The movie opened on February 12, 1993. It has been declared one of AFI’s 100 best comedies (number 34).
Because of the title, the movie was released in winter, I have to say I have trouble remembering any other memorable movie released in February. This month seems to be the time to release the movies that sounded good in production but ended up bad or complete turkeys.
Do you remember any other good February movies?
It is. Oscar hopefuls are often rushed out at the end of December so they’ll be fresh in the voters’ minds. Summer is the time of the big blockbusters. February is dead. Not enough people go to the movies to make a big campaign worthwhile, so this (and mid-fall) is when studios unload their dead weight.
**Box office success: **
Scream 3 (2000) in 2000 $34,713,342 Feb 6th
Star Wars (1977) 1997 $35,906,661 Feb 2nd {re-release}
Hannibal (2001) in 2001 $58,003,121 Feb 11th
Hitch (2005/I) in 2005 $43,142,214 Feb 13th
50 First Dates (2004) in 2004 $45,107,871
Daredevil (2003) in 2003 $45,033,454
Constantine (2005) in 2005 $33,624,407 Feb 20th
Passion of the Christ, The (2004) in 2004 $83,848,082 Feb 29th
**I found some good movies to compete with Groundhog day: **
**Feb 10th: **
L.A. Story (1991) in 1991 $6,616,915
Witness (1985) in 1985 $4,539,990
Feb 9th:
F/X (1986) in 1986 $3,240,695
Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) in 1986 $1,265,826
Lady Jane (1986) in 1986 $55,964
Feb 15th:
Silence of the Lambs, The (1991) in 1991 $13,766,814
Cannery Row (1982) in 1982 $1,500,000
Feb 20th:
Whole Nine Yards, The (2000) in 2000 $15,915,676
Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989) in 1989 $6,167,651
Enjoy,
Jim
Of those, I would only rank Silence of the Lambs as better.
I agree, but I would say *Witness * and *Bill & Ted * are *Groundhog Day’s * equals.
Of the four, the two comedies are the ones I can watch over and over again and have done so.
Jim
Wow, thanks for that What Exit?! I always thought that *The silence of the lambs * was released on spring that year.
And I agree with your choice of comedies.
Excellent!!!
I believe “Silence of the Lambs” was the earliest film released to then go on and win the Oscar for that calender year.
By “THE” Oscar, you mean for Best Picture, of course. 'Cause “Witness” won a couple, for starters.
(and should have won Best Picture, IMHO).
That’s really a remarkable accomplishment for “Silence of the Lambs” – released so early in the year, overcoming the stigma of being a horror movie, and still winning best picture!
This month doesn’t seem totally bereft of good movies – there’s one opening in the US later this month called “Amazing Grace” that got good advance press.
In fact it is one of only three movies to winn Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Screenplay. The other two were It Happened One Night (1934) and One Flew Over the Cukoo’s Nest (1975).
Holy moly, I saw Silence of the Lambs in the theater. What an awesome date that was. Everyone else "EWWW"d when Lecter touched Starling, but Amy reached over and grabbed my inner thigh. Yowzah.
I like Groundhog Day very much. In fact, I like it so much that I am actually able to watch Andie MacDowell “act” in a movie.
Andie MacDowell attempts to ruin two of my all-time favourite movies: Groundhog Day and Four Weddings and a Funeral. It is a tribute to the brilliance of those two movies that I will watch them repeatedly despite the presence of AM!
I thought that Groundhog Day was an ‘ok’ movie but nothing special really.
And *Hannah and Her Sisters * (1986) won 3:
I have always considered Groundhog Day to be precisely the movie that Scrooged wanted to be but failed to achieve. It’s one of my favourite movies, I watch my DVD copy frequently. In fact, I may just watch it again now that I’m thinking of it.
Speaking of the Oscar-laden It Happened One Night — it was released in February 1934. The Birth of a Nation opened in Los Angeles in February 1915. A Clockwork Orange premiered in December 1971, but went into general release in February 1972. Stagecoach opened in Los Angeles in February 1939, then went into general release in March. Chaplin’s City Lights went into general release in February 1931, and his Modern Times opened in February 1936.
Wow, that is cool. I just did a little data mining on IMDB for my post above. Where were you able to dig up your facts?
Jim
IMDb!