
Movie fans were saddened by the passing of director Tony Scott in an apparent suicide on Sunday, August 19th. Though never achieving the acclaim of his Oscar-nominated brother Ridley – in either a critical (Gladiator, Black Hawk Down) or cultural (Alien, Blade Runner) sense – Tony Scott was nonetheless a filmmaker of genuine talent.
Scott was never as interested as his elder sibling in crafting films made to stand the test of time. Instead, he was far more concerned with living in the cinematic moment, in bringing us moments of exhilaration, escape, and just a good ol’ time at the multiplex. And along the way, he created for himself a distinct visual style that has been aped by many other action directors, yet never quite duplicated.
Here, we simply wish to honor the memory of Tony Scott, and revisit his body of work in true Flickchart fashion: by examining a selection of Mr. Scott’s films two at a time, head-to-head.

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Rank it amongst the best action movies of all time.
Flickchart Ranking: #1915 |
Director Tony Scott’s Runaway Train thriller starring Denzel Washington, Rosario Dawson and Chris Pine.

|
Movie |
Weekend $ |
Total $ |
Average $/Theater |
Add to My Flickchart |
|
$43.6 Mil |
$44 Mil |
$12,634 |
||
|
$16.7 Mil |
$17 Mil |
$4,752 |
||
|
$12.4 Mil |
$43 Mil |
$3,488 |
||
|
$12.2 Mil |
$13 Mil |
$4,874 |
||
|
$8.7 Mil |
$31 Mil |
$3,157 |
||
|
$8.7 Mil |
$128 Mil |
$2,710 |
||
|
$8.3 Mil |
$16 Mil |
$8,655 |
||
|
$7.6 Mil |
$8 Mil |
$3,061 |
||
|
$4.9 Mil |
$266 Mil |
$1,694 |
||
|
$1.8 Mil |
$77 Mil |
$961 |
Somehow, How Do You Know has a $120 million budget, which is insane. You could make ten Black Swans for that amount of money. It looks like a small romantic drama/comedy, yet it cost 20% more to make than Unstoppable.
Source: Box Office Mojo

|
Movie |
Weekend $ |
Total $ |
Est. # Tickets Bought* |
Add to My Flickchart |
|
$24.5 Mil |
$25 Mil |
3.10 Mil |
||
|
$17.0 Mil |
$17 Mil |
2.15 Mil |
||
|
$14.6 Mil |
$116 Mil |
1.85 Mil |
||
|
$8.5 Mil |
$258 Mil |
1.05 Mil |
||
|
$3.8 Mil |
$74 Mil |
.50 Mil |
||
|
$3.3 Mil |
$6 Mil |
.45 Mil |
||
|
$3.2 Mil |
$33 Mil |
.40 Mil |
||
|
$3.0 Mil |
$28 Mil |
.40 Mil |
||
|
$2.6 Mil |
$95 Mil |
.35 Mil |
||
|
$2.5 Mil |
$140 Mil |
.30 Mil |
||
|
Total |
$83 Mil |
- |
10.4 Mil |
|
Black Swan was again ridiculous with $3.3 million in just 90 theaters. To put that into perspective, Burlesque made $3.2 million in 2876 theaters.
Source: Box Office Mojo