What boxoffice runs are unbelievable in retrospect?

[lilmac]

Box-office totals that make you say "whaat?"

 

 

 

 

1. I find it hard to believe National Treasure 2 made $220 million (adjusts to $250m)!!
2. Meet the Fockers - $279m ($357m adj!!)
3. Anaconda adjusts to $120m
4. Big Hero 6 has been the most silent $200m earner of all-time.
5. Paul Blart adjusts to $165m
6. The Greatest Showman
7. Get Out

Edited February 1, 2018 by lilmac

[Frozen]

I'm pretty surprised by how badly Exodus has done.

[grim22]

A couple of titles which I looked up on BOM recently which made me go "It made that much money?" were

 

- Passion of the Christ: 370M domestic. I knew it was big, but didn't realize it almost challenged 400M

- Hancock: 625M WW, in 2008 with no 3D

[Blankments]

Night at the Museum made 250M DOM and 575M WW

 

That's impressive for a movie like it

[Dementeleus]

My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

[tommycruise]

My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

Beat me to it, its a success that has no one has ever been able to come close to replicating

[Ethan Hunt]

How the Grinch Stole Christmas

The Passion of Christ

[Dementeleus]

Beat me to it, its a success that has no one has ever been able to come close to replicating

 

I mean, back in the day, HOME ALONE was pretty crazy, but at least that had a kid and crazy hijinks and you could understand (afterwards) how it could be a big family-film hit.

 

But MBFGW doesn't have any stars, it doesn't star sexy young people, it doesn't have action or dirty jokes or any of the usual things that go into a big monster hit.

[grim22]

I mean, back in the day, HOME ALONE was pretty crazy, but at least that had a kid and crazy hijinks and you could understand (afterwards) how it could be a big family-film hit.

 

But MBFGW doesn't have any stars, it doesn't star sexy young people, it doesn't have action or dirty jokes or any of the usual things that go into a big monster hit.

 

I think Paranormal Activity actually comes closest to replicating MBFGW's box office run. How they managed to get 5 movies (and counting) from a 15000$ home movie I will never understand. The entire Paranormal Activity series is another box office run which is just unbelievable.

[Dementeleus]

I think Paranormal Activity actually comes closest to replicating MBFGW's box office run. How they managed to get 5 movies (and counting) from a 15000$ home movie I will never understand. The entire Paranormal Activity series is another box office run which is just unbelievable.

 

It is, but at least it's a genre that's had lots of success before; and there have been low- and tiny-budget movies that've been big horror successes, going all the way back to the 1970s. I agree that they've turned it into a far longer-lasting franchise than I think anyone expected, but it's not this total out-of-left-field thing (IMO).

[Kvikk Lunsj]

My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

Beat me to it.

I will go with the Passion of the Christ. 

EDIT

Ethan took my answer

Schindler's List  96m when it came today it would be 185m

Saving Private Ryan 216m adjusted 369m 

Edited January 12, 2015 by Snoopy of Suburbia

[Ando918]

Pretty Woman's total is surprising.  In today's dollars it would have made 335 domestic.  Just an average movie, in my opinion.  Rated R.  Nothing really memorable.  A happy ending.  No action or special effects.  Yet it somehow had a 14x multiplier.

[Dementeleus]

Pretty Woman's total is surprising.  In today's dollars it would have made 335 domestic.  Just an average movie, in my opinion.  Rated R.  Nothing really memorable.  A happy ending.  No action or special effects.  Yet it somehow had a 14x multiplier.

 

Those were the days when an adult-oriented movie could still make bank. (It's a pretty mild R, too, and basically just an updated retelling of Cinderella). A familiar story, starring big names (not so much Roberts, yet, but Richard Gere), a happy ending, people ate it up.

[TServo2049]

1990 was a crazy year. The entire top 5 were all overperformers that seemed to come out of left field. Home Alone adjusts to $550m, Ghost to $418m, Dances with Wolves to $355m, Pretty Woman was already mentioned, and Ninja Turtles was $260m. Meanwhile, films that were primed to be big hits (Dick Tracy, Back to the Future Part III, The Godfather Part III, Another 48 Hrs.) underperformed to varying degrees.

TMNT blows my mind too. For something that seemed on its face to be a cash-in kids film based on a cartoon and toy line, TMNT was nuts. It did most of its business in April and early May (back when Memorial Day still kicked off the summer movie season). And it sold more tickets than the new movie. Not to mention that it remained New Line's highest-grossing film until Rush Hour in 1998, and their highest-attended film until Austin Powers 2 in 1999.

Edited January 12, 2015 by TServo2049

[baumer]

Easy to say that we understand its success now but Titanic's run was mind blowing.  We've covered a lot of this in the "Pretend it's 1997 all over again" thread but look at these  facts and figures.

 

Opened to 28 million dollars.  

When it first opened, Guru said that it could leg it's way to 150 mill because of the holidays.

Second weekend, it increase by almost 24%.

By the third weekend, it had passed Guru's optimistic projection.  Meaning in three weeks time, it already had a 5 multiplier. 

The most it decreased on the weekend in its first 8 weeks was 13.8%.

It's highest grossing DAY came 58 days into it's run, when it made 13 million on Valentine's Day.

It cleared 400 million on day 66

It cleared 500 million on day 98

It was making at least 1 million dollars a day consecutively for for 92 days.

It was until weekend 16 that it stopped making 1 million a weekend.

 

Titanic's run was ridiculous.

[Frozen]

Three Men and a Baby is pretty shocking too. Over $167 million adjusted for a stupid little comedy about 3 guys being left alone with a baby. I guess that was funny in the 80s.

[edroger3]

No doubt that the most incredible box office run I have seen is Frozen in Japan:

16 week in a row at #1

OW multipler over 33x

Highest weekend gross in 8th weekend

Highest daily admissions in day 83

Highest number of screen in week 7

2nd highest gross ever for a movie in a foreign market (in $)

[Blankments]

What Woman Want adjusts to 267M

[Noctis]

My Big Fat Greek Wedding. 

 

I LOVE the film, but holy shit...it adjusts to $335m today.

[Dementeleus]

Three Men and a Baby is pretty shocking too. Over $167 million adjusted for a stupid little comedy about 3 guys being left alone with a baby. I guess that was funny in the 80s.

 

It was -- and is -- damn funny.

 

(Plus it had three of the major male stars of the early 80s.)