Marquee History
Week 38 - 2015
By Max Braden
September 18, 2015
BoxOfficeProphets.com
This week's highlights are criminally good: the 20th anniversary of Se7en and the 25th anniversary of Goodfellas.
Here are the movies that premiered on theater marquees this week...
10 years ago - September 23, 2005
Flightplan
Jodie Foster’s first film in over three years was similar to her previous one, the thriller Panic Room. This thriller takes place on a plane. Critics were mildly impressed. Audiences were clearly drawn to it, making Flightplan the #1 movie of the weekend with $24 million on 3,424 screens. Not adjusted for inflation, this still ranks as Foster’s second-best lead opening of her career. Flightplan went on to earn $89 million.
Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride
Initially released on just five screens the prior week, Corpse Bride was given a 3,204 screen release this week. Using the same stop motion style (though shot digitally rather than on film) as his previous film The Nightmare Before Christmas, director Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride features the voices of Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter as a Victorian-era couple struggling with life and afterlife. Critics praised the film’s visual style as well as its sweet romance. Corpse Bride was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the Oscars. This weekend it took the #2 spot with $19 million, eventually earning $53 million.
Roll Bounce
This coming-of-age film takes place in 1970s Chicago and stars Bow Wow, Nick Cannon, Meagan Good, Brandon T. Jackson, Chi McBride, and Jurnee Smollett. The plot involves kids entering a roller disco contest. I remember enjoying this movie for its nostalgia, and critics seemed favorable to it. Roll Bounce opened at #4 with $7.5 million on 1,625 screens and went on to gross $17 million.
Opening in limited release this weekend: A History of Violence (Viggo Mortensen), Oliver Twist (Ben Kingsley), Dirty Love (Jennifer McCarthy), Dear Wendy (Jamie Bell), and Daltry Calhoun (Johnny Knoxville).
15 years ago - September 22, 2000
Urban Legends: Final Cut
The sequel to the 1998 slasher stars Jennifer Morrison, Matthew Davis, Joey Lawrence, Anthony Anderson, and Eva Mendes. Jacinda Barrett is featured in that classic urban legend: waking up in a bathtub full of ice without your kidneys. Reviews were poor. This sequel was profitable but far less so than the first movie. Final Cut opened at #1 with $8.5 million on 2,539 screens, and went on to gross $21 million.
The Exorcist Director’s Cut
First released in December 1973, The Exorcist was a huge hit and spawned sequels in 1977 and 1990. This edit of the original movie, dubbed “The Version You’ve Never Seen” featured new music and some reworked scenes. The Director’s Cut was only released on 664 screens (seems like a missed opportunity there), but managed to possess the #2 spot with $8.1 million, an average of $12,312 per screen.
Almost Famous
Covered in last week’s edition of Marquee History, Almost Famous added over 1,000 screens for its second weekend of release and rose to #3 in the box office with $6.9 million.
Woman on Top
Spanish actress Penelope Cruz had been acting since the early 1990s but this was her first American lead role. She plays a woman who has been cheated on and turns her life around by becoming a TV chef, with the encouragement of her transsexual friend played by Harold Perrineau. Reviews were decent, but audiences were not drawn to the movie, which opened at #10 with $2.0 million on 1,085 screens. Woman on Top grossed $5 million, falling short of its budget.
Opening in limited release: Under Suspicion (Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman, Monica Bellucci), Uninvited Guest (Mekhi Phifer, Mel Jackson, Mari Morrow), and Dancer in the Dark (Bjork, Catherine Deneuve, David Morse, director Lars von Trier).
20 years ago - September 22, 1995
Se7en
This brutal crime drama from director David Fincher (his second, after Alien 3) puts Brad Pitt together with Morgan Freeman as detectives on the trail of a serial killer who is obsessed with the seven deadly sins. Pitt was at the height of his early tabloid stardom, named People’s Sexiest Man Alive while in a high-profile relationship with Gwyneth Paltrow, who plays his wife in the movie. And then there’s Kevin Spacey. This was one of several typically-unique movies of the mid-90s that upturned their genres; in this case not revealing the villain until near the end of the movie. And the climactic “What’s in the box?!” scene is equally memorable for its twist and for being the subject of many spoof jokes. Se7en impressed critics and audiences, earning a Best Film Editing nomination at the Oscars and winning Best Movie at the MTV Movie Awards.
