<P> 8 Mile opened at #1 with $51,240,555 in its opening weekend, the then second highest opening for an R - rated movie in the U.S. The film would go on to gross $116,750,901 domestically, and $126,124,177 overseas for a total of $242,875,078 worldwide . The film's final domestic gross would hold the film at #3 in Box Office Mojo's "Pop Star Debuts" list, behind Austin Powers in Goldmember (Beyoncé) and The Bodyguard (Whitney Houston). </P> <P> The 8 Mile DVD, which was released on March 18, 2003, generated $75 million in sales and rentals in its first week, making it the biggest DVD debut ever for an R - rated movie and putting it in the all - time Top 10 for first week home video sales for a movie . A VHS version was also released on the same date . </P> <P> 8 Mile received positive reviews, with critics praising the music and Eminem's performance . Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports the film is "Certified Fresh", with 76% of 206 professional critics giving the film a positive review and a rating average of 7.0 out of 10 . The site's consensus is that "Even though the story is overly familiar, there's enough here for an engaging ride ." On Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 reviews from film critics, the film has rating score of 77 based on 38 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". CinemaScore polls conducted during the opening weekend revealed the average grade cinemagoers gave 8 Mile was B+ on an A+ to F scale, with the core under - 21 demographics giving it an A . </P> <P> Roger Ebert gave the film 3 out of 4 stars . He said that we "are hardly started in' 8 Mile,' and already we see that this movie stands aside from routine debut films by pop stars" and that it is "a faithful reflection of his myth". He said that Eminem, as an actor, is "convincing without being too electric" and "survives the X-ray truth - telling of the movie camera". He praised Eminem's approach to his role, saying that "The genius of Rabbit is to admit his own weaknesses ." He complimented Basinger, saying that "Her performance finds the right note somewhere between love and exasperation; it cannot be easy to live with this sullen malcontent, whose face lights up only when he sees his baby sister, Lily ." He said that criticism of Basinger for being "too attractive and glamorous to play Rabbit's mother" were unfair: "Given the numbers of ugly people who live in big houses, why can't there be beautiful people living in trailers?" He called the film "a grungy version of a familiar formula, in which the would - be performer first fails at his art, then succeeds, is unhappy in romance but lucky in his friends, and comes from an unfortunate background . He even finds love, sort of, with Alex," but "What the movie is missing, however, is the third act in which the hero becomes a star," as it "avoids the rags - to - riches route and shows Rabbit moving from rags to slightly better rags ." He said that he "would love to see a sequel in which Rabbit makes millions and becomes world famous, and we learn at last if it is possible for him to be happy ." </P>

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