Top Gus Van Sant Movies by Worldwide Box Office
Gus Van Sant's highest-grossing film is Milk, which earned approximately $20.7 million in the United States and Canada and over $54.5 million worldwide according to The Numbers and Box Office Mojo. The film, released in 2008 by Focus Features, centers on Harvey Milk and became Van Sant's most commercially successful narrative feature. Box Office Mojo lists Milk as his top earner, ahead of My Own Private Idaho and Good Will Hunting. Good Will Hunting, co-written by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, grossed over $225 million globally, making it his highest-grossing film overall. The data below reflects the latest publicly available box office figures from industry tracking sites.
My Own Private Idaho, distributed by Fine Line Features, earned roughly $8.4 million domestically and $18.4 million worldwide, ranking as Van Sant's second-highest grossing narrative film in global terms. Paranoid Park, released in 2007 by Magnolia Pictures, earned roughly $3.8 million worldwide, while Restless earned approximately $3.2 million. The box office performance of these films reflects their limited release strategies and niche audiences. Van Sant's later works, including Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot and Sea of Trees, earned under $5 million combined worldwide. These figures are sourced from public box office databases and studio reports.
Gus Van Sant Movies Ranked by Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes Scores
My Own Private Idaho holds the highest critical score among Van Sant's narrative features, with a Metacritic score of 78 and a Rotten Tomatoes critics score of 96%. Milk follows closely with a Metacritic score of 83 and a Rotten Tomatoes score of 95%, according to the latest aggregated critic data. Good Will Hunting scores 71 on Metacritic and 97% on Rotten Tomatoes, driven by strong reviews for the screenplay and performances by Matt Damon and Robin Williams. These scores place Milk and My Own Private Idaho at the top of his ranked filmography by critical consensus.
Paranoid Park holds a Metacritic score of 79 and a Rotten Tomatoes critics score of 81%, making it one of his most acclaimed later films. The Last of Robin Hood, released by Goldcrest Pictures, holds a Metacritic score of 52 and a Rotten Tomatoes score of 46%. Sea of Trees, distributed by Focus Features, holds a Metacritic score of 39 and a Rotten Tomatoes score of 19%. These scores are based on the latest available critic reviews and audience ratings from Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes.
Ranking Methodology and Data Sources
The ranking methodology combines worldwide box office gross, Metacritic weighted average scores, and Rotten Tomatoes critic and audience scores. Each film is scored on a normalized scale across these three metrics, with higher weight given to box office for commercial performance and to critic scores for critical performance. Data is drawn from The Numbers, Box Office Mojo, Metacritic, and Rotten Tomatoes as of the latest available public updates. No proprietary or paywalled datasets are used.
Focus Features, Miramax, and New Line Cinema are the primary distributors for Van Sant's highest-ranked narrative films. Good Will Hunting was distributed by Miramax in the United States and by Alliance Atlantis in Canada. Milk was distributed by Focus Features in the United States and by Universal Pictures internationally. Paranoid Park was distributed by Magnolia Pictures in the United States