*Eddie Murphy’s “The Nutty Professor” returned to hundreds of movie theaters for its 30th anniversary, but audiences apparently weren’t feeling particularly nostalgic.
Universal Pictures rereleased the 1996 comedy in 571 domestic theaters over Labor Day weekend. According to ScreenRant, the anniversary run opened to remarkably small numbers. The film earned $24,400 over the traditional Sept. 4-6 weekend — an average of just $43 per theater.
Box Office Mojo estimates the three-day haul at $24,000, with the four-day Labor Day total reaching approximately $25,000.
Yes, you read that correctly. A movie playing on 571 screens averaged less than the cost of taking a family to the movies at each location.
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What a Difference 30 Years Makes
The numbers couldn’t be further removed from the movie’s original theatrical run.
When “The Nutty Professor” opened on June 28, 1996, it debuted at No. 1 with $25.4 million over its first weekend. The comedy eventually earned approximately $128.8 million domestically.
Murphy starred as shy, good-hearted professor Sherman Klump, who transforms himself into the thin but obnoxious Buddy Love after testing an experimental weight-loss formula. Murphy famously played multiple characters in the movie, including several members of the Klump family.
Jada Pinkett Smith, Dave Chappelle, Larry Miller and James Coburn also starred.
The anniversary performance shouldn’t be interpreted as evidence that Murphy’s comedy has suddenly lost its cultural footprint. Rereleases operate under very different circumstances from new movies, including differences in marketing, screening schedules and theater counts.
Still, other rereleases drew substantially bigger crowds over the same weekend. The 2026 rerelease of “Akira,” for example, opened with more than $2.6 million from 787 theaters.
“The Nutty Professor” also continues to resonate with younger entertainers. In a previous EURweb interview with Eddie Murphy and Keke Palmer, Palmer called it her favorite Murphy movie and praised the authenticity he brought to its larger-than-life characters.
Thirty years later, the Klumps may still have plenty of fans. Getting them off the couch and back into theaters, however, proved to be a much tougher experiment.
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