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What do My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, and World War Z have in common?
They’re among the highest-grossing movies of all time…that never topped the weekly box office. My Big Fat Greek Wedding made $241 million, Squeakwel made $219, and Z made $202, but each did so slowly, over time, without a big, dominant first week where moviegoers rushed to theaters. Greek was a sleeper hit and stayed in theaters for a year. It’s most successful weekend was a $14.8 million take, on its 22nd weekend. Alvin opened on Christmas 2009, and finished third behind Avatar and Sherlock Holmes. World War Z opened on June 21, 2012, the same day as Monsters University.
What sets Charlemagne apart from other historical world leaders?
Unlike Richard Nixon, Genghis Khan, Queen Elizabeth and all the others, the Roman emperor Charlemagne may have never existed. At least that’s according to some out-there historians. In 1996, Herberg Illig published his theory of “phantom time hypothesis.” Illig claims that in 1582, Pope Gregory XIII introduced the Gregorian calendar (the one we use today) to replace the Julian calendar. And while a 10-day discrepancy between the two was noted, mathematicians inadvertently added 300 years. That period spans the 800s, which includes the reign of Charlemagne. As for all the records of Charlemagne? Illig says those were falsified to cover up the mistake.
Want more impossible questions? Check out Uncle John’s Impossible Questions.