A 1999 American drama about an alienated office worker who, with a charismatic soap salesman, founds a secret bare-knuckle club that escalates into something larger.
Production
David Fincher directed Jim Uhls’s adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk’s 1996 novel for 20th Century Fox on a $63 million budget. Brad Pitt and Edward Norton starred, with Helena Bonham Carter as Marla Singer. Fox marketing struggled to position the film, which the studio later partly disowned.
Reception
The film opened in October 1999 and earned around $101 million worldwide, a disappointing initial performance. DVD sales and college screenings produced a sustained cult following.
Legacy
The film’s twist ending, anti-consumerist text, and stylized violence have generated decades of critical and political debate. Palahniuk has said the film adaptation tightened his book’s arguments into a sharper polemic.