Groundhog Day (1993)

Groundhog Day is a 1993 comedy film directed by Harold Ramis, starring Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell. It was written by Ramis and Danny Rubin, and based on a story by Rubin.

In the film, Murray plays Phil Connors, an egocentric Pittsburgh TV weatherman who, during a hated assignment covering the annual Groundhog Day event (February 2) in Punxsutawney, finds himself repeating the same day over and over again. After indulging in all manner of hedonistic pursuits, then going through a suicidal streak, he begins to reexamine his life and priorities.

In 2006, Groundhog Day was added to the United States National Film Registry as being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." It is listed as the 174th most popular movie at the Internet Movie Database as of Groundhog Day, 2009.

Self-centered TV meteorologist Phil Connors, his producer Rita, and cameraman Larry from the fictional Pittsburgh television station WPBH-TV9 travel to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania to cover the annual Groundhog Day festivities with Punxsutawney Phil. Having grown tired of this assignment, Phil grudgingly gives his report and attempts to return back to Pittsburgh when a blizzard that he predicted would miss the area shuts down the main roads. Phil and his team are forced to stay in town an extra day.

Phil wakes up to find that he is reliving February 2 again. Everyone else is repeating the same actions as the day before, seemingly unaware of the time loop, though Phil remains aware of the events of the previous day. At first he is confused, but, when the loop continues, he starts to try to take advantage of the situation without fear of long-term consequences: learning secrets from the town's residents, seducing women, stealing money, and driving drunk. However, his attempts to get closer to Rita are repeatedly shut down. With each passage of the loop, Phil becomes despondent; during one loop, he kidnaps Punxsutawney Phil and after a long police chase, drives over a cliff, appearing to kill both himself and the groundhog. However, Phil wakes up in the next loop and finds that nothing has changed; further attempts at suicide are just as fruitless as he continues to find himself back at the start of February 2.

Phil continues to try to learn more about Rita, and when he reveals his situation to her and the knowledge he's gained about the town's residents, she opens up to him and suggests he try to use his situation to help benefit the town. Phil uses her advice and the time loop to help as many people around town as possible, as well as bettering himself, such as by learning to play jazz piano and speaking French. Phil, now engrossed with the town's celebration, is able to admit his love to Rita, and she accepts and returns his love. After the evening dance, the two retire together to Phil's room.

Phil wakes up the next day, and finds the time loop has broken; it is now February 3 and Rita is still in bed with him. As the team prepare to return to Pittsburgh, Phil and Rita talk about eventually settling down in Punxsutawney, but they'll "rent to start."

The film's cult following has made Phil Connors one of Murray's best-known roles. In a recorded holiday greeting played on Air America Radio, the actor wishes the listener a "Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy New Year and Happy Groundhog Day."

An Italian remake, È già ieri, moved the action to a tiny island in the Canary Islands archipelago, on August 13. Instead of groundhogs, the protagonist is there to cover the migration of storks.

During Groundhog Day in the video game Animal Crossing, a character mentions that Groundhog Day was good enough to have a movie made about it.

The Stargate SG-1 episode "Window of Opportunity" (itself about a time loop) has Jack O'Neill refer to the film, saying "So you can be king of Groundhog Day".

In book eight of The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi series, Kyon mentions that he might end up repeating his first year of high school for the rest of his life "Groundhog's Day style".

The BBC released a docu-drama called End Day which depicts a scientist who is unknowingly caught in a loop of different apocalyptic and disastrous events including a massive tsunami, asteroid impact, a supervolcano, a global pandemic, and a black hole-like phenomenon. At the start of each loop, the scientist hails a cab near a London cinema, which displays the words "Groundhog Day, now showing", an obvious reference to the inspiration behind the loop concept used in the programme.

The episode of Xena: Warrior Princess titled "Been There, Done That" involves Xena stuck in a time loop until she figures out how to unite two lovers. The episode is a direct homage, going so far as having the wake up line "Rise & shine" spoken by one of the characters at the start of each repeated day.

The third-season episode of Supernatural titled "Mystery Spot" involves Sam reliving the same day over and over, continually having to deal with Dean's death. In several of the time loops when Sam explains his predicament to Dean, Dean says it's "like Groundhog Day". More direct references include Sam awakening each time to the same song ("Heat of the Moment" by Asia) and Dean announcing "Rise and shine, Sammy!"

The premise of the ABC television series Day Break starring Taye Diggs was promoted as a "re imagining" of the Groundhog Day premise, as the lead character is also repeating the same day over and over.

A movie on Nickelodeon entitled The Last Day of Summer is about a boy stuck in a time loop on the last day of summer.

In the 6th season episode of The X-Files entitled "Monday", a woman is forced to repeat the same day over and over until she finds a way to get FBI agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully to end the day correctly.

A February 2nd, 2009 episode of G4's Attack of the Show! also copied the film's plot, in which hosts Kevin Pereira and Olivia Munn welcomed viewers to the show and presented the show's "Around the Net" segment over and over again in each part of the show. They were not able to finish the countdown until that day's number one video, which was a Super Bowl XLIII ad from Cash4Gold.com starring Ed McMahon and M.C. Hammer, appeared at the end of the show.