Ever wondered what the Number One Movie was the day you were born? The movie that was most popular the day you were brought kicking and screaming into the world might not seem very important. After all, being a whole zero days old it’s not like most people could’ve toddled off to the theater to take in a movie or been even aware of the pop-cultural landscape. On the contrary, the films that dominated the box office during the year you were born can have a big impact.
In the years following the release of Disney’s Frozen there was a surge in babies named Elsa. Similarly, back when the Twilight Saga movies were all the rage there was a spike in babies named Isabella after Kristen Stewart’s protagonist Bella Swan, and some poor souls even ended up with the name Renesmee. Going further back in time, the name Luke exploded in popularity after the release of the original Star Wars trilogy in the late 1970s and early 1980s, inspired by Luke Skywalker. Thankfully, Chewbacca didn’t catch on as a popular baby name.
Even if people didn’t end up named after a movie character, it’s still fun to find out what movie was all the hype when they arrived in the world. The free online radio web app Playback.fm has a tool that allows people to discover the film that topped the U.S. box office on their date of birth, alongside how much a movie ticket would’ve been. There’s also the option to watch a trailer of the movie that was number one and Playback.fm informs people how many times that film could’ve looped since their birthday. For any centenarians out there, the app goes all the way back to the 1910s when silent films like the partially lost German horror movie The Golem and Charlie Chaplin’s Shoulder Arms were number one.
It’s also a fun way to find out what movie was number one the day movie industry favorites were born. Alfred Hitchcock’s horror film The Birds was number one the day Quentin Tarantino was born whille Steven Spielberg’s Jaws was number one when Taika Waititi came into the world. When Jordan Peele was born Vietnam War epic The Deer Hunter topped the box office, while for MCU directors Anthony and Joe Russo it was the MAS*H movie and the original Shaft respectively.
Staying in the MCU, The Sound Of Music was number one when Robert Downey Jr was born and Indiana Jones And The Raiders Of The Lost Ark topped the charts when Captain America actor Chris Evans was born. Everybody was watching The Muppet Movie on Chris Pratt’s date of birth and – befittingly considering she played a superhero herself – Supergirl was the Number One Movie on Scarlett Johansson’s birthday.
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