These 29 Movies Set New Box Office Records On Their Opening Weekend

A look at the 29 movies which have set new weekend box office records from 1975 to 2019.

This weekend was the 45th anniversary of Steven Spielberg’s Jaws, a film credited with jump-starting the modern summer movie blockbuster season and (along with Star Wars two years later) creating a sea change whereby Hollywood would focus on big-budget B-movies in the hopes of turning them into A-level hits. It earned $7 million in its opening weekend playing in 409 theaters, which in 1975 was the equivalent of a wide release. Yes, it broke the opening weekend record, doing so on a Fri-Sun frame which would be home to several record-breaking Fri-Sun debuts over the next 45 years.

There have been, between 1975 and 2019, 30 instances of the biggest-weekend record being bested,  with half of them occurring between 1975 and 1989 (Jaws to Batman) and the other half occurring between 1992 and 2019 (Batman Returns to Avengers: Endgame). With the $356 million domestic debut of Avengers: Endgame so far above the rest, 38% bigger than even the $258 million opening for Avengers: Infinity War a year earlier, and with theatrical moviegoing in a very precarious position due to an exodus to streaming, it’s possible that this flashiest of flashy box office records may never be broken again.

For those who just want the list of record-breaking weekends from 1975 to 2019…

There are a few things that stand out. Despite pundits arguing back in the day that Hollywood was setting new records on the regular, a new opening weekend milestone was less frequent in the modern blockbuster era than in the emerging days of the multiplex. In the summer of 1989, the record was topped three times in a month, with Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade ($29.3 million opening on May 26), Ghostbusters II ($29.4 million on June 16) and Batman ($43 million on June 23) all setting new milestones.

It was also topped twice in two weekends in late 1978, with Clint Eastwood’s Every Which Way But Lose (the only based-on-nothing entry to break this specific record) opening with $10.2 million over Christmas and then the third weekend of Superman: The Movie expanding to 817 theaters for a $10.3 million third-weekend gross. Star Wars technically didn’t set an opening weekend record since it expanded slowly. It does appear on this list twice, for earning $7.2 million in its 11th weekend (08/05/77) in 1,044 theaters and for a reissue in July of 1978

Star Wars, perhaps fittingly, became the first movie to earn $10 million in a single weekend. It bested the $9.8 million opening weekend of Jaws 2 on this weekend in 1978. The aforementioned expansions and reissues of Superman and Star Wars in 1978 were the last times that these records were broken on non-opening weekends, which makes the rest of this that much easier. Once the wide release/multiplex-centric strategy became more normalized, we stopped seeing these “beat it by a nose” opening weekend records on the regular.

The rest of these record-breakers, starting with the $11.9 million debut of Star Trek: The Motion Picture in 1979, the $14.1 million launch of Superman II in 1981 and the $14.3 million debut of Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan in 1982, are from viable franchises and/or sequels to popular predecessors. That’s not a shock, but there are a few bits of trivia that stand out. Considering the extent to which Steven Spielberg and the Batman franchise came to signify the summer blockbuster season, it’s no surprise that they respectively rule this list with an iron fist.

The Batman franchise broke the opening weekend record three times in a row, setting new milestones in 1989 ($43 million for Batman), 1992 ($47 million for Batman Returns) and 1995 ($53 million for Batman Forever), all around the same mid-to-late June period. Batman & Robin earned $43 million in 1997, good for the top ten but step down compared to its predecessors. However, 13 years after Batman Forever, and 19 years after Batman, Chris Nolan’s The Dark Knight earned a record-shattering $158 million domestic debut on the way to a $533 million domestic cume, placing second only to Titanic ($600 million prior to its 2012 reissue).  

While Star Wars shows up four times on this list, it’s only for three movies. The aforementioned expansions and reissues of Star Wars sit alongside the record $23 million Fri-Sun debut (during a $41 million Wed-Mon Memorial Day weekend opening) of Return of the Jedi in 1983, which was one of five movies to break the record on Memorial Day weekend. And, obviously, JJ Abrams’ The Force Awakens shattered the record with a $248 million launch in December of 2015, nearly tripling the $84 million opening of the previous biggest December opener, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.

The Batman franchise has broken the opening weekend record specifically with four movies, making it the unofficial king of this specific milestone. The Jurassic series did the deed thrice in 1993 (Jurassic Park with $50 million), 1997 (The Lost World with $74 million over a $92 million Memorial Day launch) and 2015 (Jurassic World with $208 million). Ditto The Avengers, which became the first $200 million opener ever in 2012 ($207 million) and then became the first $250 million opener in 2018 ($258 million for Infinity War) and became the first $300 million-plus opener in 2019 ($356 million for Endgame).

As far as singular filmmakers, Steven Spielberg stands supreme. Not only did his films snag this record a whopping five times, but it was for five different movies and three different franchises. Everyone else on this list has either snagged this record once in their career or twice for the same property. Think, offhand, Tim Burton’s first two Batman movies (although Burton’s Planet of the Apes opened just below Lost World with a $69 million debut in 2001), the Russo’ last two Avengers movies, Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man (the first $100 million-plus opener ever with $114 million in 2002) and Spider-Man 3 ($151 million in 2007).

