Box Office Flashback: Presidents Day Weekend 2016, 2012, 2007, 2002 and 1997

[grim22]

Inspired by @tribefan695's comment in the retrospective box office top 25 thread, I thought this might be a good place to discuss the box office weekend of years past.

 

The Presidents Day box office weekend is the second extended weekend of the year but the first that actually generates good box office collections since studios give up on January and the MLK weekend for the most part. This thread will look at this weekend 1, 5, 10, 15 and 20 years ago.

 

Presidents Day 2016: http://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/?view=&yr=2016&wknd=07&p=.htm

TW	LW	Title (click to view)	Studio	Weekend Gross	% Change	Theater Count / Change		Average	Total Gross	Budget*	Week #
1	N	Deadpool	Fox	$132,434,639	-	3,558	-	$37,222	$132,434,639	$58	1
2	1	Kung Fu Panda 3	Fox	$19,755,738	-7.0%	3,844	-143	$5,139	$94,018,125	-	3
3	N	How to Be Single	WB (NL)	$17,878,911	-	3,343	-	$5,348	$17,878,911	$38	1
4	N	Zoolander 2	Par.	$13,841,146	-	3,394	-	$4,078	$13,841,146	-	1
5	4	The Revenant	Fox	$6,525,668	-6.0%	2,266	-752	$2,880	$158,790,267	$135	8
6	2	Hail, Caesar!	Uni.	$6,395,545	-43.7%	2,248	+16	$2,845	$21,160,515	$22	2
7	3	Star Wars: The Force Awakens	BV	$6,159,276	-11.7%	1,810	-452	$3,403	$914,804,240	$245	9
8	5	The Choice	LGF	$5,220,939	-13.7%	2,631	-	$1,984	$13,230,490	-	2
9	8	Ride Along 2	Uni.	$4,458,420	-2.2%	1,564	-608	$2,851	$82,989,655	$40	5
10	9	The Boy (2016)	STX	$3,140,355	-23.1%	1,450	-764	$2,166	$31,005,942	$10	4

 

Presidents Day 2012: http://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/?view=&yr=2012&wknd=07&p=.htm

TW	LW	Title (click to view)	Studio	Weekend Gross	% Change	Theater Count / Change		Average	Total Gross	Budget*	Week #
1	2	Safe House	Uni.	$23,641,575	-41.2%	3,121	+2	$7,575	$77,911,190	$85	2
2	1	The Vow	SGem	$23,065,077	-44.0%	2,958	-	$7,798	$84,991,914	$30	2
3	N	Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance	Sony	$22,115,334	-	3,174	-	$6,968	$22,115,334	$57	1
4	3	Journey 2: The Mysterious Island	WB (NL)	$19,845,282	-27.4%	3,500	+30	$5,670	$52,961,624	$79	2
5	N	This Means War	Fox	$17,405,930	-	3,189	-	$5,458	$19,015,735	$65	1
6	4	Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (in 3D)	Fox	$7,966,431	-64.5%	2,655	-	$3,001	$33,839,666	-	2
7	5	Chronicle (2012)	Fox	$7,619,383	-37.0%	2,556	-352	$2,981	$51,098,809	$12	3
8	6	The Woman in Black	CBS	$6,679,196	-33.9%	2,559	-297	$2,610	$45,289,814	-	3
9	N	The Secret World of Arrietty	BV	$6,446,395	-	1,522	-	$4,235	$6,446,395	-	1
10	7	The Grey	ORF	$3,142,111	-37.7%	2,107	-694	$1,491	$48,035,170	$25	4

 

Presidents Day 2007: http://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/?view=&yr=2007&wknd=07&p=.htm

TW	LW	Title (click to view)	Studio	Weekend Gross	% Change	Theater Count / Change		Average	Total Gross	Budget*	Week #
1	N	Ghost Rider	Sony	$45,388,836	-	3,619	-	$12,541	$45,388,836	$110	1
2	N	Bridge to Terabithia	BV	$22,564,612	-	3,139	-	$7,188	$22,564,612	-	1
3	1	Norbit	P/DW	$16,775,831	-50.9%	3,138	+2	$5,346	$58,858,009	$60	2
4	N	Music and Lyrics	WB	$13,623,630	-	2,955	-	$4,610	$19,152,249	-	1
5	N	Tyler Perry's Daddy's Little Girls	LGF	$11,210,754	-	2,111	-	$5,310	$16,904,003	-	1
6	N	Breach	Uni.	$10,504,990	-	1,489	-	$7,055	$10,504,990	-	1
7	2	Hannibal Rising	MGM/W	$5,418,106	-58.5%	3,003	-	$1,804	$22,080,446	-	2
8	3	Because I Said So	Uni.	$5,099,910	-44.7%	2,446	-83	$2,085	$33,357,575	-	3
9	4	The Messengers	SGem	$3,763,570	-47.9%	2,183	-346	$1,724	$30,472,075	$16	3
10	5	Night at the Museum	Fox	$3,704,724	-35.6%	2,042	-660	$1,814	$237,338,322	-	9

