Groundhog Day Time Loop



The Groundhog Day Time Loop is a time element that occurred in the Groundhog Day Universe. It was depicted in Groundhog Day in 1993.

Background
Phil Connors is a meteorologist at WPBH-TV 9 in Pittsburgh and on February 1, 1992 he delivers his forecast on-air before leaving for Punxutauney that day to be part of Channel 9's Groundhog Day coverage the following morning. Arriving with Rita Hanson, his new assistant and camera operator, Larry, Phil's attitude is off-putting towards the town and the assignment.

Groundhog Day
At 6am on February 2, 1992 Phil wakes up to the sound of I Got You Babe by Sonny and Cher playing on the local radio station. He goes about his day, including his remote broadcast from the sight of the Groundhog Day ceremony where it is revealed that they will receive six more weeks of Winter, presumably due to Punxutawney Phil, the mascot for the ritual seeing his shadow.

Phil's forecast of any blizzard conditions not hitting them proves incorrect and they are stuck in town for another night.

Time Loop
This begins the time loop as Phil is made to relive the same day repeatedly. Through the time loop, Phil goes through feelings of elation, depression, and suicide before settling on acceptance of his fate. Phil picks up quite a few knacks in his time, becoming an expert at ice sculpting, playing the piano, throwing poker cards into a hat, and becoming fluent in French. He also gets to know the people of the town during this loop while feeling that Rita could be a key in freeing him from his curse. Phil learns when and where to be to provide assistance to others. His acts of selflessness along with his newfound skill sets eventually free the curse.

Tomorrow
After 12,395 Groundhog Days (equating to 33 years and 350 days), Phil finally wakes up on February 3. At first, he is unsure as I Got You Babe is once again playing, but the radio hosts have different dialog. This and Rita being in bed with him indicates that he finally made it out of the loop. Phil decides to move to Punxutawney, essentially ending his job in Pittsburgh and possible ending Rita's as well, deciding to start a new life together.

Danaverse Connection
It is unclear what caused the time loop itself, whether it was simply an act of God, or someone able to place a curse on Phil. An investigation by Dana Fairbanks offers up two possibilities. One is that Phil was trapped in the loop by a spirit either wishing to help or harm him. The other is that someone in Punxutawney placed the curse with the likeliest suspect being Ned Ryerson, the insurance salesman who after being rejected on the prime Groundhog Day, finally is able to sell to Phil on what would be the last Groundhog Day in the loop.

Nothing has been confirmed either way as the coming Crisis War has taken attention away from the investigation.

Information
Simon Gallagher of What Culture provided an in-depth analysis explaining how 12,395 days became the accepted number of Groundhog Days in the time loop. His article about finding this number can be read here.

Groundhog Day was distributed by Columbia Pictures and directed by Harold Ramis with Bill Murray in the role of Phil Connors. Harold and Bill had worked together previously, including Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II.

In our reality, the Jeopardy episode shown in the movie aired on November 11, 1991.

The WrestleMania tickets Phil presents Debbie and Fred with are for the 1992 edition in Indianapolis which would occur on April 5.

Despite being a movie centered around February 2, the wide release cinema date for the movie was actually February 12, 1993.