What boxoffice runs are unbelievable in retrospect?

[vc2002]

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.

 

If Titanic's DOM run is unbelievable, its OS is even unbelievable"r".

 

I always think of it as a pity that we don't have an accurate tracking of the OS boxoffice like we do with DOM, because if we do, we would really know how to truely appreciate Titanic's OS run. Think about it, its OS take would alone be the highest grossing film of all time and still over 300 fucking millions more than the 2nd highest. Before Titanic, the highest OS take is 550m by Jurassic Park, then Titanic came, over doubled it, and raised the record to a fucking 1.2BN. (Titanic's DOM take didn't double the previous record.) Heck even after 16 year's inflation and the expansion of the OS market, and 3D of cause, there still are no other films (except Avatar of cause but it's another Cameron freak) that can pass the 1BN OS mark.

 

Titanic dominated every market, no matter what nation or what race that is. And that never happened before because none of all the previous record holders had the OS take twice as much as the DOM. This makes it an even bigger wonder because you only need to dominate one market to be the DOM King, but to become the ultimate OS King you need to face against so many different countries, races, audience from so many different cultures, and you have to dominate each one of them. I mean, jeez I can't even think of how it is possible to win against this challenge.

 

Titanic's OS run is really an unbelievable freak of nature that even today makes you shake your head thinking "how the fuck did it do that?"

 

(And of cause boxoffice-aside, it won 12 Oscars as well! Doesn't it make it even more unbelievable?)

 

PS: I couldn't help thinking that up to this day, some still call Titanic made THAT much because Cameron got lucky and teen girls went crazy over Leo. I mean, this is like calling NASA got lucky with its Mars landing success lol.

Edited January 13, 2015 by vc2002

[Jessie]

If Titanic's DOM run is unbelievable, its OS is even unbelievable"r".

 

I always think of it as a pity that we don't have an accurate tracking of the OS boxoffice like we do with DOM, because if we do, we would really know how to truely appreciate Titanic's OS run. Think about it, its OS take would alone be the highest grossing film of all time and still over 300 fucking millions more than the 2nd highest. Before Titanic, the highest OS take is 550m by Jurassic Park, then Titanic came, over doubled it, and raised the record to a fucking 1.2BN. (Titanic's DOM take didn't double the previous record.) Heck even after 16 year's inflation and the expansion of the OS market, and 3D of cause, there still are no other films (except Avatar of cause but it's another Cameron freak) that can pass the 1BN OS mark.

 

Titanic dominated every market, no matter what nation or what race that is. And that never happened before because none of all the previous record holders had the OS take twice as much as the DOM. This makes it an even bigger wonder because you only need to dominate one market to be the DOM King, but to become the ultimate OS King you need to face against so many different countries, races, audience from so many different cultures, and you have to dominate each one of them. I mean, jeez I can't even think of how it is possible to win against this challenge.

 

Titanic's OS run is really an unbelievable freak of nature that even today makes you shake your head thinking "how the fuck did it do that?"

 

(And of cause boxoffice-aside, it won 12 Oscars as well! Doesn't it make it even more unbelievable?)

 

PS: I couldn't help thinking that up to this day, some still call Titanic made THAT much because Cameron got lucky and teen girls went crazy over Leo. I mean, this is like calling NASA got lucky with its Mars landing success lol.

 

whats more unbelievable is he did it twice, Twice

 

TWICE

 

TWICE

Edited January 13, 2015 by jessie

[stripe]

1997

Titanic was the first time I was amazed by a BO run. I've never seen something like that again.

 

1998

Only one film deserves to be mentioned: There's something about Mary. With a tiny 23M cost, it  opened with 13M but went out to gross 176M (more than 300M adjusted)

 

1999

It was the year with two incredible stories: The Sixth Sense (a restraint horror drama grossing nearly 300M) and The Blair Witch Project. The latter has cemented a new way to market a movie. It was the fist time Internet had such an impact in the ultimate gross. At the time, nobody saw this coming.

 

2000

Cast Away? Gladiator? Meet the Parents? Nothing trully special/unbeliavable

 

2001

The Others. Not that it broke any records, but I was surprised with the legs and the strength of this film

Harry Potter & LOTR combo. It's the year where two of the three biggest cinematic franchises began their hegemony. 

Spy kids. WTF? Adjusted, the gross is over 160M! 

 

2002

I was shoked  with Big Fat Greek Wedding. I still don't get what happened with that mediocre film.

Spider-Man. Never thought it would be that big both in its opening and its legs.

The ring. Another great surprising run for an horiginal horror film. Adjusted, it grossed 180M after a 20M opening. 

 

I will continue later...

[lilmac]

Avatar

Frozen

Titanic

My Big Fat Greek Wedding

The Passion of the Christ

 

Passion's soft 2nd WKND drop made me go 

 

then it increased for some reason in its 7th weekend!  

[SchumacherFTW]

Passion's soft 2nd WKND drop made me go

then it increased for some reason in its 7th weekend!

Seeing Jesus die over Easter isn't just some reason

[Donald]

Omg! Spy kids

[Krissykins]

I know everyone would be expecting this but....

