Animals, like the young thieves whose story it tells, seeks inspiration from classic movies, but it transcends this foundation in a probing look at the arrogance and inexperience of its protagonists…
September 28, 2018 | Rating: 4/5
David Stratton
The Australian
TOP CRITIC
It’s a clever film even when its characters are the opposite.
September 10, 2018 | Rating: 3/5
Tara Brady
Irish Times
TOP CRITIC
Supremely watchable and surprisingly poignant…
September 8, 2018 | Rating: 4/5
Wendy Ide
Observer (UK)
TOP CRITIC
A very haunting film.
September 7, 2018
Mark Kermode
Kermode & Mayo’s Film Review
TOP CRITIC
The harder the movie worked at reminding me of its “This is Based on a True Story” bonafides I kept watching it through Fargo-tinted “True Story” glasses
July 2, 2021
Jason Adams
My New Plaid Pants
What makes the movie good is that it is also a condemnation of same, illustrating just how quickly those worries burn off in the face of the alternative, a difficult life.
December 10, 2020
David Bax
Battleship Pretension
A movie that takes a tattered genre and manages to add some fresh elements to it.
November 2, 2020 | Rating: 3/4
Matt Brunson
Film Frenzy
They merit no such sympathy-and really, they didn’t merit a movie, period.
October 26, 2020
Dennis Harvey
48 Hills
It’s incredibly well-acted and features insightful storytelling. This is one that shouldn’t be missed.
October 9, 2020
Matthew St. Clair
Cinema Sentries
It’s a movie about strange, unfocused people and so the result is a film that reflects those characteristics.
August 14, 2020 | Rating: 3/5
Tom Beasley
Flickering Myth…
Plot
In this crime drama, four bright and well-off college students in Kentucky plot to steal some rare books from their university’s Special Collections Library in a misguided quest for personal glory. Based on the story, the film includes interviews with the foursome who attempted the bizarre heist. Starring Barry Keoghan, Evan Peters, Blake Jenner, Jared Abrahamson and Ann Dowd.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
NA
Bart-Layton.jpg
