MEMORIAL DAY OVERVIEW -- 1982 - 2001
Looking back at Memorial Day weekends over the past two decades, it's clear that the holiday's importance to Hollywood has grown enormously.
Memorial Day began looking like a potentially big holiday in 1982 when MGM/UA's Rocky III starring Sylvester Stallone delivered a $16 million knockout punch for four days at 939 theaters ($17,055 per theater). Hollywood hadn't quite yet realized how a Wednesday opening could extend a holiday weekend's impact, so Rocky III entered the ring on a Friday (May 28).
Rocky III ran rings around everything else playing that weekend: 20th Century Fox's suspense thriller Visiting Hours ($5.3 million), Universal's action drama Conan the Barbarian ($5.2 million), Universal's comedy Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid ($4.6 million) and Fox's youth appeal comedy Porky's ($4.5 million). Key films - those grossing at least $500,000 for the four days from May 28-31 - took in $49.9 million.
Only one year later in 1983, Memorial Day box office history was being rewritten with Fox's launch of George Lucas' third Star Wars film Return of the Jedi. This time, the action got underway on Wednesday as Jedi blasted off to $30.5 million for four days (May 27-30) and $41.1 million for six days at 1,002 theaters.
Everything else playing was in a much lower orbit: Columbia's action drama Blue Thunder ($6.2 million), Paramount's romantic dance drama Flashdance ($4.7 million), Columbia's sci-fi epic Spacehunter ($4.6 million) and Orion's drama Breathless ($2.8 million). Key films grossed $61.4 million.
Jedi's Memorial Day record only lasted until 1984, one year later, when Paramount's adventure Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom from George Lucas and Steven Spielberg kicked off on a Wednesday to $33.9 million four days (May 25-28) and $42.3 million for six days at 1,687 theaters.
Nothing else came close: TriStar's drama The Natural ($6.9 million), Cannon and MGM/UA's dance film Breakin' ($4.1 million), Fox's adventure drama Romancing the Stone ($4.1 million) and Universal's youth appeal comedy 16 Candles ($2.9 million). Key films took in $67.3 million.