A long, long time ago in a pre-Star Wars Hollywood, the crown jewel of the summer movie season was the Fourth of July. The studios regularly put out some of their biggest movies in the weeks leading up to the holiday, building up word of mouth so that once the Fourth arrived audiences would hopefully pull themselves away from barbeques, swimming pools and fireworks to head to the movies. Of course, the old rules changed, and summer crept into May from June before invading April, March and even February. In 1975 when Jaws came out in late June we were excited to see the big new thing over the Fourth. Now, by the time the Holiday arrives we’re already suffering from blockbuster fatigue and complaining that there’s nothing new worth seeing.
This year for the Fourth, Hollywood offered up two really big gambles (The Legend of Tarzan, The BFG) and a micro-budget horror sequel (The Purge: Election Year), and last year it was a doomed reboot-sequel (Terminator: Genisys) and another ode to Channing Tatum’s abs (Magic Mike XXL). However, this year audiences ultimately preferred to check out a Pixar movie (Finding Dory), and the same was true last year (Inside Out). Is that the new thing now, or has it always kind of been like this? In other words, what were some of the big movies which came out over Independence Day, and how did they fare at the box office?
Well, here’s a list highlighting the highest-grossing new movie for each July 4th weekend since 1985:
1985: Back to the Future
Weekend box office: $11.1 million
Position in the top 10: #1
#2 Movie That Weekend: Pale Rider ($7m)
Also Opening That Weekend: Red Sonja, The Emerald Forest
1986: Psycho III
Weekend box office: $3.23 million
Position in the top 10: #8
#1 Movie that weekend: The Karate Kid Part II ($6.2m)
Also Opening That Weekend: The Great Mouse Detective, About Last Night, Under the Cherry Moon, Big Trouble in Little China
1987: Innerspace
Weekend box office: $4.73 million
Position in the top 10: #3
#1 Movie that weekend: Dragnet ($7m)
Also Opening That Weekend: Adventures in Babysitting
1988: Coming to America
Weekend box office: $21.4 million
Position in the top 10: #1
#2 Movie That Weekend: Who Framed Roger Rabbit ($14.5m)
Also Opening That Weekend: Nothing
1989: Karate Kid Part III
Weekend box office: $10.3 million
Position in the top 10: #3
#1 Movie That Weekend: Batman ($30m)
Also Opening That Weekend: Great Balls of Fire, Do the Right Thing
1990: Die Hard 2
Weekend box office: $21.7 million
Position in the top 10: #1
#2 Movie That Weekend: Days of Thunder ($10.7m)
Also Opening That Weekend: Jetsons: The Movie
1991: Terminator 2: Judgement Day
Weekend box office: $31.7 million
Position in the top 10: #1
#2 Movie That Weekend: The Naked Gun 2 1/2 ($11.6m)
Also Opening That Weekend: Problem Child 2
1992: A League of Their Own
Weekend box office: $13.7 million
Position in the top 10: #2
#1 Movie That Weekend: Batman Returns ($13.8m)
Also Opening That Weekend: Boomerang
1993: The Firm
Weekend box office: $32.4 million
Position in the top 10: #1
#2 Movie That Weekend: Jurassic Park ($25.2m)
Also Opening That Weekend: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Re-Issue, Son-in-Law
1994: The Shadow
Weekend box office: $11.7 million
Position in the top 10: #2
#1 Movie That Weekend: The Lion King ($34.2m)
Also Opening That Weekend: Blown Away, I Love Trouble, Baby’s Day Out, Little Big League
1995: Apollo 13
Weekend box office: $25.3 million
Position in the top 10: #1
#2 Movie That Weekend: Pocahontas ($15.9m)
Also Opening That Weekend: Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, Judge Dredd
1996: Independence Day
Weekend box office: $50.2 million
Position in the top 10: #1
#2 Movie That Weekend: The Nutty Professor ($17.4m)
Also Opening That Weekend: Phenomenon
