The 7 Biggest February Movies In History Will Surprise You

February is often thought of as the month of love. For Hollywood, though, it’s become the month when the annual box office begins ramping up in earnest. As early as 2001 with Hannibal’s mighty bow, February has become a go-to launchpad for the first major blockbuster of a given year. The popularity of this month resulted in a slew of 2010s blockbusters that drummed up lifetime domestic box office grosses that would usually be found only in the summertime, or during the holiday season. People really will go out to the movies at any time of the year – at least if something is compelling on the marquee.

Across the many moneymakers that have dominated the February box office over the years, seven movies stand tallest as the month’s biggest new releases ever. These seven features delivered lifetime North American box office sums that would’ve been eye-popping even in the busiest June or November of any given year. They epitomize why Hollywood sees dollar signs rather than just bouncing hearts whenever this month rolls around.

7) Get Out

Jordan Peele’s directorial debut Get Out cost only $3 million to make, meaning it really needed to only hit $10 million domestically to be profitable. Instead, this game-changing horror feature had one of the leggiest box office runs for a 2010s wide release by opening to $33.7 million and eventually amassing $176 million. The tremendously absorbing horror film just struck a chord with audiences that doesn’t come around every day. No wonder Get Out beat out countless infinitely costlier February features in its domestic run.

6) Hitch

How big was Will Smith in the mid-2000s? He was able to get an original romantic comedy like Hitch to a massive $179.49 million domestic haul. Hitch debuted just three days before Valentine’s Day, an ideal launchpad for a rom-com. However, this title garnered such positive word-of-mouth that it kept playing to packed houses long after that holiday came and went. Thanks to that resilient run, Hitch still stands to this day as one of the biggest Smith star vehicles, an impressive accomplishment given how many box office highs he’s experienced.

5) Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

While Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania was a major underperformed for Marvel Studios, in raw domestic grosses, its frontloaded $214.5 million lifetime gross did at least put it above most other February new releases in history. Only the fourth February feature in history to clear $200 million domestically, Quantumania ensured that three of the four biggest February movies ever in North America are adaptations of Marvel Comics characters.

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4) The LEGO Movie

Before 2014, February had housed solid animated sleeper hits like Gnomeo & Juliet or Coraline. With The LEGO Movie in February 2014, though, the expectations for all animated features in this month suddenly went through the roof. With $257.4 million in its lifetime domestic run, The LEGO Movie did more than four times its $60 million budget in just this territory alone. Forevermore, February would now be looked at as an optimal launchpad for family-friendly animated fare.

3) Deadpool

Today, it’s hard to imagine that there were ever doubts that Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool would be a license to print money. However, back in 2016, Deadpool was seen as a sleeper smash-hit that totally upended the rules for how big R-rated movies could perform. Benefiting from a lack of blockbuster competition, Deadpool soared to a staggering $363 million domestic haul. At the time, that made it the second-biggest R-rated movie ever in North America, only behind one other February blockbuster…

2) The Passion of the Christ

Arriving into movie theaters with a deluge of controversy, no movie stars, and told entirely in a foreign language, The Passion of the Christ had all the ingredients for a box office bomb. Instead, it became a must-see cultural event that stood tall as one of 2004’s biggest movies. Grossing a mind-boggling $370.27 million domestically, The Passion of the Christ easily toppled The Matrix Reloaded as the biggest R-rated movie ever, domestically. It was also the biggest February movie ever in North America for 14 years.

1) Black Panther

Not even The Passion of the Christ could hold onto its February box office records against Black Panther. This 2018 Ryan Coogler directorial effort was a massive pop culture phenomenon and grossed $700 million in its lifetime domestic gross. 2018’s biggest movie domestically by a considerable margin, these figures and box office achievements would’ve been once thought impossible for a February new release. That’s what happens, though, when you make a quality movie that people adore.

Black Panther is now streaming on Disney+.