Philadelphia (film)

Philadelphia
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Jonathan Demme
Written by	Ron Nyswaner
Produced by	Jonathan Demme Edward Saxon
Starring	Tom Hanks Denzel Washington Jason Robards Mary Steenburgen Antonio Banderas
Cinematography	Tak Fujimoto
Edited by	Craig McKay
Music by	Howard Shore
Distributed by	TriStar Pictures
Release dates	December 14, 1993 (1993-12-14) (Los Angeles) December 22, 1993 (1993-12-22) (United States)
Running time	126 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$26 million
Box office	$206.7 million[1]

Philadelphia is a 1993 American legal drama film written by Ron Nyswaner, directed by Jonathan Demme and starring Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington.^[2] Filmed on location in its namesake city, it tells the story of attorney Andrew Beckett (Hanks) who comes to ask a personal injury attorney, Joe Miller (Washington), to help him sue his former employer, who fired him after discovering he was gay and that he had AIDS.

Philadelphia premiered in Los Angeles on December 14, 1993, and opened in limited release on December 22, before expanding into wide release on January 14, 1994. It grossed $206.7 million worldwide, becoming the 9th highest-grossing film of 1993.^[3] It was positively received by critics for its screenplay and the performances of Hanks and Washington. For his performance as Andrew Beckett, Hanks won the Academy Award for Best Actor at the 66th Academy Awards, while the song "Streets of Philadelphia" by Bruce Springsteen won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Nyswaner was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, but lost to Jane Campion for The Piano. Philadelphia is notable for being one of the first mainstream Hollywood films not only to explicitly address HIV/AIDS and homophobia, but also to portray gay people in a positive light.