Marquee History
Week 51 - 2015
By Max Braden
December 21, 2015
BoxOfficeProphets.com
With three dozen films covered this week, it’s difficult to pick one highlight. Casanova, Cast Away, The Color Purple… the list goes on!
Here are the movies that premiered on theater marquees this week...
10 years ago - December 23 (21-25), 2005
This was a tricky weekend for theaters, with Christmas Day falling on the Sunday. As a result, some of the opening movies skipped Friday and opened on Sunday, while Fun with Dick and Jane and Cheaper by the Dozen 2 opened on Wednesday the 21st.
Fun with Dick and Jane
This remake of the 1977 comedy starring George Segal and Jane Fonda stars Jim Carrey as a corporate worker who is on the verge of bankruptcy when he and his wife (Tea Leoni) resort to crime to pay the bills. Eventually they target his corrupt boss, played by Alec Baldwin. Reviews were poor, but audiences kept the money rolling in over the holiday. Fun with Dick and Jane opened at #3 behind King Kong and Narnia with $14.3 million from 3,056 theaters and eventually earned $110 million overall.
Cheaper by the Dozen 2
Steve Martin returns with Bonnie Hunt as the parents of a large clan who bring the family back to their old lake vacation house to strengthen the family bond. Eugene Levy plays the wealthier head of another large family, which sparks competition between the two. Reviews were poor, and both Levy and Hilary Duff received Razzie Award nominations. Cheaper by the Dozen 2 opened at #4 with $9.3 million from 3,175 theaters and eventually went on to earn $82 million. That fell short of the $132 million for the first movie but ahead of the $53 million for Dennis Quaid’s similar Yours, Mine, and Ours.
The Ringer
This comedy stars Jackass comedian/stuntman Johnny Knoxville as a regular guy who decides to enter the Special Olympics as a con to win money for both his uncle and his injured friend. Posing as a developmentally disabled athlete, he develops a relationship with a volunteer, played by Katherine Heigl, as well as his actual disabled teammates. It was a risky plotline, but the Farrelly brothers eventually got the Special Olympics to endorse the production of the movie. Reviews were fair. The Ringer opened at #7 with $7.7 million from 1,829 theaters.
Rumor Has It
Jennifer Aniston stars in this comedy from director Rob Reiner, which poses the possibility that her character’s grandmother, played by Shirley MacLaine, may have been the inspiration for the novel The Graduate, and that the character played by Kevin Costner might be her father. Mark Ruffalo, Richard Jenkins, and Mena Suvari co-star. Reviews were not great. Rumor Has it opened at #10 with $3.4 million from 2,815 theaters and went on to earn $43 million.
Munich
Steven Spielberg’s drama covers the Israeli response to the PLO terrorist attack on the 1972 Summer Olympics. Eric Bana, Geoffrey Rush, Daniel Craig, Ciaran Hinds, Mathieu Kassovitz, and Hanns Zischler form a team of Mossad assassins who take down targets one by one. Reviews praised the look and style of the film over the performances. The film received Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Score, and Best Film Editing. Munich opened at #10 with $6.0 million from 532 theaters this weekend, expanded to just under 1,500 on January 6th, and went on to earn $47 million.
Wolf Creek
This horror film from Australia tells the grim fate of three backpackers killed in the Australian outback. U.S. critics were not enthusiastic about the violence, but it impressed Australian critics. The film was shown at Sundance and Cannes earlier in the year. Wolf Creek opened at #12 with $2.8 million from 1,749 theaters and eventually earned $16.1 million in the U.S. and a total of $27.7 worldwide.
Casanova
For me, it’s a tough choice between this and A Knight’s Tale for my favorite performance of Heath Ledger’s career. He’s fantastic as The Joker in The Dark Knight, of course, but his charm is in full effect here. The comedy stars Ledger as the 18th century Italian romancer who meets his match in a woman (Sienna Miller) who has been secretly writing treatises about women’s rights and independence. Oliver Platt, Lena Olin, Omid Djalili, Natalie Dormer, and Jeremy Irons co-star. Critics didn’t give this film much notice but it’s one of my favorites of the year. Casanova opened in 37 theaters this week and expanded to wide release on January 6th. It eventually grossed $11.3 million.
