Rent

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Chris Columbus directs. Stephen Goldblatt behind the camera. Jonathan Larson scores. Richard Pearson cuts. A commercial under-performer on release. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 1Earned back only 79% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.
• 2Released 21 years ago.
• 3Directed by Chris Columbus, shot by Stephen Goldblatt. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 4Original score by Jonathan Larson. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 5Editor Richard Pearson shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 6Anthony Rapp and Adam Pascal and Rosario Dawson carry the top of the cast.
• 7Marketing tagline: "No day but today.".
• 8IMDB entry: tt0294870 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 9Classified under 10 themes, including "aids", "musical", "based on play or musical", "hiv".

The technical file

Cinematography

Stephen Goldblatt

Original score

Jonathan Larson

Editing

Richard Pearson

Production design

Howard Cummings

Costume design

Aggie Guerard Rodgers

Makeup / hair

Mindy Hall

Sound

Lora Hirschberg

Stunt coordinator

G.A. Aguilar

Runtime

135 min · 2h 15m

Aspect ratio (typical)

1.37:1 (Academy)

Status

Released

Budget

$40,000,000

Box office

$31,670,620

Return

79% of budget

Original language

EN

Certification (US)

PG-13

IMDB

Rent (2005) ↗

Rotten Tomatoes

46% 🥫 Rotten

Metacritic

53/100

IMDB rating

6.8/10 · 57,179 votes

MPAA

PG-13

Also by

Chris Columbus

• 
  Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

  2001 · ★ 7.9
• 
  Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

  2002 · ★ 7.7
• 
  Home Alone

  1990 · ★ 7.5
• 
  Bicentennial Man

  1999 · ★ 7.3
• 
  Mrs. Doubtfire

  1993 · ★ 7.2
• 
  Stepmom

  1998 · ★ 7.2

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper Wallpaper Wallpaper Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  Rent (2005) Deleted Scene – Goodbye Love

  Bloopers · Official
• 

  ▶
  Rent (2005) – FIRST 10 MINUTES

  Clip · Official
• 

  ▶
  RENT (2005) – Alternate Ending

  Bloopers · Official
• 

  ▶
  Rent (2005) - Trailer

  Trailer · Official

Production companies

Who made it

• 

  1492 Pictures

  US

• 

  Revolution Studios

  US

• 

  Tribeca Productions

  US

Key crew

• Executive ProducerAllan S. Gordon
• MusicJamie Muhoberac
• ProducerMark Radcliffe
• Executive ProducerLata Ryan
• EditorRichard Pearson
• MusicRobert Cavallo
• Costume DesignAggie Guerard Rodgers
• Set DecorationMark Warren
• ProducerChris Columbus
• ProducerRobert De Niro
• Executive ProducerJeffrey Seller
• Executive ProducerKevin McCollum
• ProducerMichael Barnathan
• ProducerJane Rosenthal
• Set DecorationBarbara Munch
• MusicDoug McKean
• Production DesignHoward Cummings
• MusicTim Pierce
• Stunt CoordinatorG.A. Aguilar
• Production AssistantPatrick Tendai Pfupajena
• StuntsRobin Bonaccorsi
• MusicalJonathan Larson
• LyricistJonathan Larson
• Stunt DoubleJennifer Caputo

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• aids
• musical
• based on play or musical
• hiv
• rock opera
• missing person
• lgbt
• mugging
• manhattan, new york city
• gay theme

Release history · US

When it landed

• Theatrical2005-11-23PG-13
• Theatrical2005-11-17PG-13· Ziegfeld Theatre

Also known as

International titles

• Vidas extremasES