Box office The Imitation Game grossed $91.1 million in the United States and Canada, and $142.4 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $233.5 million, against a budget of $14 million. Debuting in four theaters in Los Angeles and New York on November 28, the film grossed $479,352 in its opening weekend with a $119,352 per-screen-average, the second highest per-screen-average of 2014 and the 7th highest of all time for a live-action film. Adjusted for inflation, it outperformed ''
The King's Speech ($88,863 in 2010) and The Artist'' ($51,220 in 2011), which were also released on their respective Thanksgiving weekends. The film expanded into additional markets on December 12 and was released nationwide on Christmas Day. The film opened at number two at the UK box office behind
Interstellar, earning $4.3 million from 459 screens. Its opening was 107% higher than
Argo, 81% higher than
Philomena and 26% higher than
The Iron Lady.
Critical response On
Rotten Tomatoes,
The Imitation Game holds an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The site's critical consensus reads: "With an outstanding starring performance from Benedict Cumberbatch illuminating its fact-based story,
The Imitation Game serves as an eminently well-made entry in the 'prestige biopic' genre." On
Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 71 out of 100, based on 49 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". The film received a rare average grade of "A+" from market-research firm
CinemaScore, and a 90% "definite recommend" rating from its core audience, according to
PostTrak. It was also included in both the
National Board of Review and
American Film Institute's "Top 10 Films of 2014".
The New York Observers
Rex Reed declared that "one of the most important stories of the last century is one of the greatest movies of 2014". Kaleem Aftab of
The Independent gave the film a five-star review, hailing it the "Best British Film of the Year".
Empire described it as a "superb thriller" and
Glamour declared it "an instant classic". Peter Debruge of
Variety added that the film is "beautifully written, elegantly mounted and poignantly performed". Critic Scott Foundas stated that the "movie is undeniably strong in its sense of a bright light burned out too soon, and the often undignified fate of those who dare to chafe at society's established norms". Critic
Leonard Maltin asserted that the film has "an ideal ensemble cast with every role filled to perfection". Praise went to Knightley's supporting performance as Clarke,
Goldenberg's editing, Desplat's score,
Faura's cinematography and Djurkovic's production design. The film was enthusiastically received at the Telluride Film Festival and won the "People's Choice Award for Best Film" at TIFF, the highest prize of the festival. , September 2014 Cumberbatch's performance was met with widespread acclaim from critics.
TIME ranked Cumberbatch's portrayal number one in its Top 10 film performances of 2014, with the magazine's chief film critic
Richard Corliss calling Cumberbatch's characterisation "the actor's oddest, fullest, most
Cumberbatchian character yet ... he doesn't play Turing so much as inhabit him, bravely and sympathetically but without mediation".
Kenneth Turan of the
Los Angeles Times declared Turing "the role of Cumberbatch's career", while
A.O. Scott of
The New York Times stated that it is "one of the year's finest pieces of screen acting".
Peter Travers of
Rolling Stone asserted that the actor "gives an explosive, emotionally complex" portrayal. Critic Clayton Davis stated that it is a "performance for the ages ... proving he's one of the best actors working today". Foundas of
Variety wrote that Cumberbatch's acting is "masterful ... a marvel to watch",
Manohla Dargis of
The New York Times described it as "delicately nuanced, prickly and tragic" and
Owen Gleiberman of the
BBC proclaimed it an "emotionally tailored perfection". It is "a storming performance from Cumberbatch: you'll be deciphering his work long after the credits roll" declared Dave Calhoun of
Time Out. In addition, Claudia Puig of
USA Today concluded in her review, "It's Cumberbatch's nuanced, haunted performance that leaves the most powerful impression".
The Hollywood Reporters
Todd McCarthy reported that the undeniable highlight of the film was Cumberbatch, "whose charisma, tellingly modulated and naturalistic array of eccentricities, talent at indicating a mind never at rest and knack for simultaneously portraying physical oddness and attractiveness combine to create an entirely credible portrait of genius at work". Gossip blogger
Roger Friedman wrote at the end of his review, "Cumberbatch may be the closest thing we have to a real descendant of Sir
Laurence Olivier". While praising the performances of Cumberbatch and Knightley, Catherine Shoard of
The Guardian stated that the film is "too formulaic, too efficient at simply whisking you through and making sure you've clocked the diversity message," going on to raise concerns about the film's alleged reluctance to show Turing "romantically or sexually involved with a man". Tim Robey of
The Telegraph described it as "a film about a human calculator which feels ... a little too calculated". British historian
Alex von Tunzelmann, writing for
The Guardian in November 2014, pointed out many historical inaccuracies in the film, saying in conclusion: "Historically,
The Imitation Game is as much of a garbled mess as a heap of unbroken code". Journalist
Christian Caryl also found numerous historical inaccuracies, describing the film as constituting "a bizarre departure from the historical record" that changed Turing's rich life to be "multiplex-friendly". L.V. Anderson of
Slate magazine compared the film's account of Turing's life and work to the biography it was based on, writing, "I discovered that
The Imitation Game takes major liberties with its source material, injecting conflict where none existed, inventing entirely fictional characters, rearranging the chronology of events, and misrepresenting the very nature of Turing's work at Bletchley Park". Andrew Grant of
Science News wrote, "... like so many other Hollywood biopics, it takes some major artistic license – which is disappointing, because Turing's actual story is so compelling." Computing historian Thomas Haigh, writing in the journal
Communications of the ACM, said that "the film is a bad guide to reality but a useful summary of everything that the popular imagination gets wrong about Bletchley Park", that it "combines the traditional focus of popular science writing on the lone genius who changes the world with the modern movie superhero narrative of a freak who must overcome his own flaws before he can save the world", and that, together with the likes of
A Beautiful Mind and
The Theory of Everything, is part of a trend of "glossy scientific biopic[s]" that emphasize those famous scientists who were surrounded by tragedy rather than those who found contented lives, which in turn affects the way "[s]ome kinds of people, and work, have become famous and others have not."
The Turing family Despite earlier reservations, Turing's niece Inagh Payne told
Allan Beswick of
BBC Radio Manchester that the film "really did honour my uncle" after she watched the film at the
London Film Festival in October 2014. In the same interview, Turing's nephew
Dermot Turing stated that Cumberbatch is "perfect casting. I couldn't think of anyone better." James Turing, a great-nephew of the code-breaker, said Cumberbatch "knows things that I never knew before. The amount of knowledge he has about Alan is amazing."
Accolades The Imitation Game was nominated for, and received, numerous awards, with Cumberbatch's portrayal of Turing particularly praised. The film and its cast and crew were also honoured by Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBT civil rights advocacy group and political lobbying organisation in the United States. "We are proud to honor the stars and filmmakers of
The Imitation Game for bringing the captivating yet tragic story of Alan Turing to the big screen", HRC president Chad Griffin said in a statement. ==Social action==