Only if you weren't around the time. IMOM had some of the best videos sales of all time (I believe it even outsold SW films), and that Dr. Evil Super Bowl spot as him as Darth Vader may have gotten the some of the best reaction I've ever seen. I think tracking was 45+ at the time. Rush Hour 2 had that same kind of feel. I think at that it was the beginning of the era of sequels actually doing better the original consistently.

I think it's more shocking there wasn't a 4th film. Gold member's OW adjusts to 112 million. Myers choosing to do The Love Guru instead may have been the biggest blunder of his life.

I'd see a 4th Powers tomorrow and there's been five new Bond movies to pluck jokes from. Austin Powers in Erectre? Somebody make a damn poster!

A blunder according to his banker perhaps, but is it ever a blunder for a creative person like Meyers to write original material rather than churning out a cash-in sequel? It is exceedingly rare in Hollywood, so it is not surprising that this career choice is confusing to some.


(Note: I am a major Austin Powers fanboy and still retain hope to one day watch the rumored Dr. Evil movie.)

(Note: The Love Guru is a seriously underrated comedy.)

Obviously not a movie, but I think Adele's album selling 3 million copies is a more shocking opening than any movie. Nobody buys albums anymore! 2017 hasn't even had an album hit one million total sales.

Can I throw Borat and its 31k per-location average into the conversation?

I was around and it was shocking though expected to be a big hit. Just not that big an OW. Though didn't have access to the tracking numbers. Austin Powers was the first real mega hit on DVD i believe and hence why TSWSM kicked off the "sequel exploding OW" trend that we saw in full force in 2001 with the likes of Mummy Returns, Rush Hour 2 and American Pie 2.

Yes, indeed. It was quite insane.

I recall most predictions were in the $10-12m range for it (based on the screen count) but it almost tripled these expectations.

Yeah I did this back in 2012 in response to the opening of The Hunger Games, and still have the links to the articles I wrote in my signature. Those provide a good base.

With the opening of It, it's a good time to revisit, for sure.

Additions/updates to the list already mentioned that I agree with are Hanna Montana/Miley Cyrus concert movie, Borat, American Sniper, Deadpool.

I disagree a bit with Jurassic World - while amazing, everyone was mostly fooled by tracking numbers. It's not that shocking when considering it was the sequel people had wanted for 20 years to a franchise known for breaking records. Same reason why The Force Awakens, while stunning, doesn't quite warrant a spot.

"It" I think goes pretty dang close to the top, maybe even #1.

It's very challenging to come with a meaningful ranked list, as there are SO many factors to consider. I think you have to consider what the movie did compared to the consensus of the range it could do before any tracking numbers were available.

R rated openings are usually in there.

I mean you have It, American Sniper, Daedpool, and of course Passion. Only 15 R rated films have ever done 200 million. It is going to dethrone The Sixth Sense's 18 year old record to become the biggest horror film of all time. Iron Man also kind of had that "What" factor to it. The first Spiderman, Shrek 2, Batman 89 (The four biggest opening weekends of all time happened in a given year is insane on its own merit)

Scream 2, and considering that Alice's OW adjusts to 129 million, and the sequel opened to only 26 million.

Jurassic Park III opened on a Wednesday in July 2001 (and there' weren't any other big action movies when it opened). It made 81M for it's opening 5 days and finished with only 181M. To do what Jurassic World did in blowing away the previous film in the franchise is surprising. Revenge of the Sith made 158M it's opening 4 days in 2005, despite two prequels before it with mixed WOM. It went on to make 380M. Considering the returning major characters from the original trilogy, I don't think the OW increase is as impressive or as unexpected as Jurassic World beating the record at the time.

Decade-long lurker here. I vote It as #1 positive shocker; before that would have been I Am Legend. (I always particularly remember one comment someone made. Someone mentioned I Am Legend was the biggest non-franchise opener ever, and then someone said , "Will Smith is a franchise." And it was practically true.

Negative shocker is definitely Prince Caspian. It seems we all grossly undervalued how critical the Christ-allegory component was to the success of the first film.