The Highest-Grossing Movies To Never Finish Number One At The Box Office

After the release of his disaster epic «Independence Day» (which itself crushed the box office of 1996), director Roland Emmerich found his niche in Hollywood, giving audiences film after film all centered around new and exciting catastrophes. In 2004, he released «The Day After Tomorrow,» which pitted all of humanity against the terrors of climate change, coming to a dramatic head in the form of a new ice age. Caught up in the chaos is scientist Jack Hall (Dennis Quaid), who must do everything he can to keep his family alive in a rapidly freezing world.

Though it was released to mediocre reviews from critics and audiences alike, that didn’t stop «The Day After Tomorrow» from becoming one of the highest-grossing releases of the year, making $186 million on the domestic side. Unfortunately, however, timing worked against this one hitting #1, with Emmerich’s chilly thriller losing out to «Shrek 2» by less than $4 million in their shared opening weekend. It then continued to struggle in the weeks that followed. thanks to the highly-anticipated third entry in the «Harry Potter» film series, «The Prisoner of Azkaban,» denying «The Day After Tomorrow» any shot at a late revival.