

Dead Poets Society
He was their inspiration. He made their lives extraordinary.
At an elite, old-fashioned boarding school in New England, a passionate English teacher inspires his students to rebel against convention and seize the potential of every day, courting the disdain of the stern headmaster.
TMDB
8.3/10
13,068 votes
IMDb
8.1/10
671,769 votes
Rotten Tomatoes
85%
Tomatometer
Metacritic
79/100
Metascore
- Status
- Released
- Budget
- $16.4M
- Box office
- $95,860,116
- Language
- English
- individual
- friendship
- philosophy
- poetry
- literature
- professor
- coming of age
- teacher
- school play
- new england
- vermont
- schoolteacher
Top billed cast















Behind the camera
Where to watch
All optionsAvailability for India. Provided by JustWatch through the TMDB API.
Gallery












Videos
Awards & recognition
- Oscar wins
- 1
- Total wins
- 20
- Total nominations
- 19
- Won 1 Oscar
- 20 wins
- 19 nominations total
Awards data for Dead Poets Society provided by OMDb.
Release dates
IndiaIN
- Digital / OTT15 Feb 2021
United StatesUS
- Theatrical (limited)2 Jun 1989
- TheatricalPG9 Jun 1989
- PhysicalPGVHS28 Mar 1990
- PhysicalPGDVD10 Nov 1998
United KingdomGB
- TheatricalPG22 Sept 1989
United Arab EmiratesAE
- TV7 Jul 2014
AustraliaAU
- TheatricalPG21 Jul 1989
CanadaCA
- Theatrical2 Jun 1989
ArgentinaAR
- Theatrical15 Feb 1990
AustriaAT
- Theatrical26 Jan 1990
BelgiumBE
- Theatrical1618 Jan 1990
BrazilBR
- Theatrical1228 Feb 1990
ChinaCN
- PremiereBeijing International Film Festival17 Apr 2026
ColombiaCO
- Theatrical10 May 1990
Frequently asked questions
Dead Poets Society was released on 2 June 1989.
- J9/10
John Chard
7/8/2019
Carpe Diem & The Punk Rock Movie. Dead Poets Society is directed by Peter Weir (Picnic At Hanging Rock/Gallipoli) and stars Robin Williams, Robert Sean Leonard, Ethan Hawke, Kurtwood Smith, Gale Hansen & Norman Lloyd. The script is written by Tom Schulman, based on his life at Montgomery Bell Academy, an all-boys preparatory school in Nashville, Tennessee. The film is set in 1959 at the fictional Welton Academy in…
- W10/10
Wuchak
7/9/2021
_**Seize the day; be Exceptional!**_ John Keating (Robin Williams), a new teacher at a stuffy prep school in 1959, inspires his students to capitalize on their natural talents and develop a passion for life because they only have one shot and in 60 years or so they'll all be worm-food. Each boy starts to act on Keating's dynamic ideas with explosive consequences , both good and bad. Released in 1989 and directe…
- C7/10
CinemaSerf
7/3/2022
Robin Williams ("Keating") arrives at an all boys school where he is to teach them English. As you'd expect, they weren't particularly interested, but when he begins by telling them to rip up the poetry manual, and continues with an inspirational and vocational approach the pupils start to engage not only with him, but they set up the eponymous club which helps each of them to develop as a person. This is quite a tas…
- C1/10
crazyrobinhood
9/29/2024
The (very absurd) point of view of the rich people about freedom. The Movie is so pathetically formulaic that it makes you want to throw tomatoes at the screen. The Horatian ideal, of Stoic-Epicurean origin, of a life enjoyed in the good it gives us, even if it is little, is here often repeated, inaccurately, as an invitation to live joyfully. And it makes us laugh and reflect even more that it is observed f…
- K8/10
kevin2019
11/8/2024
"Dead Poets Society" never endeavours to sweeten the bitter pill of disappointment or tragedy by playing to whatever cliched expectations you might have. Neil's father Mr. Perry isn't going to suddenly relent and admit what a stupid and selfish fool he has been and then decide to change his uncompromising viewpoint in relation to his son's disputed future. He actually becomes even more entrenched in his stubborn dete…
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