The White Countess, a romance from Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel starring Ralph Fiennes and Natasha Richardson opened in very limited release this weekend and eventually earned $1.6 million.
The New World
Terrence Malick’s historical drama about the founding of Jamestown stars Colin Farrell as John Smith and Q’orianka Kilcher as Pocahontas. Reviews were good and the film received an Oscar nomination for Best Cinematography. The New World opened in three theaters on Christmas and expanded to just over 800 sites on January 20th, eventually earning $12.7 million.
15 years ago - December 22, 2000
Cast Away
Tom Hanks stars in this drama as a FedEx employee who survives a plane crash but is stranded on a remote island in the Pacific. Much of the movie takes place without musical cues and with Hanks talking only to himself or his pal Wilson, the volleyball. Hanks went through a dramatic physical change, losing significant weight for the role. Helen Hunt co-stars as his girlfriend. Reviews were excellent, and Hanks later received his fifth and most recent Oscar nomination for the role. The film was also nominated for Best Sound. Cast Away opened with $28.8 million for the three-day weekend (the second largest December opening to that date, after What Women Want took the record the same month) and $39 million including Christmas Day on Monday. It eventually earned $233 million, the second highest grossing movie of 2000 and the third best of Hanks’s career to that time.
The Family Man
This modern take on A Christmas Carol (or It’s a Wonderful Life) stars Nicolas Cage as a wealthy Wall Street shark who finds himself in an alternate life path where he’s married the girl the previously got away, played by Tea Leoni. Stuck in middle class New Jersey, he still tries to get back into the action in New York, once again forcing him to choose what is more important in life. Reviews were good and the film was fairly successful at the box office. The Family Man opened at #4 behind holdover What Women Want with $10.5 million for the four-day weekend from 2,388 theaters and went on to earn $75 million.
Miss Congeniality
Sandra Bullock stars in this comedy as an all-business FBI agent who goes undercover at a beauty pageant. Michael Caine, William Shatner, and Candice Bergen co-star. Reviews were mixed but the film was a hit with audiences, making it Bullock’s biggest hit (other than A Time to Kill) since Speed. Miss Congeniality opened at #5 with $10 million from 2,668 theaters over the four-day weekend, experienced a surge in box office that pushed it up to #3 after Christmas, and stayed in the top ten through January. Eventually it made $106 million. Bullock returned for the sequel in March 2005.
Dracula 2000
Christopher Plummer plays a modern day descendant of the Van Helsing character from Bram Stoker’s novel, who has been storing the body of Count Dracula (Gerard Butler). Characters played by Omar Epps and Jennifer Esposito lead to the awakening of Dracula, and horror ensues. Reviews were poor. Dracula 2000 opened at #7 with $8.6 million from 2,204 theaters and eventually earned $33 million. Two direct-to-video sequels followed in 2003 and 2005.
Finding Forrester
This drama stars Rob Brown as an African-American teen who befriends a reclusive renowned writer, played by Sean Connery. F. Murray Abraham plays the antagonist who accuses Brown’s character of plagiarism in school. Reviews were good. Finding Forrester opened in 18 theaters this weekend and expanded to wide release on January 12th, eventually earning $51.8 million.
State and Main
This David Mamet comedy is about the filming of a movie called The Old Mill in a small Vermont town. Alec Baldwin and Sarah Jessica Parker play spoiled actors, William H. Macy plays the director, and Philip Seymour Hoffman plays the screenwriter. This film provided two of my favorite lines of the year: “So, that happened,” after Baldwin emerges from a wild car crash, and “Everybody needs a hobby,” in reference to his vices. Julia Stiles is also featured in one of her three movies that year. State and Main opened in 72 theaters this weekend, expanded to over 400 in January, and eventually earned $6.9 million.
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
This adventure from the Coen brothers and inspired by Homer’s Odyssey stars George Clooney, John Turturro, and Tim Blake Nelson as chain gang convicts in the South during the Great Depression. The trio escapes and runs into the Klu Klux Klan, con men and gangsters, and becomes a musical hit known as the Soggy Bottom Boys as Clooney’s character tries to reconcile with his wife, played by Holly Hunter. An important element in the movie was the bluegrass and folk music featured throughout. The soundtrack won a Grammy award Album of the Year and spawned the Down from the Mountain concert tour featuring the artists who contributed to the movie. The film received great reviews and received Oscar nominations for Best Screenplay and Best Cinematography. Clooney won a Golden Globe for his role. O Brother, Where Art Thou? opened in five theaters this weekend (with a $39,020 average) and expanded to over 800 by February, eventually earning $45 million overall.
