Summary
Though not the most famous entry in his filmography, a 1990s science fiction movie achieved a stunning box office record forMel Gibson.Gibson has a career that spans over four decades, and his first accredited acting role was inSummer Cityas Scollop. In the late eighties and nineties, he became a household name with roles intheLethal Weaponseries,Braveheart,andRansom, and these movies dominated the box office when they were released and generated interest in Mel Gibson’s film career. Alongside his affiliation with action and thriller films,Mel Gibson won an Academy Award forBraveheartand directed the action-adventure filmApocalypto.
Even later in his career, Mel Gibson maintained mainstream success with his movie roles, even if they weren’t all box office hits. Hehas earned over $4 billion at the box office in his movie career, according toThe Numbers. Among his biggest box office films and sometimes considered one of Mel Gibson’s best movies, is a science fiction film that gets overlooked by his more fast-paced roles.
Every Upcoming Mel Gibson Movie (Including Lethal Weapon 5)
Mel Gibson is returning to the big screen with six new projects set to be released in the next couple years including The Passion of the Christ 2.
Signs Is Still Mel Gibson’s Best Movie At The Box Office
Signs Is A Science Fiction And Mystery Film Starring Mel Gibson and Joaquin Phoenix.
Signsis the story of Reverend Graham Hess (Mel Gibson) who finds strange crop circles appearing on his farmland once he moves in. It was released in 2002 and had a$72 million budget, and it grossed over $408 million at the worldwide box office.Director M. Night Shyamalan had a mindset when makingSigns,was that he was going to try and balance art and entertainment regarding the film budget, and he toldThe Hollywood Reporterthat when makingSignshe learned he shouldn’t, “take [the money] unless you’re having fun, and you’re entertaining.”
Since the director treated the movie like a passion project, it’s unsurprising thatSignsbecame Gibson’s highest-grossing film. The cinematography led toSignsbeing hailed as one of M. Night Shyamalan’s best movies because it focused on eerie shots of the farmland and the crop circles that work to build the mystery of what was happening to the land.Mel Gibson at the time also had a lot of box office appeal, which helped the movie to do well commercially, and M. Night Shyamalan was at the peak of fame after makingThe Sixth SenseandUnbreakablea few years before.
Why Mel Gibson’s Biggest Movie At The Box Office Is Surprising
Mel Gibson is Primarily Known For His Work In The Action Genre, Not Sci-Fi.
The success ofSignsmay have been partly due to its star power, but among Gibson’s most well-known roles, it is still a shock because most of his recognizable roles are in action or thriller films. Financially,his most successful films afterSignsareWhat Women Want,a rom-com that made $374 million at the box office, and the action film,Lethal Weapon 3, which made $319 million at the box office. These films are typically regarded as much bigger movies thanSigns
Just beforeLethal Weapon 3on his highest-grossing films list is Disney’sPocahontas,which made $347 million at the box office, and Mel Gibson voiced John Smith in this movie.
Along with Passion of the Christ, The Lethal Weaponfilms are often discussed as Mel Gibson’s biggest contribution to cinematic history since he played Martin Riggs in four well-known films. However,Signshad critical and commercial success and showed Mel Gibson’s range as an actorplaying someone struggling with his faith, grief, and understanding of an unnatural threat. The recipe for the success ofSignsis still hard to pinpoint 22 years later, but it is a mixture of effective direction from M. Night Shyamalan andMel Gibson’sstellar performance that madeSignsMel Gibson’s biggest film.
Signs
Cast
Signs is a sci-fi horror film by director M. Night Shyamalan. It follows devout priest Graham Hess and his family as they find themselves in the middle of a mysterious event where crop circles appear in the middle of their farmland. Then, seeing the entire world begin to experience similar phenomena, the family starts to worry about their safety and the end of days as they ponder what may be coming.
