Dances with Wolves
Inside everyone is a frontier waiting to be discovered.
Wounded Civil War soldier John Dunbar tries to commit suicide—and becomes a hero instead.As a reward, he's assigned to his dream post, a remote junction on the Western frontier, and soon makes unlikely friends with the local Sioux tribe.
- Director
- Kevin Costner
- Signature
- Craft · Drama · Action
- Worldwide
- $424M
Who's in it
Cast
The billed ensemble, with character names. Open any performer for their Nutevio filmography.
21 billed performers
The Nutevio profile
Movie DNA
How Dances with Wolves actually feels to watch, measured on the twelve traits our editors track across every Nutevio title.
Story overview
What It's About
Spoiler-free. Read the analysis below for the full argument.
Wounded Civil War soldier John Dunbar tries to commit suicide—and becomes a hero instead. As a reward, he's assigned to his dream post, a remote junction on the Western frontier, and soon makes unlikely friends with the local Sioux tribe.
Where to watch
Streaming
Availability verified against regional listings.
Checking regional listings…
The record
Awards
11 wins · 12 nominations
Academy Awards
7 wins · 12 nominations
- WinnerAcademy Award for Best Actor
- WinnerAcademy Award for Best Cinematography
- WinnerAcademy Award for Best Costume Design
- WinnerAcademy Award for Best Director
- WinnerAcademy Award for Best Film Editing
- WinnerAcademy Award for Best Original Score
- WinnerAcademy Award for Best Picture
Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Film
1 win
- WinnerDallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Film
National Board of Review Award for Best Film
1 win
- WinnerNational Board of Review Award for Best Film
National Board of Review: Top Ten Films
1 win
- WinnerNational Board of Review: Top Ten Films
Silver nugget for the best foreign film
1 win
- WinnerSilver nugget for the best foreign film
The numbers
Box Office & Release
Dances with Wolves returned 19.3× its budget worldwide.
- Budget
- $22M
- Opening weekend
- —
- Domestic gross
- —
- International gross
- —
- Worldwide gross
- $424M
- Release date
- Nov 9, 1990
- Runtime
- 3h 1m
- MPAA rating
- —
- Language
- English
- Country
- United Kingdom, United States of America
Figures from the verified production record. Fields we cannot source are left blank rather than estimated.
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