I was thinking that I will post some historical data from my archive here from time to time...

First up is THE EXORCIST's 1973 opening week:

The horror classic did $1,871,649 in 24 theaters - adjusting to $12m opening week in 24 theaters

Movie had major re-releases in 1976, 1979 and 2000 bringing the total to $233m ($1.3b adjusted)

the 2000 Re-release was my first time watching it in theaters

Random observation today scrolling over adjusted grosses - I didn’t know The Firm was this big: 403 million adjusted. Must have been peak Grisham popularity.

Yes the bool came out 2 years before and was huge. The Pelican Brief and The Client were both in release as books when The Firm came out. Grisham was huge.

Interestingly - just minutes ago i read that Grisham is releasing a sequel to The Firm in 2 weeks called The Exchange.

The early 90s really was special for adult fiction blockbusters highlighted by Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park. He also co-wrote the screenplay for Twister so was the writer of Jurassic Park 1 (1993), Twister (1996) and The Lost World (1997).

Of all the sequels I’d love to see Cruise and Scorsese reread for another Hustler/ color of money. Vinnie matured could be interesting (Cruise and Newman were so good in real life only one shot was faked)

I'm surprised people claim that there are no opening numbers for THE EXORCIST II - THE HERETIC even though this extraordinary bad sequel delivered the fifth biggest opening weekend of all-time: $6,735,000 on 703 screens.

BTW, the same weekend THE DEEP delivered the fourth biggest opening weekend with $6,835,540 on 731 screens.

Also during one of Cruise's hotter streaks, and I thin this was Gene Hackman's first post-Oscar role. I remember an article around the time citing him as the chief of example of the value of a high rent support staff--actors who aren't draws and of themselves, but their involvement sends a message to audiences that this cast is stacked

The Deep would have substantially outgrossed Excorsist II. How much did The Deep end up making and what did it rank in terms of domestic grosses at the time? I knew The Deep was big but not THAT big (Ow). Thanks for sharing.

I read it opened to 8.1 but only grossed 47, but crossed 100 ww. But it one of the biggest marketing campaigns, the same as it budget so it took like 2 years to turn a profitt

A little clarification how movies were released in the old times...

Event movies were usually released in one huge theater in the big cities. These theaters had much higher ticket prices than the national average and movies could play there for months or even years. These exclusive releases were called "Showcase" releases.
Usually a couple of months later a movie expanded to other theaters and the suburbs, usually only a few* markets at the same time. This second wave of release was called "Roadshow" engagements and the ticket prices were lower than the national average.

THE GODFATHER was revolutionizing** this strategy, as it became the first movie to be released in TWO Showcase theaters per city, leading to an opening on 323 screens and the first ever opening weekend of $5m and the first ever opening week of $10m.

*Producing prints in the old times was much more expensive than in the 1980s and 1990s, that's why prints were shipped from market to market to save money. The smaller the market, the worse the prints were of course.

**The next movie to revolutionize distribution was 1974's THE TRIAL OF BILLY JACK, but that's another story...