Long before there was Barbenheimer, there was the classic 2006 magician movie clash between The Prestige and The Illusionist. Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige featured an outstanding cast led by Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman, Scarlett Johansson, Michael Caine, Andy Serkis, and David Bowie. It was just the fifth feature film directed by Nolan and his first before The Dark Knight, which arguably remains his greatest movie to date even after Oppenheimer won Best Picture at the 2023 Oscars. The Prestige was nominated for two Oscars in Cinematography and Art Direction and received a Rotten Tomatoes critic score of 77% and an audience score of 92%.

Meanwhile, The Illusionist was written and directed by Neil Burger (Divergent, Billions) and starred Edward Norton, Paul Giamatti, Jessica Biel, and Rufus Sewell. As it sometimes happens in Hollywood, two films with nearly identical subject matter are released within a similar timeframe. Other examples of this phenomenon include No Strings Attached and Friends With Benefits, which were both released in 2011, and Olympus Has Fallen and White House Down, which were both released in 2013. The Illusionist was interestingly also nominated for an Oscar in Cinematography in 2007. The Illusionist earned a Rotten Tomatoes critic score of 73% and an audience score of 83%.

The Illusionist & The Prestige’s 2006 Competition Explained

The films share an eerie number of similarities

The Prestige is often considered one of Christopher Nolan’s best movies, especially as an original work outside of his Dark Knight trilogy. Because of the proximity in release dates between The Illusionist and The Prestige, there was a natural competition that emerged between the two films, which were both period pieces about magicians. The Prestige was released on October 20, 2006 and grossed $109 million worldwide against a production budget of $40 million. On the other hand, The Illusionist was released on August 18, 2006 and grossed roughly $88 million against a production budget of $16.5 million.

Interestingly, both 2006 magician movies were critically acclaimed box office hits that were nominated for Best Cinematography Oscars in the same year. While there was initial speculation and debate surrounding which 2006 magician film was better, it’s hard to compete with a Christopher Nolan film, especially one with the leading talents of Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman, which remains to this day their only onscreen collaboration. While Edward Norton is excellent per usual in The Illusionist in one of his celebrated performances before taking on the role of Bruce Banner in The Incredible Hulk, The Prestige is better in several areas.

How The Illusionist & The Prestige’s Critical Reception Compares

The Prestige earned a 92% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes

Both The Prestige and The Illusionist received positive reviews from critics. Roger Ebert said of The Prestige, “It’s quite a movie — atmospheric, obsessive, almost satanic.” Peter Travers of Rolling Stone wrote in his review of The Prestige, “There are nifty tricks galore up the sumptuous sleeve of this offbeat and wildly entertaining thriller.” Ty Burr of The Boston Globe wrote, “This is grand, half-crazy fun, and Jackman and Bale are committed to their parts: Genuine madness glints in their eyes.” Conversely, Ben Walters of Time Out noted, “Not only does it tell you how it’s all done, it takes so long about it that you’ve got time to look up its sleeves and work it out for yourself.”

The Illusionist was rated slightly lower than The Prestige by top critics. Richard Corliss of Time Magazine wrote in his review for The Illusionist, “By the end, the canniest viewers may not be fooled, but — and you can believe this — they may be mesmerized.” Dana Stevens of Slate wrote, “It’s an exquisitely crafted period picture that keeps promising more and more as it goes along — smarter ideas, richer themes, spookier plot twists — and keeps delivering on every promise, right up until the rug-pulling and overly hasty final sequence.” Joanne Kaufman of The Wall Street Journal wrote in her rotten review, “The ludicrous climax, full of run-that-by-me-again flashbacks delivered at Keystone-cop speed — oh, if only he could make that disappear.”

The Illusionist & The Prestige’s Box Office Comparison: Which Performed Better?

The Prestige beat out The Illusionist in just about every comparable metric

The Prestige beat out The Illusionist in just about every comparable metric, particularly in its total box office gross and its critical acclaim. The Prestige became the 57th highest-grossing film of 2006 while The Illusionist was the 76th highest-grossing film of the year, domestically. Disney, which produced The Prestige, had a fantastic year at the 2006 box office, earning the top two spots of the year in domestic markets with the $423 million gross of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest and the $244 million gross of Cars. The Illusionist ultimately was a smaller production than The Prestige but still earned box office success and critical acclaim.