In very limited release Malena and Before Night Falls opened this weekend. Malena, starring Monica Bellucci, went on to earn $3.4 million and Oscar nominations for Best Cinematography and Best Original Score. Before Night Falls earned Javier Bardem his first Oscar nomination for Best Actor, and eventually earned $4.2 million.
Thirteen Days
Kevin Costner stars as Kenneth O’Donnell, special assistant to President John F. Kennedy (played by Bruce Greenwood) in this drama surrounding the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. Reviews were good, but audiences just didn’t show much interest for this $80 million project. Thirteen Days opened in eight theaters this weekend and expanded to wide release on January 12th, eventually earning a total of $35.5 million.
The Gift
Co-written by Billy Bob Thornton and directed by Sam Raimi, this supernatural thriller features Cate Blanchett as a fortune teller who has a vision about a murder. J.K. Simmons, Giovanni Ribisi, Keanu Reeves, Katie Holmes, Greg Kinnear, and Hilary Swank co-star. Reviews were decent. The Gift opened in three theaters this weekend and expanded to 800 in January, eventually grossing $12 million.
20 years ago - December 22, 1995
This weekend saw seven new wide release movies come to theaters. How did the theater marquees manage to list them all??
Waiting to Exhale
This romance stars Whitney Houston, Angela Bassett, Lela Rochon, and Loretta Devine as friends seeking long-term relationships with men. This was Forest Whitaker’s first time as a director. Reviews were only moderately good, but the film became a big hit with audiences. In addition to the film, the soundtrack, with songs performed solely by African-American women, also became a huge hit. Within a year, the soundtrack album had sold 7 million copies and had held the #1 spot on the Billboard 200 chart for five straight weeks. The album earned 11 Grammy nominations and a win for Best R&B Song (“Exhale (Shoop Shoop)”). Waiting to Exhale was the movie to knock off Toy Story from the top, opening at #1 with $14.1 million from 1,253 theaters. Running through February it took in a total of $67 million.
Grumpier Old Men
This comedy sequel comes two years after the first. With Ann-Margret having married Jack Lemmon in the first movie, Walter Matthau now gets a flame to focus on in the form of Sophia Loren. Daryl Hannah and Kevin Pollak co-star, along with Burgess Meredith in his final film role. Reviews were not as kind as for the first movie, but the box office managed to keep pace just the same. Grumpier Old Men opened at #4 with $7.7 million from 1,995 theaters and grossed $71 million.
Sudden Death
Jean-Claude Van Damme stars in this action thriller as a firefighter who discovers an imminent terrorist attack during the Stanley Cup NHL Championship final game between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Chicago Blackhawks. Powers Boothe plays an antagonist. One of Van Damme’s few films to deal with terrorism, this one was released the same year as Die Hard 3. Reviews were fair. Sudden Death opened at #8 with $4.7 million from 1,681 theaters. Its final gross of $20.3 million wasn’t quite at the level of his hits like Hard Target and Universal Soldier a few years prior, but it did benefit from more than double that box office from foreign markets, for a worldwide total of $64 million.
Tom and Huck
This family-friendly adventure stars Jonathan Taylor Thomas and Brad Renfro in an adaptation of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Reviews were poor. Tom and Huck opened at #9 with $3.2 million from 1,609 theaters, and earned a healthy $23.9 million overall.
Dracula: Dead and Loving It
Following his successes as Detective Frank Drebin in the Naked Gun movies, Leslie Nielsen took on some other spoof roles, such as this one from director Mel Brooks (his last directorial effort so far). Nielsen plays Dracula, Brooks plays Dr. Van Helsing, and Peter MacNicol and Steven Weber co-star. Reviews were lousy. Dead and Loving It opened at #10 with $2.7 million from 1,425 theaters and grossed $10.7 million overall.
