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Biographical Films

A biographical film, or biopic, is a motion picture that tells a story of the life of a real person. These biographical movies may display a person’s whole life or highlight a time period or a small but significant event. Biopics can cover a vast range of subjects including sports legends, historical figures, celebrities, musicians, scientists, or authors. They may also focus on a specific society or culture. Other times, biographical films may sometimes focus on an ordinary person who experiences extraordinary events. They generally focus on a single person and are usually titled only by the significant person’s name. In some cases, biopics will focus on a small group of people, for example, Apollo 13 was a movie about 3 astronauts, their journey to the moon, and the catastrophic events associated with that flight. In cases such as this, the film will have a title focused around the event.

The Truth About Biographical Films:

Biographical films are oftentimes dramatized, and the storyline is fabricated, veering away from the truth, for the sake of the audience. These movies are generally inaccurate to become more entertaining. The reason producers change factual information, add or remove elements, or create additional events is to capture the attention of the audience. If not for the inaccurate information, the potential for the movie to be long, boring, uninspiring, or confusing becomes could become a factor. Producers and writers want to be sure their audience has a good experience with their work. Most biographical films have a clause at the beginning that states the movie is based on actual events, which insinuates the movie will not be 100% accurate. This leaves room for them to enhance the lives of the main characters and intrigue the minds of the viewers. An example of this is the biopic, A Beautiful Mind, that tells the story of mathematician John Nash who suffered with Schizophrenia and mental illness. Nash never really had visual hallucinations, but in order to get the premise across and explain the struggles of a mentally ill, schizophrenic person, these events were added to the story by director, Ron Howard.

Top Grossing Biographical Films:

Biographical Films are seldom huge money makers for the film industry; however they are cheaper to make than films of other genres. Although it is impossible to predict the popularity of a movie before it is released, if these movies become highly rated, they have incredible net profits. The following Biographical films are some of the most profitable movies in this film genre:

In 1993, Schindler’s List made its mark on the box office with a $322.1 million profit with a budget of only $22 million. Schindler’s List follows the activity of Oskar Schindler, who saved more than a thousand refugees’ lives, mostly Jewish from Poland, by employing them in his factories. The events in this biopic took place during World War II

The biographical film, Catch Me If You Can (2002), followed the life events of Frank Abagnale Jr., who became one of the best con artists in the world before he turned 18 years old. The film follows him around the globe as he is being chased by the FBI for taking on various occupations and figuring out how to wash checks for his own benefit. The film had a budget of $52 million and successfully brought in a profit of $352.1 million.

In 2009, The Blind Side biopic highlights the life of football player, Michael Oher, who goes from a homeless teen to an NFL player. The movie had a budget of $29 million and made $309.2 million at the box office.

Green Book (2018) had an incredibly low budget of $23 million but brought in $321.7 million. This film is about an African American pianist, Don Shirley as he is driven across the country during the 1960’s, a very racist time in America, by a bouncer for a tour in North America.

Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) had a budget of only $50 million, but grossed over $910 million, which set a box office record for the highest grossing biographical film of all time. This film highlighted the life and significant events of Freddie Mercury, singer for the band Queen.

This short list of biographical films shows how profitable this genre can be, which also gives a small explanation as to why it interests writers, producers, directors, and studios take an interest in creating movies of this platform.

References

Rosenstone, Robert A., 1995. The Historical Film As Real History. Film-Historia, Vol. V, No.1 (1995): 5-23 https://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/filmhistoria/article/view/12244

• This is an article published by a university press, so it should be a reliable source. It also covers the topic in some depth, so it's helpful in establishing notability.

David, A., professor of cognitive neuropsychiatry. National Library of Medicine. A Beautiful Mind. February 23, 2002. v.324(7335). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1122415/

• This is an article issued by a government agency, so it should be a reliable source. It also covers the topic in some depth, so it's helpful in establishing notability.

Gregg, Courtney N., 2016, TRUE LIFE STORY: MYTHMAKING IN BIOGRAPHICAL FILMS. Middle Tennessee State University. https://jewlscholar.mtsu.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/f4720101-81e7-419b-b31d-b4dcf31ec2ed/content

• This is an article published by a university press, so it should be a reliable source. It also covers the topic in some depth, so it's helpful in establishing notability.

‘Bohemian Rhapsody,’ and Why Even Flawed Biopics Kind of Rule. (2018, November 7). Rolling Stone. Retrieved from https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/bohemian-rhapsody-freddie-mercury-queen-biopic-flawed-rami-malek-752618/.

• This is an article published by a reputable magazine, so it should be a reliable source. It also covers the topic in some depth, so it's helpful in establishing notability.