Box office Killers of the Flower Moon grossed $68.1 million in the United States and Canada, and $90.7 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $158.8 million. In February 2024,
Deadline Hollywood reported that the film fell about $20 million short of covering its marketing budget during its theatrical run, but made that up from home rentals, leaving a net loss equivalent to its $200 million production budget for Apple. However, Apple insisted the film was profitable. In the United States and Canada, the film was projected to gross $20–25 million from 3,621 theaters in its opening weekend. The film made $9 million in its second weekend, a drop of 61%, then $7 million in its third, finishing in third place both times. Following its 10 Oscar nominations, the film expanded from 16 theaters to 941 in its 15th week of release and made $220,000, an increase of 3,811% from the previous weekend.
Critical response Audiences polled by
CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale, while those polled by
PostTrak gave it an 88% overall positive score, with 72% saying they would definitely recommend the film. In his review of the "meaty and demanding" film following its premiere at Cannes, Peter Debruge of
Variety commended the story, characters and themes, but criticized the runtime: "In its present form, [
Killers of the Flower Moon] is still a compelling true story... It's engrossing from the get-go, the palpable tension methodically echoed by Robbie Robertson's steady-heartbeat score. But it keeps going and going until everyone we care about is dead, dying or behind bars, with nearly an hour still in store". David Rooney of
The Hollywood Reporter argued that "the three-and-a-half-hour running time is fully justified in an escalating tragedy that never loosens its grip" and praised the screenplay, direction, cinematography, score, and cast performances (particularly that of Gladstone). In
The Guardian,
Peter Bradshaw called the film an "epic of creeping, existential horror about the birth of the
American century, a macabre tale of quasi-genocidal serial killings" and also lauded the "performance of tragic force" by Gladstone. The
Los Angeles Times Justin Chang observed that the film "is both like and unlike anything its director has ever done", and
The New Yorkers
Richard Brody noting: "Scorsese's control of form and tone, and the bold yet subtle way that he marshals incident, signal that he is intent not merely on narrating history but on troubling the conscience of his (doubtless largely white) audience". Brody observed: "[Mollie] is not only the character on whose actions the drama pivots but also the one whose subjectivity, presented sparingly but suggested powerfully, gives the story a sense of inner life." Filmmakers
Phạm Thiên Ân,
Joe Dante,
Robert Eggers, and
Reinaldo Marcus Green, as well as actor
Bill Hader, also cited it as among their favorite films of 2023. The February 2024 issue of
New York Magazine lists
Killers of the Flower Moon as among "The Best Movies That Lost Best Picture at the Oscars."
IndieWire included it on its list of "The Best Modern Western Movies" in November 2024 and ranked it at number 29 on its list of "The 100 Best Movies of the 2020s (So Far)" in June 2025. In July 2025, the film ranked number 93 on the "Readers' Choice" edition of
The New York Times list of "The 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century." Some critics lamented the film's decision to focus its narrative on the characters of Ernest and Hale, opining that the character of Mollie felt underdeveloped.
Angelica Jade Bastién of
Vulture wrote: "Trapped by the gleam of reverence, [Scorsese] ends up returning to the same
racial stereotypes he sought to avoid: The Osage people are noble and connected to the land, but their personalities, their desires, their joys, and, most crucially, their anger remain in the shadowed hallways of a history Scorsese is too timid to approach." It was longlisted, along with
Barbie and
Oppenheimer, in 15 categories at the
77th British Academy Film Awards, equaling the BAFTA longlist record for most nominations set by
Edward Berger's German
anti-war film All Quiet on the Western Front (2022). For her portrayal of Mollie Burkhart, Gladstone became the first Indigenous American actress to be nominated for an Academy Award. At age 81, Scorsese earned his tenth nomination for Best Director, garnering more Oscar nominations for that category (including one prior win) than anyone alive. Scorsese also became the oldest Best Director nominee, eclipsing
John Huston, who was 79. Schoonmaker earned her ninth nomination for Best Editing, surpassing the record for most nominations in this category. Robbie Robertson earned his first Academy Award nomination (for Best Original Score), becoming the 64th individual to earn a
posthumous nomination for a
competitive category. Gladstone's loss to
Emma Stone for Best Actress (for
Poor Things) at the 96th Academy Awards stirred debate over what some deemed a "
snub". Some argued that awarding Stone was a missed opportunity for greater inclusivity to Native Americans, with others arguing that since Stone had already won Best Actress for her performance in
La La Land (2016), Gladstone was more deserving of the award. Stone herself was surprised at her win, stating: "I think I blacked out. I was very shocked." In its summary of 2024 Oscar winners and losers,
Billboard magazine classified the movie's lack of Academy Awards, despite 10 nominations, as a snub, noting: "OK, that happens at awards shows. But this was director Martin Scorsese's third film to go 0-10 on Oscar night, following
Gangs of New York (2002) and
The Irishman (2019). Scorsese is universally acknowledged as one of the greatest directors of our time. For it to happen three times to the same director – a legend, no less – is hard to explain."
Indigenous response Lindsey Bark of the
Cherokee Phoenix wrote that there was "hope that this film opens up more discussion among non-Native people about the real tragedies that have occurred to Native people throughout history". However, Christopher Kuo of
The New York Times wrote that, despite broad agreement in Indigenous circles that the film accurately portrays the culture and language of the Osage people, there was a mixed overall reaction to the film among indigenous people.
Slates Joel Robinson, an Osage, expressed similar views, but still praised the film, concurring with former chief of the Osage Nation Jim Gray that he had "never seen a film immerse itself in a culture like this one did with ours". He added that he hoped that the success of the film would mean more opportunities for Indigenous filmmakers to tell stories from their own point of view. Maureen Lee Lenker noted in
Entertainment Weekly that
first Nations actress
Devery Jacobs (Elora Danan Postoak on
Reservation Dogs) shared her reaction to the film: "Being Native, watching this movie was f---ing hellfire ... Our pride, languages, cultures, joy & love are way more interesting & humanizing than showing the horrors white men inflicted on us." Jacobs did believe that Gladstone "carried Mollie [with] tremendous grace" and that no performances were weak, but still argued that "each of the Osage characters felt painfully underwritten, while the white men were given way more courtesy and depth". Lindsey Bark quoted
Cherokee Nation citizen Tim Landes as saying: "This movie is another example of why it's important our tribe continues to invest in our filmmakers, so we can share accurate stories that show our side. We can't trust other filmmakers to get it right, even if they are a legend like Martin Scorsese." Gianna Sieke, an Osage princess from 2021 to 2023 who was present for the film's production,
Legislative responses Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma
Matt Pinnell named the film as a reason to increase subsidies for the film industry in Oklahoma. The Filmed in Oklahoma Act of 2021 allocated $30 million to film subsidies. Bills to increase the total available subsidies to $80 million in 2023 failed in the
Oklahoma Senate after passing the
Oklahoma House of Representatives. ==See also==