Cutthroat Island
Renny Harlin directs his wife, Geena Davis, in this 17th century pirate adventure. Matthew Modine and Frank Langella co-star. Reviews were mostly negative, and Harlin received a Razzie award nomination for Worst Director. Cutthroat Island opened at #11 with $2.3 million from 1,619 theaters and went on to gross $10 million. The difference between box office gross and the film’s budget (over $100 million) was so large that for a time it was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the film with the largest financial loss. Harlin again directed Davis the following year in The Long Kiss Goodnight, which did better at the box office but effectively marked the end of her run as a lead movie star.
Nixon
Anthony Hopkins portrays President Richard Nixon in Oliver Stone’s three-and-a-half-hour biopic. A large cast includes Joan Allen, James Woods, Mary Steenburgen, Ed Harris, and Bob Hoskins. Reviews were mixed, but the film earned Oscar nominations for Best Actor (Hopkins), Supporting Actress (Allen), Music, and Screenplay. Nixon opened at #13 with $2.2 million from 517 theaters this weekend and expanded to a peak of 977 theaters in January, earning a total of $13.6 million. This was significantly less than Stone’s previous presidential pic earned; JFK had a total gross of $70 million after its Christmas 1991 release.
Balto
This animated adventure from Universal Pictures tells the story of the lead sled dog who helped save Nome, Alaska from a diphtheria outbreak in 1925. Kevin Bacon provides the main voice, with Bob Hoskins, Bridget Fonda, and Phil Collins providing some of the other animal voices. The film received decent reviews as a recommendation for family viewing. Balto opened at #15 with $1.5 million from 1,427 theaters and earned $11.3 million overall. Two direct-to-video sequels followed in 2002 and 2004.
Four Rooms
This comedy takes place in a hotel but uses four different directors to tell four different stories. Most attention was given to the involvement of Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez, as well as actors Tim Roth and Antonio Banderas. The film received poor reviews and Madonna won the Razzie award for Worst Supporting Actress. Four Rooms opened at 280 theaters this weekend and eventually earned $4.2 million in limited release.
25 years ago - December 21, 1990
Kindergarten Cop
The second movie for Arnold Schwarzenegger in 1990 (after Total Recall) has him going undercover as a substitute teacher in order to find identify the child of a drug dealer about to go on trial. Penelope Ann Miller plays a fellow teacher who helps Det. John Kimble learn how to effectively (and appropriately) corral the kids. After years of violent action films, Schwarzenegger started to transition to more family-friendly fare with Twins in 1990. As with most Schwarzenegger films, this one had a few memorable one-liners, such as when he roars “It’s not a tumor!!” when one of the kids tries to diagnose his stress headache. Kindergarten Cop opened at #2 behind Home Alone (still cruising along at #1 in its sixth week) with $11.2 million from 1,833 theaters. It went on to become the third highest grossing film of Schwarzenegger’s career to date, and a top 10 grossing film for the year.
The Russia House
Sean Connery stars in the adaptation of John le Carre’s spy novel about a British publisher who is recruited to become a spy for MI6 and the CIA in order to turn a Soviet nuclear scientist. Michelle Pfeiffer co-stars as a Soviet woman who helps and becomes Connery’s romantic interest (Connery was 60 during filming while Pfeiffer was 32). Klaus Maria Brandauer, James Fox, and Roy Scheider also co-star. The Russia House was filmed and released just as Germany was reunifying and the Soviet Union was dissolving. Reviews were good, but this was a murky, R-rated release. The Russia House opened at #7 with $4.4 million from 717 theaters, and eventually earned $23 million overall.
The Bonfire of the Vanities
Tom Wolfe’s 1987 novel about New York City excess and racism in the 1980s was a bestseller and natural choice for a film adaptation. Unfortunately the big budget, R-rated comedy turned out to be a bust. Tom Hanks plays a rich Wall Street investor who is embroiled in a racial scandal after his girlfriend, played by Melanie Griffith, hits a black teen in the Bronx and flees the scene. F. Murray Abraham plays the District Attorney out to bury Hanks’s character, and Bruce Willis plays an investigative journalist who is trying to redeem himself with a big story. John Hancock plays an obvious version of Reverend Al Sharpton, who had become a high profile voice in the racially-charged cases of Bernie Goetz and Tawana Brawley. Reviews of the film were lousy, and it was nominated for Worst Picture, Director, Actress (Melanie Griffith) and Supporting Actress (Kim Cattrall) by the Golden Raspberry Awards. It bombed at the box office as well, opening at #8 with $4.2 million from 1,373 theaters and a total gross of $15.6 million - a fraction of its $47 million budget.
