You can see my the relatively small number of films on this chart just how difficult it is for movies to have two or more $20m+ days, even with current inflationary forces at play at the box office. In general, films with 2 or 3 days above $20m tend to have large openings and precipitate drops, which is why they do not sustain such sums in subsequent weeks.
Films with 3 or more days above $20m tend to be 1) Thursday or Wednesday releases, 2) mid-week holiday releases, or 3) Memorial Day releases. Spider-Man 2, for example, was released on a Wednesday before the July 4h weekend, and managed to have 6 straight days of $20m+ grosses because its Monday fell on July 5th, giving it an added holiday boost.
Very rarely do films achieve $20m+ figures without holiday aid. There are three exceptions, in fact, and they are big ones:
-Spider-Man 1 opened with $114.8m in 2002, but remarkably, managed to have healthy drops subsequently. It had a $30.5m second Saturday (the only time a film has made more than $30m on a day after opening week) and a $21m second Sunday. Even more remarkably, it managed to register a $20m third Saturday, making it the only film to have a daily gross above $20m outside the first two weeks of release.
-Shrek 2 had a massive opening in 2004, and an even more impressive second weekend, which happened to fall during Memorial Day holidays. That allowed the film to add an additional 4 $20m+ days to its 3 opening weekend days, giving it a total of seven days, a previous record.
-The Dark Knight, which of course had a gargantuan opening weekend, had an even more impressive opening week. The film managed a jaw-dropping $24.5m on its first Monday without the aid of any holiday, and grossed another $20.9m on the following Tuesday. It registered another 3 $20m+ days during its sophomore session. Its total of 8 days above $20m is a stunning record, and a testament to the remarkable run it had, especially during its first few weeks.
