Box Office Actuals for Worst July 4 Weekend Since 1987 Adjusted for Inflation

July 7, 2014

By Brad Brevet

This past weekend had the fewest number of reader predictions I can remember and given the lackluster Fourth of July weekend perhaps we’ve reached a point where no one cares any longer. I mean, we’re talking about a weekend where compared to the year prior the $118.5 million combined total of the top 12 was down 47% from last year and, as Box Office Mojo points out, it was the worst Independence Day weekend since 1999 when the top 12 managed $116.5 million, but you adjust for inflation and that comes to $182.5M.

In fact, adjusted for inflation, this is the worst Independence Day weekend since 1987, a weekend where there wasn’t a single film in the top 12 playing in more than 1,980 theaters and the Dan Aykroyd and Tom Hanks television remake of Dragnet took the #1 spot with $7 million in its second weekend. The two new films that weekend were Innerspace starring Martin Short in 1,603 theaters and Adventures in Babysitting starring Elisabeth Shue in 1,126 theaters and $2.9 million. It is funny to look back all those years and see just how long Hollywood has been doing feature film adaptations of television shows.

So what do you want me to do, sprinkle sugar on the fact Transformers: Age of Extinction dropped 63% instead of the estimated 63.6% coming in with a second weekend total of $37 million?

How about me getting excited that one of the worst movies of the year, Tammy, ended up making $21.5 million, about $3 million more than I expected it would do. No one showed up to see Deliver Us from Evil, which managed $9.7 million and Earth to Echo floundered into sixth with $8.3 million. Wow, exciting stuff right? I don’t blame you for not caring.

Thankfully, this weekend brings a pair of movies actually worth caring about. The first is Boyhood opening in only a handful of theaters in New York and Los Angeles before expanding over the coming weeks and the other is Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, which I’ll be seeing tomorrow and I can’t wait.

I’ve listed the current top ten from the points and accuracy leaderboards directly below and you can find the full leaderboard here. For the complete box office top ten and points awarded for this weekend specifically click here.