Nicolas Cage's Biggest Box Office Movie Hits and Flops

Since debuting in a minor role as Brad's Bud and being listed in the credits as Nicolas Coppola in the 1992 cult classic Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Nicolas Cage has starred in 46 movies. Thirteen of those movies have made over $100 million dollars at the box office worldwide. So 28% of the movies starring Nicolas Cage have made over $100 million dollars.

His first $100 million dollar movie was The Rock in 1996. Since The Rock just about half the movies Nicolas Cage has been in (13 out of 27) have made over $100 million dollars.

In 1995 Nicolas Cage won the Academy Award for Best Actor in Leaving Las Vegas which only grossed $32 million at the box office. Cage is one of three actors from Fast Times at Ridgemont High to go on to win an Academy Award. You can see the two others at Fast Times at Ridgemont High: Illustrious Cast.

Nicolas Cage is the nephew of movie director legend Francis Ford Coppola. His real name is Nicolas Coppola but he changed his name to Cage which is the name of a comic book hero, to avoid being labeled as an insider in Hollywood.

Despite being one of the highest paid actors in Hollywood Nicolas Cage has severe financial problems due to his excessive spending. Cage has bought some 15 homes, two castles, two islands, dozens of fancy cars including many Rolls Royce, yachts and he even outbid Leonardo DiCaprio for a dinosaur skull.

He also failed to pay his income taxes a few times which has forced the sale of many of his homes. So Nicolas Cage needs to keep working and he needs box office hits to pay his debts.

What he really needs is for his newest movie Season of the Witch to be a hit.

These are the biggest box office hits and flops in Nicolas Cage's career.

Nicolas Cage's Biggest Box Office Hits

1) National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007) - $457 million

National Treasure: Book of Secrets is the sequel to the original National Treasure movie and co-stars Angelina Jolie's father Jon Voight as well as Cage.

2) National Treasure (2004) - $348 million

National Treasure is a fun movie to watch though the story line is full of historical inaccuracies and the plot is downright silly. Moviegoers loved this film as it's fun to imagine the Founding Fathers had grand master plans and rich secrets.

3) The Rock (1996) - $335 million

The Rock co-stars Sean Connery and was the first really big money making movie in Nicolas Cage's career. Another fun movie to watch with a completely implausible story line.

4) Face Off (1997) - $246 million

Face Off pits Nicolas Cage against John Travolta in an action thriller directed by John Woo.

5) Gone in 60 Seconds (2000) - $237 million

Before starring with Jon Voight in National Treasure Nicolas Cage co-starred with his daughter Angelina Jolie in the 2000 hit Gone in 60 Seconds.

6) Ghost Rider (2007) - $229 million

Based on a comic book of the same name Ghost Rider featured Nicolas Cage as Johnny Blaze and co-starred Eva Mendes with Sam Elliot narrating.

7) Con Air (1997) - $214 million

Con Air is another mindless action movie that co-starred John Cusack, John Malkovich, Ving Rhames and Mr Nucky Thompson himself Steve Buscemi.

8) Sorcerer's Apprentice (2010) - $215 million

The Sorcerer's Apprentice cost a whopping $150 million to make and earned back its price tag at the box office plus a nice profit of $65 million thanks mainly to foreign box office receipts.

Biggest Movie Flops in Nicolas Cage's Career

1) Deadfall (1993) - $18,369

Deadfall was a colossal failure that was directed by Nick's brother Christopher Coppola. Michael Biehn who was Kyle Reese in The Terminator and Corporal Dewayne Hicks in Aliens and also was in The Rock co-starred as did Charlie Sheen, Peter Fonda and James Coburn.

2) The Boy in Blue (1986) - $275,000

Nicholas Cage stars as a sculler in the box office bomb The Boy in Blue.

3) Vampire's Kiss (1989) - $725,000

In Vampire's Kiss Nicolas Cage actually ate three cockroaches for a scene.

4) Birdy (1984) - $1.5 million

Birdy won the grand prize at the 1985 Cannes Film Festival and was heavily praised by the critics but never made any money at the box office.

5) Red Rock West (1994) - $2.5 million

Red Rock West was never really given a chance in the theaters as Columbia Tri-Star sold the rights to HBO in 1993. The film eventually made it to a few theaters in 1994 where it did well and is a bit of a cult classic today co-starring Dennis Hopper and Lara Flynn Boyle.

6) Racing with the Moon (1984) - $6 million

Racing with the Moon co-starred the most famous Fast Times at Ridgemont High alum Sean Penn.

6) Trapped in Paradise (1994) - $6 million

Trapped in Paradise is a comedy co-starring Dana Carvey and Jon Lovitz.

Other Nicolas Cage films which never made back their budgets include:

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009) - cost $25 million and grossed $10.6 million.

Windtalkers (2002) - cost $115 million and made $78 million.

Bringing Out the Dead (1999) - directed by Martin Scorsese with a $55 million budget but only made $16.8 million at the box office.

For more see Angelina Jolie's Biggest Box Office Hits and Flops

Jennifer Aniston's Biggest Box Office Hits and Flops

Johnny Depp Box Office Money Magic Movies

Sources:

Box Office Mojo

Nicolas Cage at Wikipedia