Claim: Spotlight made $90 million in global sales.

Spotlight is a 2015 American biographical crime drama film directed by Tom McCarthy and written by McCarthy and Josh Singer . The film follows The Boston Globe `` Spotlight '' team , the oldest continuously operating newspaper investigative journalist unit in the United States , and its investigation into cases of widespread and systemic child sex abuse in the Boston area by numerous Roman Catholic priests . It is based on a series of stories by the `` Spotlight '' team that earned The Globe the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service . The film stars Mark Ruffalo , Michael Keaton , Rachel McAdams , John Slattery , Stanley Tucci , Brian d'Arcy James , Liev Schreiber , and Billy Crudup .   Spotlight was shown in the Out of Competition section of the 72nd Venice International Film Festival . It was also shown at the Telluride Film Festival and the Special Presentations section of the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival . The film was released on November 6 , 2015 , by Open Road Films and grossed $ 90 million worldwide . It won numerous guilds and critics ' association awards , and was named one of the finest films of 2015 by various publications . Spotlight won the Academy Award for Best Picture along with Best Original Screenplay from six nominations in total , making Spotlight the first film from Open Road Films to win in either category . This also marks the first film to win Best Picture from a different mini-major studio than Lionsgate , Summit -LRB- later bought by Lionsgate in 2012 -RRB- , Miramax , or TWC .