The Highest-Grossing Memorial Day Movies Of All Time Might Surprise You

Intended to honor military veterans, Memorial Day weekend is largely known for being the perfect time to barbecue, wave American flags, and eat way too much food. But it's also become a go-to for launching major blockbusters. After all, the weekend includes a rare three consecutive days when many Americans are off from work. Lots of people choose to spend some of that extra free time at the movie theater enjoying a major new blockbuster. The occasion has become a reliable launchpad for some of the biggest summer movies of all time, including a number of entries in the "Star Wars" saga.

The majority of the most successful flicks to ever open over this holiday weekend are big-budget action blockbusters aimed at exciting viewers of all ages. However, that's not the only type of cinema that's been either released or proved lucrative here; a handful of comedies have secured some of the biggest box-office hauls ever. 

Looking over the highest-grossing movies of all time to open over Memorial Day weekend at the domestic box office, it becomes apparent that this holiday is a far cry from the dump months of January-February and August-September. Get a head start on the festivities with this list. 

After "Jurassic Park," the public clamored for a sequel. Everyone wanted more dinosaurs, and 1997's "The Lost World: Jurassic Park" came around to satisfy that demand. Upon opening over the Memorial Day holiday weekend, "The Lost World" took in a $72.3 million three-day opening, the biggest domestic opening weekend in history up to that point. Over the four-day holiday weekend, the title managed a massive $92.7 million haul, more than enough to put it on the road to profitability on a $73 million budget.

If there was a drawback here, it was that "The Lost World" proved how Memorial Day titles can be extremely frontloaded with movies. Making extra moolah over a holiday weekend is great, but it does mean many moviegoers will have seen it by the end of the opening weekend. Thus, "The Lost World" ended up with a domestic gross of $229 million — a respectable return, but far from the $357 million domestic haul of the original "Jurassic Park."

Before the Marvel Cinematic Universe came around, the original X-Men movies were some of the biggest superhero movies on the planet. This status was cemented with "X-Men: The Last Stand," which managed to pull off the neat hat trick of surpassing the domestic gross of its predecessor. Its $102.1 million three-day opening gross was also only a stone's throw from the $114 million debut of the original "Spider-Man," then the biggest domestic opening weekend in history.

After its mammoth opening, mixed word-of-mouth brought "The Last Stand" down to Earth, but it still managed to crack $234.2 million domestically, above both of its predecessors. The first two "X-Men" movies generated such positive buzz that a follow-up would always have garnered interest. But by emphasizing this as a conclusion of sorts for the series and by promising to show the Dark Phoenix comic book storyline on the big screen for the first time, "The Last Stand" had no problem amassing a significant amount of moviegoers in its theatrical run. 

Seeing "Bruce Almighty" so high up on this list may inspire some readers to utter a hearty "Alrighty then!" However, it's less surprising than it seems. "Bruce Almighty" was the culmination of nearly a decade of Jim Carrey's constant presence in the comedy scene, starring in many beloved hits. Plus, "Bruce Almighty" came along with the ultimate wish-fulfillment fantasy: What if a normal dude had the powers of God? Throw in "Friends" star Jennifer Aniston as the female lead and a Memorial Day opening, and "Bruce Almighty" was teed up for success.

And boy was it ever successful, with the film performing more like a mega-budgeted superhero movie than a high-concept comedy. Grossing $242.7 million, "Bruce Almighty" had no problem surpassing the domestic haul of your average Carrey vehicle and becoming one of the biggest comedies in the history of the domestic box office. Its success may be puzzling for moviegoers who only know Carrey as Sonic the Hedgehog's greatest nemesis. In 2003, though, it was obvious why "Bruce Almighty" became a box office phenomenon so powerful you expected it to shout "Somebody stop me!"

Until "Solo: A Star Wars Story" came around, "The Empire Strikes Back" was the only "Star Wars" movie to gross under $300 million domestically. This wasn't because "Empire" was a colossal dud; it's just that other "Star Wars" debuts were exceptional. The original "Star Wars" was a once-in-a-lifetime pop culture phenomenon; there was no way any movie could hope to top that. 

On its own merits, "The Empire Strikes Back" still amassed a domestic sum that grew to a staggering $291.7 million thanks to a series of subsequent theatrical re-releases. It also stood tall against the majority of other Memorial Day performers. Until "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" came around in 2007, "Empire Strikes Back" was the highest-grossing movie ever released over Memorial Day weekend, save for its predecessor. It's true that "Empire" is one of the lower-grossing movie in the Star Wars canon, but it still has its own box office achievements to crow about.

"Return of the Jedi" opened domestically on the Wednesday before Memorial Day. By the end of that inaugural day, it was apparent that the film was headed towards a mammoth domestic gross. The New York Times ran a piece declaring that the film had managed to score the largest single-day gross in history, a particularly monumental achievement given that Jedi had scored the victory in the middle of the workweek rather than a Friday or Saturday. Sometimes, it takes weeks to tell if a movie is a hit or a dud. For "Jedi," it took just 24 hours.

After that staggering opening, "Return of the Jedi" continued its strong box office run over the Memorial Day weekend. Box office results were so impressive over this holiday frame that it set a new domestic box office record for how much money a movie made in its first seven days of release. Once the dust had settled and "Return of the Jedi's" domestic box office run was but a memory, the film had grossed $309.2 million, an improvement over the domestic run of "Empire Strikes Back" from three years prior. Six years after the original "Star Wars," "Return of the Jedi" proved that the Jedi could still attract moviegoers.

Before "Aladdin" unleashed "a whole new world" in live action, there was trepidation over how well this movie would do. Disney had a bad streak of Memorial Day weekend flops, like "Tomorrowland" and "Alice Through the Looking Glass," in the years directly preceding "Aladdin." Plus, just before "Aladdin," "Dumbo" came out and was a dud, proving that not all live-action remakes of Disney cartoons were bulletproof at the box office.

It turned out, though, that "Aladdin" had nothing to worry about. Its $90 million three-day run surpassed all expectations, and its box office glory didn't end there. Thanks to a lack of PG-rated live-action features in June and early July 2019, "Aladdin" 'had a wide-open summertime landscape to make even more money in. The film had no trouble sticking around on screens for weeks on end. Its leggy domestic box office run led to its grossing $355.5 million domestically, the biggest haul ever for a non-"Star Wars" movie opening over Memorial Day weekend. Basically, the domestic box office run for "Aladdin" was so magical that you'd imagine it was conjured up by a genie's wish.