Film

It’s the movie that grossed $105 million on a budget of $30 million, so successful and impactful that it’s sometimes replaced the term deja vu. It’s been over three decades since Groundhog Day was first released in theaters, and finally, the cast has convened for a very special reunion celebrating the wintertime classic. Groundhog Day grossed $105 million with a budget—just kidding! The movie first hit theaters in ‘93 and starred Bill Murray as the cynical weatherman Phil Connors stuck in a time loop as everyone around him repeats Groundhog Day over and over. He’s joined by the ageless Andie MacDowell as producer Rita Hanson, and cameraman Larry played by Chris Elliott. So, what happened when the eyes of the nation turned to this iconic cast? The cast of ‘Groundhog Day’ gathered for a special reunion The cast of Groundhog Day reunited at Navy Pier for the first time in 31 years / YouTube screenshot Fittingly, the cast reunited on February 2, just in time for the actual Groundhog Day, ushered in by an auspicious prediction by Punxsutawney Phil himself. But for this event, the castmates gathered in Chicago in celebration of the film’s director, Chicago native Harold Ramis. RELATED: Punxsutawney Phil Reveals If We’re In For An Early Spring 2024 Chicago just declared February 2 Harold Ramis Day; this serves as a tribute to his memory as much as a celebration of his career, as Ramis sadly died in 2014 at the age of 69. Local news station WGN-TV livestreamed and reported on the event, which took place at Chicago’s Navy Pier. Those in attendance included Murray, along with Marita Geraghty, David Pasquesi, Richard Henzel, Robin Duke, and Brian Doyle-Murray. Celebrating spring in style The reunion paid tribute to several iconic scenes from the film / (c) Columbia/courtesy Everett Collection The actual event was also a love letter to one of Ramis’s most celebrated works, which is saying something since Ramis’s filmography also includes Caddyshack (1980) and National Lampoon's Vacation (1983), and that’s just him as a director. As a co-writer, he also worked on two Ghostbusters movies along with Stripes. In true Groundhog Day reunion fashion, the celebration started with, what else, that infamous alarm clock that signaled a new - and familiar - day for Phil. This routine wasn’t complete until Sonny and Cher’s “I Got You Babe” chimed in and Henzel, one of the radio hosts in the film, made his usual announcement welcoming yet another Groundhog Day. https://twitter.com/RichardERoeper/status/1753528150678450201 From then on, everyone was more than ready to do their part in the time loop, including Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, who spoke on his friendship with Ramis and assured that his speech would get better and better with each day he repeated the process. “I can’t think of a better occasion to get together than this, Harold Ramis Day,” gushed Pasquesi, who celebrated Ramis as a “comedy legend.” After commenting on his woodchuck rival Punxsutawney Phil, Murray also sang high praises for Ramis, not just as a skilled director but also as a colleague who did everything he could to uplift his actors to their highest potential with skills they could carry into their next projects. It’s no wonder referencing Groundhog Day has become the new deja vu!