Citizen Kane premiered on May 1, 1941, and didn’t look like a future classic at first.
Directed by 25-year-old Orson Welles, the film took about 10 weeks to shoot and cost roughly $840,000, a modest budget even then. Loosely inspired by newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, it faced backlash that limited promotion and box office success. It made about $1.6 million, decent but not a major hit. Critics began reappraising it in the 1950s and ’60s, praising its deep-focus shots, nonlinear storytelling and sound design.
Today, it’s widely ranked among the greatest films, influencing generations of filmmakers around the world.
– Staff report with AI assist*, The Today 100
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