 

 

Presidents Day 2002: http://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/?view=&yr=2002&wknd=07&p=.htm

TW	LW	Title (click to view)	Studio	Weekend Gross	% Change	Theater Count / Change		Average	Total Gross	Budget*	Week #
1	N	John Q.	NL	$20,275,194	-	2,466	-	$8,221	$20,275,194	$36	1
2	N	Crossroads	Par.	$14,527,187	-	2,380	-	$6,103	$14,527,187	$12	1
3	N	Return to Never Land	BV	$11,889,631	-	2,605	-	$4,564	$11,889,631	$20	1
4	2	Big Fat Liar	Uni.	$8,716,955	-24.6%	2,534	+3	$3,439	$22,208,285	$15	2
5	1	Collateral Damage	WB	$8,413,022	-44.1%	2,824	-	$2,979	$27,880,936	$85	2
6	7	A Beautiful Mind	Uni.	$8,095,090	+28.4%	2,081	-139	$3,890	$124,364,011	$58	9
7	N	Hart's War	MGM	$7,771,753	-	2,459	-	$3,160	$7,771,753	$70	1
8	4	Black Hawk Down	SonR	$6,219,706	-22.3%	2,150	-814	$2,892	$95,431,502	$92	8
9	N	Super Troopers	FoxS	$6,203,906	-	1,780	-	$3,485	$6,203,906	$3	1
10	5	Snow Dogs	BV	$5,136,698	-28.4%	2,286	-168	$2,247	$66,548,347	$33	5

 

Presidents Day 1997: http://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/?view=&yr=1997&wknd=07a&p=.htm

TW	LW	Title (click to view)	Studio	Weekend Gross	% Change	Theater Count / Change		Average	Total Gross	Budget*	Week #
1	1	Star Wars (Special Edition)	Fox	$21,370,589	-12.0%	2,104	-	$10,157	$98,631,380	-	3
2	N	Absolute Power	Sony	$16,770,220	-	2,568	-	$6,530	$16,770,220	-	1
3	2	Dante's Peak	Uni.	$13,662,270	-26.1%	2,727	+70	$5,010	$36,271,100	$116	2
4	N	Vegas Vacation	WB	$12,837,927	-	2,054	-	$6,250	$12,837,927	-	1
5	N	Fools Rush In	Sony	$9,714,940	-	1,674	-	$5,803	$9,714,940	-	1
6	N	That Darn Cat	BV	$6,424,617	-	1,891	-	$3,397	$6,424,617	-	1
7	4	Jerry Maguire	Sony	$5,205,845	+45.4%	1,730	-234	$3,009	$127,708,151	$50	10
8	8	The English Patient	Mira.	$4,585,551	+104.9%	1,115	+73	$4,112	$47,738,423	$27	14
9	15	Shine	FL	$3,515,584	+241.1%	851	+537	$4,131	$20,024,158	-	13
10	5	Scream	Dim.	$3,261,988	-8.5%	1,431	-319	$2,279	$79,108,017	$14	9

[filmlover]

Ghost Rider: how the hell did that happen?

[John Marston]

4 minutes ago, filmlover said:

Ghost Rider: how the hell did that happen?

 

 

cool trailer and Nicolas Cage still had credibility as an action star back then 

[filmlover]

3 minutes ago, John Marston said:

 

 

cool trailer and Nicolas Cage still had credibility as an action star back then 

I think it was more the Marvel brand, really. They had created enough power at that point from X-Men and Spider-Man alone that they could turn even C-grade characters into comic book characters into solid performers at the very least (even Fantastic Four's $150M gross two years before looked pretty solid considering how poorly-received it was, and obviously Hulk 2003 would've done better had people actually liked the film). I remember the marketing was pretty lame and skipped it in theaters (which I rarely do for comic book movies).

