Not surprisingly, many gays were disappointed, but Philadelphia remains a landmark in terms of proving that gay-related films could be profitable and popular in the American mainstream. But if the former waited anxiously for word on the film’s box office potential, the latter worried about how the movie would depict gay people for mass audience consumption. At the time, it was regarded as a “bellwether project” for future AIDS films and was eagerly anticipated both by Hollywood and by the gay community. The movie’s worldwide earnings still eclipse those of Brokeback Mountain or The Dallas Buyers Club or any other GLBT film made since that time, making a re-evaluation of Philadelphia worthwhile.īy 1993, theater and television had produced many offerings on gay themes and the AIDS crisis, but Philadelphia was the first big-budget, major studio movie to center on these themes.* As such, it was overburdened with demands. WHEN PHILADELPHIA passed the twentieth anniversary of its release in December 2013, it was surprising to realize that the film is still Hollywood’s most successful gay-themed movie to date in terms of box office receipts.
