Highest grossing Shakespeare movie
- Who
- Romeo + Juliet
- What
- 147542381 US dollar(s)
- Where
- United States
- When
- 14 February 1997
The highest grossing Shakespeare movie at the worldwide box office is Romeo + Juliet (USA, 1996) directed by Baz Luhrmann (Australia), which took $147,542,381 on general release between 1 November 1996 and 14 February 1997. The big-budget, high-octane adaptation starred Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes as the star cross'd lovers.
The setting for Romeo + Juliet is updated to the suburb of Verona Beach in Los Angeles, but the original dialogue is retained. The warring families – the Montagues and Capulets – are depicted as rival Mafia clans, and instead of swords, the gangs are armed with guns branded "Dagger", "Sword" and "Rapier".
In 2023, the American romantic comedy film, Anyone But You- grossed $219 mil and even though the film is loosely based on Shakespeare's 'Much Ado About Nothing'- it did not use Shakespearean dialogue as seen in Romeo and Juliet (1996).