What did the August box office look like 20 years ago?

In the 2010s, the domestic August box office hit largely unprecedented box office heights (save for the two times in the 2000s when the month racked up $900+ million. August 2014 and 2016 each took in $1+ billion domestically, the first time in history an August accumulated grosses in the ten-digit range. Seven of the ten Augusts in the 2010s hit at least $850 million, a sharp increase from the days of 2005 when August drummed up only $712.9 million. Heck, as late as 2000, August was only contributing $669.3 million!

With August 2024 officially underway, now is an ideal opportunity to gaze at the August domestic box office 20 years ago. Taking a trip to the year of Shrek 2 isn’t just rambling about box office trivia (though there would certainly be that). The drastic uptick in August box office numbers in the 2010s was due to Hollywood drastically overhauling the kinds of films it put into theaters. Does August 2004’s slate of new movies look similar to modern motion pictures…or is it a collection of cinema now from another planet?

August 2004 grossed $795.3 million, a decrease from the preceding three Augusts at the domestic box office that each grossed $800+ million. The highest-grossing movie during August 2004 movie was Collateral with $81.3 million. This was the last Tom Cruise star vehicle before he blew up his image with couch-jumping in 2005. That means this was back in the day when even a crummy Cruise movie with no explosions like Vanilla Sky could crack $100+ million domestically. Collateral becoming a solid hit was a testament to that appeal. This month's largest July holdover was the $72.9 million gross of The Village. No movies grossed $100+ million during August 2004.  The only August 2004 newcomer that would eventually crack nine-digits in its lifetime domestic run was Collateral.

August 2004 certainly gave movie theaters lots of movies to play, albeit, none of them guaranteed smash hits or even wielding the potential to become sleeper successes. Summer 2004's final month dropped 14 new wide release movies into theaters (15 if we count Napoleon Dynamite finally entering wide release at the end of the month). Horror dominated the month with Exorcist: The Beginning, Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid, Open Water, and Suspect Zero. In the days before The Conjuring and Nope, horror films were not thought of as “suitable” for prime May-July summertime release slots. Though The Blair Witch Project flourished in July 1999, August was basically the only summertime month these titles could get released in the mid-2000s. No wonder the genre dominated August 2004.

A decade later, August 2014 would deliver 15 new theatrical wide releases into the marketplace, technically an increase from August 2004's slate of 13 films. However, it's worth noting that indie studio efforts comprised much of those 15 films. The major studios dominated August 2004's slate. Ten years later, The Weinstein Company, Lionsgate, Relativity Media, CBS Films, and other labels provided a third of those movies. With major studios decreasing their annual output, smaller companies were stepping up to fill the void. In some ways, August 2024 mirrors August 2004 closer than one might expect. The former month is chock full of cashgrab sequels and franchise fare...but then again, how do you describe August 2004 newcomers like Alien vs. Predator or Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid?

The biggest difference is simply that, over 20 years, the biggest movies have gotten bigger. Meanwhile, mid-budget and lower-budgeted movies struggle to hit the grosses they would’ve hit in 2004. In August 2004, only four of the months 15 wide releases failed to hit $20 million domestically. Flash-forward 15 years to August 2019, which had 18 movies debuting in wide release (exempting Fathom Events features and one concert film). Seven of those titles failed to clear $20 million. Interestingly, both August's had the same number of $50+ million performers (five), however, only two August 2019 movies cracked $80 million domestically rather than the three that dominated August 2004.

August 2019 tentpole Hobbs & Shaw had a $173.9 million gross August 2004 newcomers could only dream of. However, that weighty haul clearly sucked some oxygen out of the marketplace. Looking at August 2004, it’s also worth remember that many of that month’s newest hits would never get made today. Would Collateral even get green-lit in 2024, let alone given a lavish enough marketing effort to score a $100+ million domestic haul? "Girly" movies aren't common in Hollywood even after Barbie's massive success last year. August 2004's second-biggest movie, The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement, would be M.I.A. today.

Now, in the interest of fairness, it's worth noting that some of the film industry's evolution, specifically in the indie movie sphere, has been a trade-off. Some genres have fallen out of fashion. Meanwhile, projects that would've been unthinkable to release in August 2004 are set to be major wide releases in August 2024. A genre title wide release headlined by a trans woman (Cuckoo) would've been unthinkable 20 years ago. Save for Hero, filmmakers of color are almost entirely absent from August 2004's line-up. August 2024, meanwhile, is serving up new wide release titles from M. Night Shyamalan and Zoe Kravitz. Additionally, It Ends with Us is poised to become a big sleeper hit over the second weekend of August 2024. The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement made a tidy sum of cash debuting over the same frame 20 years ago. Time is a flat circle, and all that.

Some of the changes in the movie business over the last 20 years are somewhat inevitable. Others, however, reflect the dwindling level of competition in the American theatrical film space as well as significantly less creative risk-taking on the part of studio heads. There were flaws in the August 2004 new movie line-up, but 20 years later, Hollywood has largely amplified those flaws rather than correct them. August is now, like so many months of the year, a place where one blockbuster is expected to dominate for weeks on end and everyone else needs to get out of the way. Ironically, though, the three biggest August’s in history flourished because of many titles in the marketplace. Even the two August’s dominated by comic book movies excelled because competing titles like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or Don’t Breathe became surprise hits.

Do not become addicted to relying on just one tentpole release, Hollywood. Get back to doing all kinds of films in all shapes and sizes. August can indeed house massive blockbusters like Guardians of the Galaxy that nobody thought could flourish in this month back in 2004. However, that can’t be the only thing driving the marketplace. Just ask the August from 20 years ago, which thrived thanks to Jamie Foxx, princesses, and otherworldly skirmishes.