 Boys Don 't Cry aired in Canada at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in September 1999. It premiered in the U.S. at the New York Film Festival on October 8, 1999, to critical acclaim. It was shown at the Reel Affirmations International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival in early October, where it won further praise and appeared at the Venice International Film Festival. Boys Don't Cry was given a special screening in snippets at the Sundance Film Festival. At that time, the film was still called Take It Like a Man. The film received a limited release theatrically on October 22, 1999, in the U.S., where it was distributed by Fox Searchlight Pictures, a subsidiary of Twentieth Century Fox that specializes in independent films. Initially, many viewers complained via email to Peirce that the film was not being shown near them, as the film was only being shown on 25 screens across the country. However, this number increased to nearly 200 by March 2000. The film grossed $ 73,720 in its opening week. By December 5, the film had grossed in excess of $ 2 million. By May 2000, it had a U.S. total gross of $ 11,540,607 — more than three times its production budget. Internationally, the film was released on March 2, 2000 in Australia and on April 9, 2000, in the United Kingdom.
