What boxoffice runs are unbelievable in retrospect?

[MattW]

One recent incredible run was Fast 7's China performance.  $64m opening day, $220m in the first week, $391m total which was $70m more than the next biggest movie there at the time.  It has since been eclipsed, but in April of last year it was a massive surprise.

 

The daily dom breakdown of TFA is on mojo but if you want to go through the OS and UK runs which were also extremely impressive I kept it all here.

[Nova]

In recent years: 

Deadpool: I don't care what anyone says...maybe I was out of the loop or whatever but never would I have guessed Deadpool would have been as successful as it was. No 3D, R-rating, raunchy and violent....I underestimated folks. 

Jurassic World: I always had a feeling this one would make blockbuster numbers but not at the level that it did. 

American Sniper: when do American war movies ever make money like this one did? Not only did it have a great opening, its legs were amazing. (For 2014 I'll also throw in GOTG) 

[GiantCALBears]

In 2006 a family comedy opened as counter programming opposite a pretty weak MI3. It opened in 3,018 theaters & grossed $3.368m, not for its opening day but opening weekend. $3.368m or the worst opening by a movie in 3k+ theaters. The production budget was $15m so I'm sure New Line was thrilled when after the usual 2 week commitment, their movie lost 75% of their screens & finished with a horrific $8.1m (I guess it could've been worse given the 31.9% second week "hold"). Hoot was clearly unbelievable.

Edited October 11, 2016 by GiantCALBears

[cannastop]

3 minutes ago, GiantCALBears said:

In 2006 an animated movie opened as counter programming opposite a pretty weak MI3. It opened in 3,018 theaters & grossed $3.368m, not for its opening day but opening weekend. $3.368m or the worst opening by a movie in 3k theaters. The production budget was $15m so I'm sure New Line was thrilled when after their 2 week commitment, their movie lost 75% of their screens & finished with a horrific $8.1m (I guess it could've been worse given the 31.9% second week "hold"). Hoot was clearly unbelievable.

Hoot isn't an animated movie lol. Threw me a curveball there.

Edited October 11, 2016 by cannastop

[GiantCALBears]

3 minutes ago, cannastop said:

Hoot isn't an animated movie lol. Threw me a curveball there.

 

LOL you are right, I was thinking about the Owl movie for some reason. Hahaha.

 

Edit: fixed.

Edited October 11, 2016 by GiantCALBears

[robertman2]

3 minutes ago, GiantCALBears said:

 

LOL you are right, I was thinking about the Owl movie for some reason. Hahaha.

 

Edit: fixed.

You mean the one from the visionary director Zack Synder?

[Giesi]

13 hours ago, IMojammer said:

The daily dom breakdown of TFA is on mojo but if you want to go through the OS and UK runs which were also extremely impressive I kept it all here.

Is the $87,5M TFA made on its first Saturday the daily OS record?

[MattW]

19 hours ago, Giesi said:

Is the $87,5M TFA made on its first Saturday the daily OS record?

There was a daily OS update during the first 3 weeks, except on Saturdays.  So with the Sunday update I guessed at what the split would be between Saturday and Sunday (after the first 3 weeks the OS updats came about every 2 days until the first of Feb).

 

So that 87.5 isn't a precise number, and I don't think any other movie has gotten saturday OS figure either so there's really nothing out there to compare it to.  Jurassic World is almost certainly bigger though.   Here's DL:

 

Wed: $24.5m

Thurs: $41.6m (65.6)

Friday: $60.0m (130.0)

Sunday: $315.61m total

 

Taking all that I'd guess at this as the breakdown for it:

W: 24.0

Th: 45.5

Fri: 67

Sat: 100.1

Sun: 79

 

Just a slight massage to their daily estimates to fit the final.

[John Marston]

On 5/21/2016 at 11:11 AM, MCKillswitch123 said:

If it wasn't for Titanic, I'd straight up say that My Big Fat Greek Wedding had the single most impressive box office run of all time.

 

But yeah, to hit on a newer point. Se7en adjusts to just under $200M DOM. A gory, brutal R-rated horror thriller, starring two at the time not certified BO draws in Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman, made nearly 200M DOM adjusted. Over 300M WW actuals. Unbelievable, if you ask me.

 

 

Se7en's worldwide gross was amazing. Also Basic Instinct that same decade which made 117m domestic and a whopping 235m overseas for over 350m worldwide total

[kowhite]

2 minutes ago, John Marston said:

 

 

Se7en's worldwide gross was amazing. Also Basic Instinct that same decade which made 117m domestic and a whopping 235m overseas for over 350m worldwide total

 

Sharon Stone circa 1992 was a worldwide phenomenon...I may not quite have reached puberty at that time (I was working on it)...but I knew.  Plus Michael Douglas is the man.  Period.

