The History of the Opening Weekend Record Holders (1980-current)

[Lordmandeep]

Well considering DOFP, GOTG and CA2 were some of the best major films this year, I think I am not worried.

 

Just worried about more crappy films like ASM2 being made.

[lilmac]

I'm curious what you guys remember about the opening weekends.  What films do you remember fondly?

 

This is an opportunity for Noctis to gush over Potter.  

 

the fact that the Batman franchise has set the 2D OW record 5 times!

[Walt Disney]

You did an excellent job, Baumer. This is a very interesting history of the OW record from 1980 to the present.

 

The 2 movies on the list that are the most interesting and surprising to me are Star Trek II and Ghostbusters 2. They are the only 2 movies on this list that are not top 200 domestic adjusted grossing films of all-time. Every other film on this list is on the top 200 domestic adjusted grossing list. That might mean that Star Trek II and Ghostbusters II burned off a lot of demand OW, so while they set OW records, their totals weren't as spectacular as the other films on this list.

 

For me personally, the only OW record I remember is The Avengers. I really only started studying studios around 2011. That's when I began noticing that there were only a few major studios and they were responsible for most of the most successful films. I only cared about movie quality before that and never thought about box office. However, box office seemed like an interesting way to see which movies were the most successful. I found this site specifically because I was looking for discussions about the upcoming TA film.

 

I didn't even join this site at first; I just read. It was shocking how many people were bashing TA and how smug and confident everyone was about TDKR destroying it at the BO. People were even saying that TASM was going to destroy TA OS. Then, I remember Nikki and her not a record talk. I went to the movies that sunday, but the person I was with didn't want to see TA, so I saw Cabin in the Woods instead. However, afterwards I was checking to try to find the TA numbers. That OW just shocked me because I knew TDK's OW and what TA would have needed to beat it. The TA number was mind blowing.

 

The TA run was so much fun to follow every week that I had to join this site.

[James]

Well considering DOFP, GOTG and CA2 were some of the best major films this year, I think I am not worried.

 

Just worried about more crappy films like ASM2 being made.

The other were good though. Including TASM 2.

[Olive]

TASM 2 is the worst superhero movie since Green lantern, saying this as a big Spidey fan.

[James]

TASM 2 is the worst superhero movie since Green lantern, saying this as a big Spidey fan.

I'm not a big Spidey fan, yet I liked TASM 2. So... maybe fans have a different view.

[The Panda]

Well considering DOFP, GOTG and CA2 were some of the best major films this year, I think I am not worried.

Just worried about more crappy films like ASM2 being made.

Don't get me confused, I love MCU, it's the other three studios that I worry about because they seem drastically inconsistent and are the reason for market flooding.

The other thing that worries me is that nearly every studio is trying to create universe franchises now, which overall isn't healthy for creativity. The Marvel formula isn't going to stop working because they overuse it but because too many studios try the same thing.

[Kalo]

I agree, while in some ways I enjoy the barrage of superhero movies, in others I want other blockbusters too.

I would really like to see the return of Midevil epics/fantasy becoming blockbusters. not just numbers wise but i was some truly good midevil films coming out with more focus on characters/story/and for fantasy for on the fantastical elements less on battles. and Roman epics as well. 

[Kalo]

I also did a little work to see what these film would look like adjusted to today inflation 

 

The Avengers $207,400,000 (3D) 2012

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 $173,000,000 (2011) (3D) 2011

The Dark Knight $179,200,000 (2008)

Spider-Man 3 $178,400,000 (2007)

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest $168,100,000 (2006)

Spider-Man $160,500,000 (2002)

Harry Potter and the Sorcere's Stone $129,500,000 (2001)

Jurassic Park 2 $127,600,000 (1997) (First film adjusted to over $100m)

Batman Forever $98,500,000 (1995)

Jurassic Park $92,200,000 (1993)

Batman Returns $89,400,000 (1992)

Batman $82,800,000 (1989)

Ghost Busters II $60,300,000 (1989)

Indiana Jones and the last Crusade $60,000,000 (1989)

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom $61,200,000 (1984)

Return of the Jedi $59,400,000 (1983)

Beverly Hills Cop 2 $54,700,000 (1987)

Superman II $41,200,000 (1981)

Empire Strikes Back $33,000,000 (1980)

[baumer]

Adjusting for inflation is nice and all but the movie landscape has changed so much in 30 years that inflation doesn't tell the whole story.

[Walt Disney]

I also did a little work to see what these film would look like adjusted to today inflation 

 

The Avengers $207,400,000 (3D) 2012

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 $173,000,000 (2011) (3D) 2011

The Dark Knight $179,200,000 (2008)

Spider-Man 3 $178,400,000 (2007)

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest $168,100,000 (2006)

Spider-Man $160,500,000 (2002)

Harry Potter and the Sorcere's Stone $129,500,000 (2001)

Jurassic Park 2 $127,600,000 (1997) (First film adjusted to over $100m)

Batman Forever $98,500,000 (1995)

Jurassic Park $92,200,000 (1993)

Batman Returns $89,400,000 (1992)

Batman $82,800,000 (1989)

Ghost Busters II $60,300,000 (1989)

Indiana Jones and the last Crusade $60,000,000 (1989)

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom $61,200,000 (1984)

Return of the Jedi $59,400,000 (1983)

Beverly Hills Cop 2 $54,700,000 (1987)

Superman II $41,200,000 (1981)

Empire Strikes Back $33,000,000 (1980)

 

Great job. This makes it more clear just how much a film really broke an OW record by. Adjusted for inflation, Temple of Doom's OW was actually better than Last Crusade and Ghostbusters II. Also, it's clear that DH2 didn't actually do better than TDK OW. 

 

Edit: DH2 actually didn't even do better than SM3 OW.

Edited November 2, 2014 by Walt Disney

[Kalo]

Great job. This makes it more clear just how much a film really broke an OW record by. Adjusted for inflation, Temple of Doom's OW was actually better than Last Crusade and Ghostbusters II. Also, it's clear that DH2 didn't actually do better than TDK OW. 

 

Edit: DH2 actually didn't even do better than SM3 OW.

it also shows how much more front-loaded films are now as opposed to back 20,30 even 10 years ago. 

[Walt Disney]

it also shows how much more front-loaded films are now as opposed to back 20,30 even 10 years ago. 

 

They started to be more frontloaded when movies began having wide openings as opposed to scattered openings. However, in the last 10-20 years they have really become front-loaded. A run like Frozen has become more rare as opposed to an IM3 run.

[baumer]

IMO, perhaps the most impressive opening weekend on the list is Return of the Jedi.  Not only did it destroy the record by about 70%, it did it while playing in 600 less theaters than Star Trek II did.  That is simply astonishing.  

[langer]

Movies that could have broken the records but opened on wednesday/thursday

 

- The Phantom Menace

- Revenge of the fallen

- The Matrix Reloaded

- Spider Man 2

- Revenge of the Sith

- Shrek 2

 

I don't think Attack of the Clones would have made it if it had opened on a friday. 

[baumer]

I completely forgot about this article LOL. This would be a good companion piece to the history of amazing box-office stories.