Spielberg’s record-breakers are Jaws ($7 million in 1975), Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom ($24 million in 1984), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade ($29 million in 1989), Jurassic Park ($50 million in 1993) and The Lost World ($74 million in 1997). And yes, all due respect to Jean Szwarc and Colin Trevorrow, but Spielberg deserves at least some “in spirit” credit for Jaws 2 and Jurassic World. Ditto George Lucas appearing on this list only as the director of Star Wars but also deserving some in-spirit credit for Richard Marquand’s Return of the Jedi, J.J. Abrams’ The Force Awakens and the two Indiana Jones films which he produced alongside director Steven Spielberg.

The highest-grossing films on this list, adjusted for inflation, are obviously Star Wars ($307 million in 1977 and $460 million counting reissues) and Jaws ($260 million in 1975), and the biggest in raw grosses is The Force Awakens ($937 million in 2015). Neither of James Cameron’s mega-movies scored openings on this scale, as Titanic legged out from a $28 million launch in December of 1997 and Avatar earned $749 million in its initial run from a $77 million debut in December of 2009. Avatar still holds the record for the biggest opening for a wholly original live-action feature.

In terms of other trivia, Harry Potter sits alongside The Avengers as the franchise that broke the opening weekend record in the first ($90 million for The Sorcerer’s Stone in 2001) and last installments ($169 million for The Deathly Hallows Part II in 2011). The biggest gap between record-breaking weekends is between Lost World in May of 1997 and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone in November of 2001. The shortest reign was Ghostbusters II getting topped by Batman the very next weekend, since Superman’s $10 million third-weekend wasn’t technically an opening weekend.

The four-year gap between Spider-Man ($114 million in May of 2002) and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest ($135 million in July of 2006) was partially due to the sheer number of potential contenders (The Matrix Reloaded, The Return of the King, The Passion of the Christ, Shrek 2, Revenge of the Sith) that opened on Wednesday or Thursday. For example, Star Wars III and Shrek 2 both topped $108 million in their Fri-Sun frames but had money siphoned off from Shrek 2’s $20 million Wed/Thurs debut and Episode III’s record $50 million Thursday opening day.

The $26 million Fri-Sun Memorial Day weekend debut of Tony Scott’s Beverly Hills Cop II stands out because A) it’s sandwiched in between a bunch of family-friendly properties (Star Wars, Star Trek, Superman, Indiana Jones), B) it’s the only R-rated movie on this list and C) it’s the only outright star vehicle, sans any other elements (even Clint Eastwood’s flick had an orangutan) to pull this off. Those who showed up in 1987 did so entirely to see Eddie Murphy play Axel Foley again. And that’s all it has to offer, as it’s arguably the worst movie to ever break the opening weekend record.

Of the 29 films on this list, Star Wars is the only one to be represented twice and is also, alongside Every Which Way But Lose, among the only outright originals. 19 of these record-breakers were outright sequels, while seven (Jaws, Superman, Star Trek, Batman, Jurassic Park, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and The Avengers) are IP adaptations. Of the 19 sequels, five (Return of the Jedi, Temple of Doom, Beverly Hills Cop II, Last Crusade, Ghostbusters II and Force Awakens) were sequels to outright original properties, although you can argue Pirates of the Caribbean was an original film encased within a theme park attraction.

Disney has five record-breakers (all since 2006), while Universal has five (all Spielberg or Spielberg-adjacent), Paramount has five and Sony and Fox have three. Believe it or not, Warner Bros. has earned nine record-breaking opening weekends thanks to the Batman series, the Harry Potter franchise, the Superman movies and Every Which Way But Lose. Lionsgate is nowhere to be found, but The Hunger Games ($152 million) still holds the arguable record for a new franchise, give or take how you account for MCU franchise-starters like The Avengers ($207 million), Black Panther ($202 million) and Captain Marvel ($155 million).

On the 45th anniversary of Jaws, and just two days from the 31st anniversary of Batman, it is worth noting that the defining box office record of our time has been most often broken by the man (Steven Spielberg) and the IP (Batman) most associated with the modern Hollywood blockbuster. I find myself mournful that, as viable theatrical franchises wind down, audiences shift to streaming and the coronavirus delivers what could be a death blow to theatrical moviegoing (especially outside of the IMAX-friendly tentpoles), the opening weekend record may never be broken again.

I could easily write an entire essay about every single one of these record-breaking weekends (the most thrilling of these to track as the numbers came in was easily Spider-Man, because it was such a surprise), and maybe I’ll start if Tenet gets delayed again. In the meantime, I hope you enjoyed this 45-year walk down memory lane. How many of these record-breaking weekends did you participate in? Which is your favorite and least favorite movie on this list? Do you think there’s anything out there that could top the seemingly insurmountable figures (justifiably) posted by Avengers: Endgame last year?