[grim22]

33 minutes ago, filmlover said:

I think it was more the Marvel brand, really. They had created enough power at that point from X-Men and Spider-Man alone that they could turn even C-grade characters into comic book characters into solid performers at the very least (even Fantastic Four's $150M gross two years before looked pretty solid considering how poorly-received it was, and obviously Hulk 2003 would've done better had people actually liked the film). I remember the marketing was pretty lame and skipped it in theaters (which I rarely do for comic book movies).

 

Dont think so. I remember when it came out it was basically marketed as "Nicolas Cage plays a superhero with a flaming skull". There was no major Marvel mention at the time. Cage was still an A-list talent at the time and was looking for a franchise as well.

[filmlover]

1 minute ago, grim22 said:

There was no major Marvel mention at the time.

It was widely known that it was a comic book movie, though. Unless you were rated R (the Blade movies) or a full-on disaster (Catwoman), those were reliable money makers,

[Webslinger]

Awesome thread idea! I tried to do a weekly "ten years ago" thread at KJ and Filmgasm a few years back, but I was horribly inconsistent about updating it and then just forgot about it altogether.

 

At any rate, let's start with 1997:

 

That Star Wars special edition was an absolute friggin' beast. I couldn't see a re-release like that making $138 million today, let alone the $260 million it would roughly adjust to. Then again, Star Wars was huge at the time and undoubtedly looked much more spectacular on a big screen than it did on the TV sets of the time. It even felt like a new movie to me at the time because I had just discovered the original trilogy a couple months before the special editions hit screens.

 

I'm kind of flabbergasted that Dante's Peak cost $116 million and was released in February. I'd understand a nine-figure-budgeted movie getting released in a non-summer/non-holiday month now, but back then?

 

Oh, That Darn Cat. I vaguely remember liking it a whole lot and taping it when it ran on the Disney Channel later in 1997, but other than that trivia and the fact that Christina Ricci was in it, I do not remember a single thing about the actual movie.

 

I've always been surprised that The English Patient never cracked the top five. It made really good money, steamrolled the competition at the Oscars, and even got a Seinfeld episode lampooning the public's adoration of it, and yet it never had a single weekend in wide release where it was even close to commanding the box office. I remember being especially curious about it when one of my kindergarten teachers said she had gone to see it, just given that so many of my parents' friends had seen it and were also talking about it. Understandably, she refused to tell me anything beyond the fact that she thought it was a very good movie. 

[filmlover]

Seeing Jerry Maguire in the top 10 (as well as the movie being a running gag in The LEGO Batman Movie lmao) reminds me of when my mom came across a ticket stub while going through stuff in her house a few years back from when we saw it with the rest of the family over the holidays when tickets were $4. How long ago those ticket prices were.

[DAR]

Looking at 2007.  The number 2 film, Bridge to Terabitha.  I toyed with putting that film somewhere in the bottom half of my top 25.  It's a good film and kind of a shame it would probably never get maid

[filmlover]

20 minutes ago, DAR said:

Looking at 2007.  The number 2 film, Bridge to Terabitha.  I toyed with putting that film somewhere in the bottom half of my top 25.  It's a good film and kind of a shame it would probably never get maid

Remember how hilariously misleading the marketing campaign was? lmao.

 

It's a great movie though. What's funny is that on an episode of New Girl a few years ago, Zooey Deschanel said to Jake Johnson "I'm calling you Bridge to Terabithia because you make kids cry!" in a moment of near fourth-wall breaking.

[franfar]

On 2/20/2017 at 0:11 PM, filmlover said:

I think it was more the Marvel brand, really. They had created enough power at that point from X-Men and Spider-Man alone that they could turn even C-grade characters into comic book characters into solid performers at the very least (even Fantastic Four's $150M gross two years before looked pretty solid considering how poorly-received it was, and obviously Hulk 2003 would've done better had people actually liked the film). I remember the marketing was pretty lame and skipped it in theaters (which I rarely do for comic book movies).

The Marvel brand trust didn't really kick in until well into the MCU, which started after Ghost Rider was released.

[jimisawesome]

Cool story bro time.  I remember working presidents day 1997 at a theater.  They screwed the schedule up and only had me behind concessions and the pop corn machine was broken for the first half hour of the rush.  The concession line was just stupid long and did not die down for almost an hour and half.  It ended up costing the GM who was the manager on duty his job and got me promoted because he did not come down despite pleas from not just me but box office and the one usher until the companies head tech came in randomly.