<Tr> <Th> Box office </Th> <Td> $3, 3 million </Td> </Tr> <P> It's a Wonderful Life is a 1946 American Christmas fantasy comedy - drama film produced and directed by Frank Capra, based on the short story and booklet The Greatest Gift, which Philip Van Doren Stern wrote in 1939 and published privately in 1945 . </P> <P> The film stars James Stewart as George Bailey, a man who has given up his dreams in order to help others, and whose imminent suicide on Christmas Eve brings about the intervention of his guardian angel, Clarence Odbody (Henry Travers). Clarence shows George all the lives he has touched, and how different life in his community of Bedford Falls would be if he had never been born . </P> <P> Despite initially performing poorly at the box office because of stiff competition at the time of its release, the film has become regarded as a classic, and is a staple of Christmas television around the world . The film is considered one of the most loved films in American cinema, and has become traditional viewing during the Christmas season . Theatrically, the film's break - even point was $6.3 million, approximately twice the production cost, a figure it never came close to achieving in its initial release . An appraisal in 2006 reported: "Although it was not the complete box office failure that today everyone believes...it was initially a major disappointment and confirmed, at least to the studios, that Capra was no longer capable of turning out the populist features that made his films the must - see, money - making events they once were ." </P>

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