Underworld Box Office: Grosses and Budgets for All Five Films

The five Underworld films earned about $541 million worldwide, with $253 million of that coming from North America and $288 million from the rest of the world, according to Box Office Mojo. Ranked by worldwide gross, the order is Underworld: Awakening at $160 million, Underworld: Evolution at $111 million, Underworld (2003) at $96 million, Underworld: Rise of the Lycans at $92 million and Underworld: Blood Wars at $81 million. Film by film, the gaps between those totals come from very different budgets and very different splits between home and overseas audiences.

Underworld (2003), directed by Len Wiseman, reached US theaters on September 19, 2003, on a budget of $22 million. It took $52 million domestically and $44 million abroad for $96 million worldwide, which is a little over four times its cost. That is the best return in the series by a clear margin.

Underworld: Evolution (2006), also directed by Len Wiseman, doubled the budget to $45 million and answered with $62 million domestic and $111 million worldwide. It was the first film in the series to out-earn the 2003 original's $96 million globally. Its US release on January 20, 2006 (a day earlier in Australia) began a habit of opening in January that three of the next four films kept.

Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009), directed by Patrick Tatopoulos in his first feature as director, is the prequel set centuries before the first film. It cost $35 million and grossed $92 million worldwide, with $46 million domestic and $46 million international (the international side edged ahead by a little over half a million dollars). Screen Daily put its opening weekend at an estimated $20.7 million. It is also the only film in the series without Kate Beckinsale, who plays Selene in the other four.

Underworld: Awakening (2012), directed by Måns Mårlind and Björn Stein, is the biggest earner and also the most expensive, with a $70 million budget. It made $62 million domestically and $98 million internationally for $160 million worldwide. Its domestic total was almost identical to Evolution's $62 million, so the two films are effectively level in North America and the gap comes entirely from overseas.

Underworld: Blood Wars (2016), directed by Anna Foerster, opened in Australia on December 1, 2016 and in the US on January 6, 2017. It cost $35 million and earned $30 million domestically and $51 million internationally, for $81 million worldwide. That makes it the lowest grossing film in the series on both the domestic and the worldwide measure. No sixth film has been announced, and the status of underworld 6 is covered on its own page. For the full list of titles, see underworld movies and the underworld timeline.

Underworld was a profitable franchise on the headline numbers, because every one of the five films grossed at least 2.2 times its production budget worldwide. That is not the same as proof of profit once marketing and theater shares are counted, and Box Office Mojo and The Numbers report grosses and budgets, not studio accounts. Still, $541 million returned on $207 million of production spending is a healthy commercial run by any reading.

In my opinion, the more telling pattern is the return on each dollar. The 2003 film turned $22 million into $96 million, about 4.4 times its cost. Rise of the Lycans came next at about 2.6 times, then Evolution at 2.5, Blood Wars at 2.3 and Awakening at 2.3. Awakening won on raw gross, but it also carried the heaviest budget, so it earned its place at the top by spending more rather than by being the most efficient film. It could be argued that the series peaked in efficiency on day one and then spent its way to a higher ceiling.

Perhaps the most useful comparison is Rise of the Lycans against the rest. It had no Selene, a first time director and a setting built around a vampire fortress and enslaved Lycans, and it still grossed $92 million, within a few million dollars of Underworld (2003). To my mind that says the audience was loyal to the vampire and Lycan war itself, not only to one star. Blood Wars then brought Beckinsale back and fell to $81 million, which suggests the appetite had cooled by 2017 more than any single casting choice could fix.

So, which film made the most money? Awakening, at $160 million worldwide, with the 2003 film the best value. Fans who want a verdict on quality rather than receipts can check underworld movies ranked, and anyone catching up should start with underworld movies in order.