 

And Verhoeven is God.

Edited October 15, 2016 by kowhite

[Joel M]

7 hours ago, John Marston said:

 

 

Se7en's worldwide gross was amazing. Also Basic Instinct that same decade which made 117m domestic and a whopping 235m overseas for over 350m worldwide total

 

Those aren't THAT surprising in context. They were part of a popular trend that reached its peak years somewhere between Fatal Atttraction in '87 and Hannibal in '01. Adult R rated thrillers of any kind (action,erotic,legal,horror) were very big during the 90s.

[John Marston]

 Spider-Man 1 beating Attack of the Clones

[John Marston]

Night at the Museum's non adjusted gross is pretty amazing.  Though being the only major holiday family movie probably helped it massively

 

 

The Grinch adjusts over 400m. Understandable I guess 

[Webslinger]

Night at the Museum definitely exploited the relative emptiness of December 2006. The Pursuit of Happyness was also a pretty major beneficiary of the lack of a big event film for adults; even with Will Smith's star power taken into account, it was mind-boggling to see a modestly-budgeted drama post one of the biggest grosses of the season.

 

I don't think I'll ever understand The Grinch's box office run. Even though the advertising was everywhere and Jim Carrey was still a big draw at that point, it was up against two other family films that didn't do badly (although 102 Dalmatians was a far cry from its predecessor, even if such an outcome was inevitable in light of awful advertising that completely failed to recapture the marketing success of the 1996 remake), and the reviews were weak.

[John Marston]

9 minutes ago, Webslinger said:

Night at the Museum definitely exploited the relative emptiness of December 2006. The Pursuit of Happyness was also a pretty major beneficiary of the lack of a big event film for adults; even with Will Smith's star power taken into account, it was mind-boggling to see a modestly-budgeted drama post one of the biggest grosses of the season.

 

I don't think I'll ever understand The Grinch's box office run. Even though the advertising was everywhere and Jim Carrey was still a big draw at that point, it was up against two other family films that didn't do badly (although 102 Dalmatians was a far cry from its predecessor, even if such an outcome was inevitable in light of awful advertising that completely failed to recapture the marketing success of the 1996 remake), and the reviews were weak.

 

 

Well Grinch had Carrey, was based on a popular story and of course the holiday die in with a holiday release date. It was basically a machine to make money 

[Mattrek]

The one that I still have no idea how it could have made so much is My Big Fat Greek Wedding. I watched it a while back and remember thinking to myself "THIS made over 200 million dollars? THIS?" Maybe it wasn't to my taste, but out of all the phenomenal runs we've experienced it's the only one where I can't pinpoint something in hindsight to explain it. There wasn't any big stars, there wasn't a moment that everyone knew and it wasn't a part of a franchise.

 

Titanic was epic and had a love story like no other, Avatar was incredibly beautiful and though not original created a whole new world and the story took you on an emotional ride, TFA was the return to Star Wars, Gone With the Wind was a powerful movie during its time. I could go on, but those are the 4 most discussed monster runs here. Still have no idea how MBFGW made so much, it will live in infamy in box office lore imo.

Edited December 25, 2016 by Mattrek

[Webslinger]

3 minutes ago, John Marston said:

 

 

Well Grinch had Carrey, was based on a popular story and of course the holiday die in with a holiday release date. It was basically a machine to make money 

 

But not $260 million. The opening weekend and second weekend grosses both left analysts' jaws on the floor. (See Box Office Guru's analysis, which also includes his far-too-low prediction near the end of the weekend write-up. Or ask Tele or filmlover because they're old and stuff. )

Edited December 25, 2016 by Webslinger

[Mojoguy]

Moana is proving how hard it is to replicate Frozen's success.

[franfar]

3 hours ago, Webslinger said:

Night at the Museum definitely exploited the relative emptiness of December 2006. The Pursuit of Happyness was also a pretty major beneficiary of the lack of a big event film for adults; even with Will Smith's star power taken into account, it was mind-boggling to see a modestly-budgeted drama post one of the biggest grosses of the season.

 

I don't think I'll ever understand The Grinch's box office run. Even though the advertising was everywhere and Jim Carrey was still a big draw at that point, it was up against two other family films that didn't do badly (although 102 Dalmatians was a far cry from its predecessor, even if such an outcome was inevitable in light of awful advertising that completely failed to recapture the marketing success of the 1996 remake), and the reviews were weak.

I really enjoyed the Grinch as a kid. Perhaps the movie just had strong appeal to families based of the goofiness coming from Carey and the writing

[franfar]

2 hours ago, Mojoguy said:

Moana is proving how hard it is to replicate Frozen's success.

I thought that movie was gonna knock it out of the park (even though I didn't want it to, cuz Disney). It doesn't have that much of a hook, based off my feelings from the trailer