Almost an Angel
Paul Hogan takes a break from his Crocodile Dundee role to play a thief who has a life-after-death experience that causes him to change his ways and help out a disabled man (Elias Koteas) and his sister (Hogan’s wife and Dundee co-star, Linda Kozlowski). Reviews were not good and the film was a box office failure in its own right, and even more so compared to Hogan’s successes with Crocodile Dundee. Almost an Angel opened at #14 with $1.6 million from 1,373 theaters and only managed to gross $6.9 million overall.
Awakenings
Penny Marshall directs this drama that fictionalizes the story of British neurologist Oliver Sacks and his work on catatonic hospital patients. Robin Williams plays the doctor who awakens a patient played by Robert De Niro. Penelope Ann Miller and Julie Kavner co-star. The film drew good reviews and comparisons to Rain Man, released two years earlier. At the Oscars it was nominated for Best Picture, Screenplay, and Actor (De Niro). Awakenings opened at 12 theaters this weekend (for an average of $34,756 per site) and expanded to wide release on January 11th, eventually earning $52 million.
Hamlet
Hollywood prankster and action hero Mel Gibson gets serious and acty, playing the tormented Prince of Denmark. Glenn Close plays Gertrude, with Helena Bonham Carter as Ophelia and Ian Holm as Polonius. Reviews of Gibson’s performance and the film were positive, and it received Oscar nominations for Best Art Direction and Costume Design. Hamlet opened in four theaters this weekend and expanded to a peak of 624 in February, eventually earning $20.7 million.
30 years ago - December 20, 1985
Out of Africa
Sydney Pollack directs this post-WWI drama set in British East Africa about a woman from Denmark (Meryl Streep) who suffers from a cheating husband and develops a relationship with a big game hunter (Robert Redford). The film did not overwhelm critics but it was a huge success at the Oscars, winning Best Picture, Director, Writing, Cinematography, Art Direction, Sound, and Music, with nominations for Streep and co-star Klaus Maria Brandauer as well as for Costume and Film Editing. Out of Africa opened at #4 with $3.6 million from 922 theaters. It continued to do well through Oscar season and eventually earned $87 million, making it the 5th highest grossing movie of 1985.
Disney’s 1961 animated film 101 Dalmatians received a re-issue this weekend, taking the #7 spot with $2.3 million from 1,097 theaters.
The Color Purple
This drama based on the novel by Alice Walker stars Whoopi Goldberg (in her film debut) as a young girl in the early 20th century South, who suffers abuse from her husband, played by Danny Glover, and receives support from women played by Margaret Avery and Oprah Winfrey (also in her film debut). Steven Spielberg shifted gears to direct this film after having huge adventure and sci-fi successes with Indiana Jones and E.T. Reviews were excellent, and the film was recognized with 11 Oscar nominations for Spielberg, Goldberg, Avery, and Winfrey, as well as for Best Screenplay, Cinematography, Art Direction, Costume Design, Makeup, Song, and Music. It was also a success at the box office, starting with $1.7 million this weekend from 192 theaters and an expansion to wide release in February. Its total gross of $94 million made it the fourth highest grossing movie of the year.
Enemy Mine
This sci-fi survival story stars Dennis Quaid as a human and Louis Gossett, Jr. as an alien from a race called the Dracs. The two enemies are stranded together on a remote planet and must get past their mutual distrust of the other race in order to survive. Reviews were decent but budget overruns and a weak audience response meant the movie was doomed from day one. Enemy Mine opened at #9 with $1.5 million from 703 theaters and earned $12.3 million overall.
Brazil
This sci-fi drama from Terry Gilliam stars Jonathan Pryce as a government worker in a dystopian future who meets a woman (Kim Greist) who has appeared in his dreams. Robert De Niro, Bob Hoskins, and Michael Palin co-star. Reviews were excellent, and the film received an Oscar nomination for Gilliam’s screenplay and the Art Direction. Few audiences saw it this weekend as it was only at one theater, but it eventually earned nearly $10 million during its run.
Come back next week for another installment of Marquee History!