1997: Men in Black
Weekend box office: $51 million
Position in the top 10: #1
#2 Movie That Weekend: Face/Off ($16m)
Also Opening That Weekend: Out to Sea, Wild America
1998: Armageddon
Weekend box office: $36 million
Position in the top 10: #1
#2 Movie That Weekend: Doctor Dolittle ($19.6m)
Also Opening That Weekend: Nothing
1999: Wild Wild West
Weekend box office: $27.6 million
Position in the top 10: #1
#2 Movie That Weekend: Big Daddy ($20m)
Also Opening That Weekend: South Park, Summer of Sam
2000: The Perfect Storm
Weekend box office: $41.3 million
Position in the top 10: #1
#2 Movie That Weekend: The Patriot ($22.4m)
Also Opening That Weekend: The Patriot, Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle
2001: Cats & Dogs
Weekend box office: $21.7 million
Position in the top 10: #1
#2 Movie That Weekend: Scary Movie 2 ($20.5m)
Also Opening That Weekend: Scary Movie 2, Kiss of the Dragon
2002: Men in Black 2
Weekend box office: $52.1 million
Position in the top 10: #1
#2 Movie That Weekend: Mr. Deeds ($18.4m)
Also Opening That Weekend: Like Mike, Powerpuff Girls Movie
2003: Terminator 3
Weekend box office: $44 million
Position in the top 10: #1
#2 Movie That Weekend: Legally Blonde 2 ($22.2m)
Also Opening That Weekend: Legally Blonde 2, Sinbad: Legends of the Seven Seas
2004: Spider-Man 2
Weekend box office: $88.1 million
Position in the top 10: #1
#2 Movie That Weekend: Fahrenheit 9/11 ($16.2m)
Also Opening That Weekend: Nothing
2005: War of the Worlds
Weekend box office: $64.8 million
Position in the top 10: #1
#2 Movie That Weekend: Batman Begins ($15.6m)
Also Opening That Weekend: Rebound
2006: Superman Returns
Weekend box office: $52.5 million
Position in the top 10: #1
#2 Movie That Weekend: The Devil Wears Prada ($27.5m)
Also Opening That Weekend: The Devil Wears Prada
2007: Transformers
Weekend box office: $70.5 million
Position in the top 10: #1
#2 Movie That Weekend: Ratatouielle ($29m)
Also Opening That Weekend: License to Wed, Sicko
2008: Hancock
Weekend box office: $62.6 million
Position in the top 10: #1
#2 Movie That Weekend: Wall-E ($32.5m)
Also Opening That Weekend: Nothing
2009: Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
Weekend box office: $41.6 million
Position in the top 10: #2
#1 Movie That Weekend: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen ($42.3m)
Also Opening That Weekend: Public Enemies
2010: Twilight: Eclipse
Weekend box office: $64.8 million
Position in the top 10: #1
#2 Movie That Weekend: The Last Airbender ($40.3m)
Also Opening That Weekend: The Last Airbender
2011: Transformers: Dark of the Moon
Weekend box office: $97.8 million
Position in the top 10: #1
#2 Movie That Weekend: Cars 2 ($26.2m)
Also Opening That Weekend: Larry Crowne, Monte Carlo
2012: The Amazing Spider-Man
Weekend box office: $62 million
Position in the top 10: #1
#2 Movie That Weekend: Ted ($32.2m)
Also Opening That Weekend: Savages, Katy Perry: Part of Me
2013: Despicable Me 2
Weekend box office: $83.5 million
Position in the top 10: #1
#2 Movie That Weekend: The Lone Ranger ($29.2m)
Also Opening That Weekend: The Lone Ranger, Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain
2014: Tammy
Weekend box office: $21.5 million
Position in the top 10: #2
#1 Movie That Weekend: Transformers: Age of Extinction ($37m)
Also Opening That Weekend: Deliver Us From Evil, Earth to Echo, America
2015: Terminator: Genisys
Weekend box office: $27 million
Position in the top 10: #3
#1 Movie That Weekend: Inside Out ($29.7m)
Also Opening That Weekend: Magic Mike XXL, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
2016: The Legend of Tarzan
Weekend box office: $38.1 million
Position in the top 10: #2
The Weekend’s #1 Movie: Finding Dory ($41.9m)
Also New This Weekend: The Purge: Election Year, The BFG
We Minored in Film 