The 1996 Tom Cruise star vehicle Jerry Maguire has lots of accomplishments to its name, even just in the realm of box office figures. For one thing, at the time of its release, it was the fifth-biggest R-rated movie ever at the domestic box office thanks to a $156 million North American haul. Meanwhile, it was the fourth-biggest feature ever for Sony/Columbia Pictures at the time of its release, only coming in behind the likes of Ghostbusters, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, and Tootsie. As for Mr. Tom Cruise himself, Jerry Maguire represented his fifth-biggest feature ever domestically back in December 1996. Even today, it’s still one of only 12 movies Cruise has appeared in (exempting his cameo appearance in Austin Powers in Goldmember) that have cracked $150 million domestically, a testament to just how much of an impact Jerry Maguire had on audiences.
Among the many box-office accomplishments that Jerry Maguire also has under its belt, though, is an achievement that, at first glance, sounds thoroughly unimpressive. This particular Cameron Crowe movie held the record for many years for the lowest box-office haul that managed to top the domestic box-office. Such a meager accomplishment would seemingly reflect a disastrous box-office landscape or just how badly a movie flopped. Instead, Jerry Maguire’s ability to shatter expectations extends to this box-office record, which managed to reflect what incredible financial stamina this project was demonstrating.
Which Weekend Did ‘Jerry Maguire’ Set Its Record In?
Over the weekend of January 24-26, 1997, Jerry Maguire returned to the #1 spot at the North American box-office for the first time since its opening weekend over the December 13-15, 1996 frame more than a month earlier. Jerry Maguire only needed $5.5 million to secure that top spot, a tiny haul that reflected what a pitiful weekend this was for the North American box-office. Over the preceding weekend, Jerry Maguire had come in at the #5 spot, well behind domestic box-office newcomers like Beverly Hills Ninja and Metro (the former of which also topped the domestic box-office for the weekend). With each of those newbie titles dropping 50+% in their respective second weekends and the only two new wide releases being instant box-office bombs Fierce Creatures and Zeus and Roxanne, the January 24-26, 1997 belonged to Tom Cruise by default.
Even with all these caveats, returning to the #1 spot was a tremendous accomplishment for Jerry Maguire in terms of reflecting the word-of-mouth it was generating. After all, this motion picture only dipped 27% from the preceding weekend while every other returning wide release in the marketplace dropped at least 39% from the last frame. People were still showing up to this feel-good feature in droves, and they would be shelling out cash for tickets for weeks to come.
Managing to return to the #1 spot in this fashion functioned as a harbinger for Jerry Maguire’s box-office legs in the weeks to come. The announcement of that year’s Oscar nominations in February 1997 (where Jerry Maguire scored a slew of nods, including Best Picture) gave Jerry Maguire another boost of life that allowed it to gross $5.2 million in its tenth weekend of release. This feature would continue to have weekend grosses of over $1 million well into April 1997, four months after it first launched in theaters. No wonder Jerry Maguire was able to become such a historic grosser for all parties involved, and it’s even more of a no-brainer that it managed to dominate the domestic box-office in the dead of January.
The Marketplace Conditions Allowed ‘Jerry Maguire’ To Make History
Hollywood studios have often had unofficial rules over what times of the year are ideal for releasing new movies. Part of these traditions naturally includes designating certain sectors of the calendar as being less fortunate for the financial prospects of brand-new movies. January has often been viewed as the worst possible place to launch features for a multitude of factors. These include the assumption that people have less money directly after the bustling holiday season, the idea that inclement winter weather could keep folks away from theaters, and the lack of lengthy holidays in this month. There is no week of holidays where people can go to the movies like in November or March, which makes the month less hospitable to major new movies.
In the last decade, Hollywood’s aversion to January has begun to thaw thanks to massive hits like the wide release of American Sniper and Bad Boys for Life. However, back in 1997, this thought process that January was a cursed launch pad for new movies was alive and well. Thus, there weren’t any massive new releases in late January 1997 that could threaten Jerry Maguire for the top spot at the domestic box-office. Looking at the history of the lowest-grossing movies ever to top the domestic box-office, one gets a clear sense of which spots on the annual calendar are usually the worst for releasing new movies. Late August/early September or the final weeks of April, for instance, have typically seen the new release landscape dry up considerably, allowing holdovers to assume the top spot at the box-office.
A motion picture doesn’t even need to be an Oscar darling crowd-pleaser like Jerry Maguire to assume the top spot at the domestic box-office after its opening frame. The Hitman’s Bodyguard topped the domestic box-office in its second and third weekends of release simply because of how dire the new release slate was in the last two weeks of summer 2017. Even new releases don’t have to be especially well-liked to be the one-eyed king of the blind. Just look at the Nicolas Cage action movie Bangkok Dangerous, which topped the first weekend of September 2008 with only $7.7 million. If your theatrical release happens to intersect with some of the more ignored times spots on the release calendar, chances are you can top the North American box-office with minimal effort.
For many years, it seemed like Jerry Maguire would never be usurped for the title of lowest box-office haul for a #1 movie domestically. Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit and suddenly, all theaters save for a handful of drive-ins were closed, allowing IFC Films titles like The Wretched to top the domestic box-office with hauls as small as $69,608. Even as more theaters reopened, titles like Come Play or The Little Things could secure the #1 spot with hauls as little as $3.1 million or $4.7 million, respectively. Still, those are extreme circumstances that saw certain movies entering theatrical release while also being simultaneously available on streaming services. In the realm of traditional theatrical releases, it’s doubtful anything will ever take away this particular record from the clutches of Jerry Maguire.