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One could argue that the western genre has largely dried up and for those wanting one the offerings are generally few and far between. Before True Grit the last western to be released wide was Jonah Hex. Okay, the last decent western was 3:10 to Yuma, which passed with a $53 million take at the US box office back in September 2007.

True Grit was produced on a production budget of $38 million. Released in the US on a Wednesday, December 22 2010, distributor Paramount opened the film wide at over 3,000 theatres, making it the widest release for a Coen Brothers film so far. A weekend gross of $24.8 million had it open at #2 at the US box office (it had earned a solid $36 million during its opening five days). It was held off the top spot by Little Fockers. According to Paramount, 65% of the audience that came out for the film on its opening weekend was male and 70% were over the age of 25. The Christmas holidays played a part and allowed the film to hold amazingly well during its second week, where it stayed at #2 with a take of $24.4 million. By week three, it climbed to #1 with an additional take of $14.6 million.

One of the main factors working in the film’s favor was that it didn’t really have any major competition. A (mildly enjoyable) action blockbuster didn’t emerge till the weekend of January 14th when The Green Hornet was released. By this time, True Grit was in its fourth week of release and had already managed to earn over $120 million. Spending eight weeks in the top ten, True Grit finished its run with $171.2 million. As of this writing, it ranks just behind Dances with Wolves as the second most successful western at the US box office (though that could possibly change with the release of Gore Verbinski’s The Lone Ranger). Overseas the film earned $79.8 million. With a worldwide gross of $251 million, there seemed to be a succession of good things that led to True Grit becoming the highest grossing film by the Coen Brothers.

Paramount marketed True Grit as a blockbuster and the theatrical trailer was pure genius. Incorporating additional sound effects of guns being cocked and shot, it managed to make the film look more action packed than it actually is. The first half explained the simple revenge premise while the latter half incorporated a montage of shootouts to the sound of Johnny Cash’s God’s Gonna Cut You Down.

Going into the weekend, reviews for the film were overwhelmingly positive. While some critics made sure they got their obligatory Duke and Dude jokes in, many considered it to be better than "that" John Wayne film, praising the performances, direction and Roger Deakins’ cinematography. A few also cited just how funny it is too. Not only was it the best reviewed film released over the Christmas period, but according to review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, True Grit was up there with the likes of How to Train Your Dragon, The King’s Speech, The Social Network and Toy Story 3 as one of the top five best reviewed films of 2010.

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