.....SCREAM! a slasher film released when horror was dead, and in December, making $182m adjusted after opening to $6m.

[Krissykins]

Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity too.

Obviously.

[Murgatroyd]

For the record, Avatar did not have a Titanic-like run.  It had a fairly normal-shaped run, just with larger numbers.

 

[Donald]

That moment when someone calls avatars run

Normal`………

[vc2002]

 

For the record, Avatar did not have a Titanic-like run.  It had a fairly normal-shaped run, just with larger numbers.

 

 

 

Avatar had 7 Consecutive No.1 wknds. The last film did so is Titanic. It's not a normal-shaped run, especially not in an era that sequels and adaptations heavily dominate the market and boxoffice success replies more and more on a big frontloaded OW.

Edited January 15, 2015 by vc2002

[Harpospoke]

It really benefited big time from being the first superhero movie after 9/11. As much as I hate that Chad Kroeger song, the ads that used it so close to release probably did wonders.

Every big BO run benefits from something.   That's why they make money.  

 

Don't leave out the upside-down kiss.  I remember that being a big deal.   

 

--------------------------------------------------------------

 

Gone with the Wind.

 

Anyone who thinks it benefited from when it was released will need to explain why there are only 2 movies released in the 30s on the top 200 adjusted list.   Clearly it did not benefit from when it was released...it overcame the disadvantage of when it was released.    And it didn't just make the list....it is at the top. 

 

The re-release thing is another plus.   There is a reason why a movie can be re-released and make money.   Again....other movies from that era were not able to do the same thing.   GWTW was such a monster that it even dominated TV ratings when it was finally shown on TV in the 70s. (setting the record at the time)

 

Even better was how Hollywood was making jokes about it before it was released due to budget overruns and other problems like directors and writers being replaced.  (Sounds a lot like Titanic if anyone remembers that)   They called it "Selznick's folly".

[lilmac]

 

the following sequels  totally annihilated their predecessors grosses 

 

 

The Terminator - $92,165,600 

Terminator 2 - $395,089,800

 

 

 

Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery - $95,324,200

Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me - $329,339,700

 

 

First Blood -

$130,397,600

 

 

Rambo: First Blood Part II - 

$344,048,800

 

 

 

OMG..I didn't know Rambo II made that much.  We have a winner.

[lilmac]

Avatar had 7 Consecutive wknds. The last film did so is Titanic. It's not a normal-shaped run, especially not in an era that sequels and adaptations heavily dominate the market and boxoffice success replies more and more on a big frontloaded OW.

 

No, I think Murgatroyd is right.  IMO, Avatar's curve shape was normal (I guess maybe with the exception of that 2nd weekend but that was Christmas weekend anyway). It saw steady declines.  It just happened to outgross other movies for 7 weekends.  

 

 

Sixth Sense, My Big Fat Greek Wedding and Titanic had abnormal runs.

[peludo]

There is another one that I have not read here and I find brutal: Star Wars 1997 re-release. A 20 years old film that is able to make $243m adjusted in a re-release is just astonishing (The Lion King re-release adjusts to $96m). The OW adjusts to $63m, the 2nd weekend to $42m and the 3rd to $30m ($37m 4-day). I know that in 1997 there was not Internet or DVD, but I still find it ridiculous. 

 

But of course, Titanic is probably the most shocking and the last enormous phenomenon before real expansion of home video entertainment. Avatar was a beast, but still sold 50 million tickets less than Titanic DOM. And of course, its OS run EVERYWHERE was equally shocking, still preserving all time records, and maybe forever, in many countries.

Edited January 14, 2015 by peludo

[Jessie]

 

For the record, Avatar did not have a Titanic-like run.  It had a fairly normal-shaped run, just with larger numbers.

 

 

 

yeah because films manage a 10 times multiplier all the time, its just so normal. After that post you may as well put a big sign over your head saying 'hey everyone, I don't know what the fuck im talking about'

 

[lilmac]

yeah because films manage a 10 times multiplier all the time, its just so normal. After that post you may as well put a big sign over your head saying 'hey everyone, I don't know what the fuck im talking about'

 

 

Normal as in its downward sloping trajectory (consistently declining weekends), not talking about the scale of the movie.

[baumer]

Normal as in its downward sloping trajectory (consistently declining weekends), not talking about the scale of the movie.

 

Naaaa...Jessie's right.

 

Name the last film to open to 50 million or more than had a 10...hell an 8 multiplier.  

[Mattrek]

Naaaa...Jessie's right.

Name the last film to open to 50 million or more than had a 10...hell an 8 multiplier.

Avatar

[filmlover]

There is another one that I have not read here and I find brutal: Star Wars 1997 re-release. A 20 years old film that is able to make $243m adjusted in a re-release is just astonishing (The Lion King re-release adjusts to $96m). The OW adjusts to $63m, the 2nd weekend to $42m and the 3rd to $30m ($37m 4-day). I know that in 1997 there was not Internet or DVD, but I still find it ridiculous. 

 

20 years is a long time. That's an entire generation who didn't get to see it in theaters. Plus, they added some scenes and stuff to the movie.