Showgirls
Boy, what to say about Showgirls. Screenwriter Joe Eszterhas and director Paul Verhoeven had already developed a reputation for portraying graphic sex and violence in movies like Basic Instinct. This was also the height of the screenplay market boom, with screenwriters like Eszterhas earning millions for their ideas. The idea here was “let’s get wholesome Saved by the Bell actress Elizabeth Berkley and have her hump Kyle MacLachlan to the point of hip damage.” As a result, Showgirls received an NC-17 rating yet still managed a wide release. Also as a result, the movie was a bomb in the press and box office. The movie earned a new record seven Razzie Awards from a still-record 13 nominations. Showgirls opened at #2 with $8 million on 1,388 screens, still the only NC-17 movie to have a wide release. It also holds the record for biggest NC-17 opening and total gross, at $20 million (well short of its $45 million budget). Unsurprisingly, the movie was a huge seller on home video.
Although not many audiences saw the limited opening movies this weekend, they’re worth noting for the anniversary: Record store comedy Empire Records stars Liv Tyler, Anthony LaPaglia, Rory Cochrane, Renee Zellweger, and Robin Tunney. A Month by the Lake stars Uma Thurman and Vanessa Redgrave, who was nominated for a Golden Globe. Canadian Bacon is Michael Moore’s only non-documentary, and the last movie released starring John Candy. Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre stars Renee Zellweger and Matthew McConaughey before they were famous and was later released again after they were famous under the title Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation.
25 years ago - September 21, 1990
Goodfellas
Based on real-life mobster Henry Hill, Martin Scorsese’s epic crime drama stars Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, and Lorraine Bracco. It’s arguably the best of Scorsese’s career. Most audiences would probably pick the tense “I amuse you?” scene as the film’s most memorable scene. For me, it’s the way the climax is shot that is masterful in portraying the frenetic paranoia Liotta’s character feels as his life closes in on him. The movie was a home run among critics and audiences, and the list of awards it received are as epic as the movie itself. The short list: six Oscar nominations, a win for Joe Pesci in his role as Tommy DeVito, and preservation in the Library of Congress’s National Film Registry. Goodfellas opened at #1 with $6.3 million on 1,070 screens, narrowly beating last week’s Postcards from the Edge, which had more screens. Goodfellas eventually earned over $46 million domestically, almost doubling its budget.
Narrow Margin
This one is a road trip thriller starring Gene Hackman as a deputy district attorney trying to protect a murder witness played by Anne Archer. Harris Yulin and M. Emmet Walsh costar. Reviews were moderate. Narrow Margin opened at #4 behind Ghost with $3.6 million on 1,132 screens. It eventually earned $10.8 million domestically.
Funny About Love
Gene Wilder stars in this romcom from director Leonard Nimoy about a cartoonist named Duffy Bergman who suddenly feels his biological clock ticking but has trouble with the relationships it would take to have a child. Christine Lahti plays his wife, and Mary Stuart Masterson plays a romantic interest. Reviews were abysmal, and the movie still scores a 0% at Rottentomatoes.com. Nonetheless the movie managed to make a showing, opening at #5 with $3.0 million on 1,213 screens. It eventually earned $8.1 million.
Also debuting in limited release: Don’t Tell Her It’s Me (Shelley Long and Steve Guttenberg), The Tall Guy (Jeff Goldblum and Emma Thompson), and Miller’s Crossing (on one screen - I’ll cover this movie in a future edition).
30 years ago - September 20, 1985
Creator
Seven-time Oscar nominee Peter O’Toole stars in this light romantic comedy-drama based on Jeremy Leven’s novel about a scientist who hopes to clone his deceased wife until he falls for a colleague in the process. Mariel Hemingway, David Ogden Stiers, Vincent Spano, and Virginia Madsen costar. At this point in his career, O’Toole was as famed for his charm as for his accolades. He once again got favorable reviews in this movie. With only 820 screens, Creator opened at #2 behind Back to the Future (which crossed the $150 million mark this weekend) with $2 million. Eventually it earned $5.3 million.
Plenty
A drama based on the play by David Hare. Meryl Streep stars as an Englishwoman who helps the French Resistance during WWII and then returns to a quieter life in England after the war. Tracey Ullman, John Gielgud, Sting, Ian McKellen, and Sam Neill costar. Critics were most appreciative of the acting. Streep was already a five-time Oscar nominee (and two-time winner) by this point, which surely led audience interest. Though she missed for this one, Gielgud and Ullman were both nominated for BAFTA Awards. Plenty opened in very limited release but with a very strong $18,177 per screen average, and eventually earned $6.1 million.
And as a bonus this week, 35 years ago - September 19, 1980...
Ordinary People
The first film directed by Robert Redford is a drama about a family suffering from the death and near death of their sons. Timothy Hutton plays the surviving son seeing a psychiatrist played by Judd Hirsch. Donald Sutherland and Mary Tyler Moore play his parents. The movie was a huge hit, grossing $54 million and earning Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor (Hutton), and nominations for Mary Tyler Moore and Hirsch. This was the movie that prompted new popular appreciation for Pachelbel’s Canon.
Come back next week for another installment of Marquee History!