Marquee History
Weeks 28-29, 2016
By Max Braden
July 19, 2016
BoxOfficeProphets.com
This edition features the 20th anniversary of Trainspotting, 25th anniversary of Boyz n the Hood and Point Break, and 30th anniversary of Aliens.
Here are the movies that premiered on theater marquees this week...
10 years ago
Little Man - July 14, 2006
This Wayans Brothers comedy stars Shawn Wayans and Kerry Washington as an unsuspecting couple who adopt a baby-sized thief played by a cgi-shrunken Marlon Wayans. While Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest held #1 for its second week, Little Man opened at #2 with $21.6 million from 2,533 theaters. That was a slightly better opening than the Wayans comedy White Chicks two years earlier, but Little Man earned less in the long run with a domestic total of $58 million.
You, Me, and Dupree - July 14, 2006
This comedy stars Matt Dillon and Kate Hudson as a newly married couple whose work life and home life is disrupted by Owen Wilson’s well-meaning but bumbling friend, Randy Dupree. Dupree was close behind Little Man at #3 with $21.5 million, which was probably fan memory of Wedding Crashers the previous summer outweighing weak reviews. The film earned $75 million domestically.
Monster House - July 21, 2006
This family-friendly CGI thriller from producers Robert Zemeckis and Steven Spielberg features a trio of kids who face off against a haunted house in their neighborhood. Pirates of the Caribbean was #1 again in its third weekend with $35 million, but good reviews helped Monster House land at #2 with $22.2 million. It eventually earned $75 million as well as an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature.
Lady in the Water - July 21, 2006
Four films after the blockbuster success and thrills of The Sixth Sense, audience support of director M. Night Shyamalan started to wane. The Village star Bryce Dallas Howard stars in this fantasy as a water-born creature (named “Story”) in the pool of Paul Giamatti’s writer character. Other characters with on-the-nose names represent traditional elements of story craft. Reviews were poor, and weak audience response put Lady in the Water at #3 with $18 million. Its opening weekend and total of $42 million remain the weakest box office performance numbers of Shyamalan’s career as of 2016.
Clerks II - July 21, 2006
It took a while, but writer/director Kevin Smith finally made a sequel to the 1994 low-budget popular comedy that began his career. Dante Hicks and Randal Graves return (with Jay and Silent Bob), this time as workers at Mooby’s fast food restaurant. Rosario Dawson co-stars as their manager. As in the first movie, the characters debate topics like sex and work and Stars Wars vs. Lord of the Rings fanboys, to comedic and vulgar effect. Unlike the first film, this one is in color. Clerks II opened at #6 with $10 million (triple the total gross of the first film) and went on to earn $24 million.
My Super-Ex Girlfriend - July 21, 2006
Ivan Reitman’s light comedy stars Luke Wilson as a regular guy whose relationship with co-worker Anna Faris is disrupted by his super jealous ex, who is a superhero named G-Girl. My Super Ex opened at #7 with $8.6 million and went on to earn a not-so-super $22.5 million. As of 2016 that’s the weakest box office performance of Reitman’s career.
Also in limited release: Parker Posey in The OH in Ohio, Depardieu and Deneuve in Changing Times, Edward Burns in The Groomsmen, Nikki Reed in Mini’s First Time, and Cuba Gooding Jr. in Shadowboxer.
15 years ago
Legally Blonde - July 13, 2001
Reese Witherspoon had her first big hit with this comedy in which she plays a not-as-dim-as-you-expected sorority girl who becomes a lawyer. Luke Wilson, Jennifer Coolidge, and Selma Blair co-star. Great reviews and audience response helped Legally Blonde grab the #1 spot with $20.3 million from 2,620 theaters. A $96 million gross plus Golden Globe nominations for the comedy and Witherspoon led to a sequel in 2003 and a stage musical in 2007.
The Score - July 13, 2001
Robert DeNiro, Edward Norton, and Marlon Brando star in this serious double-cross heist film from traditionally-comedic director Frank Oz. Reviews were good, though this film doesn’t rate among classics like The Godfather, Heat, and Ronin. The Score opened at #2 with $19 million and earned a solid $71 million domestically.
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within - July 13, 2001
This CGI thriller based on the many-sequeled Nintendo/Playstation video game series featured character Aki Ross and some remarkable photorealistic animation, which required a hefty budget of $137 million. The film opened at #4 with $11.4 million and only made $85 million worldwide, making it a financial failure despite decent critical and audience reviews. To date, the video game franchise continues with the 15th entry set for 2016 release along with an expected fall theatrical release of the related film Kingsglaive.
Jurassic Park III - July 20, 2001
Four years after The Lost World, Sam Neill and Laura Dern return with William H. Macy and Tea Leoni as a couple searching for their son on the abandoned island, where they face off against a Spinosaurus and flying Pteranodons. The Joe Johnston-directed film received weaker reviews than Spielberg’s first two entries, and though Jurassic Park III was a top ten box office hit for the year, it’s the lowest-performing entry in the series. Jurassic Park II opened at #1 with $50 million from 3,434 theaters and earned $181 million domestically as part of a $386 million worldwide total.
America’s Sweethearts - July 20, 2001
This comedy from director Joe Roth stars Billy Crystal as a publicist trying to promote an estranged power-couple played by Catherine Zeta-Jones and John Cusack. Julia Roberts plays the overlooked sister of Zeta-Jones’s character. For Crystal, this was a second recent box office hit following Analyze This and he would be a featured voice in Monsters, Inc. later in the year. America’s Sweethearts opened at #2 with $30.1 million and earned a total of $93 million.
Also in limited release: Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn in Made, John Cameron Mitchell’s Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Scarlett Johansson in Ghost World, and Omar Epps in Brother.
20 years ago
Courage Under Fire - July 12, 1996
Denzel Washington stars in this military drama retelling the complicated case of a Medal of Honor candidate played by Meg Ryan. Matt Damon has a supporting role for which he lost a dramatic amount of weight to portray a heroin-addicted veteran. With Independence Day holding #1 in its second weekend, and Phenomenon moving back up to #2, Courage Under Fire took the #3 spot from The Nutty Professor with $12.5 million and grossed $59 million.
Harriet the Spy - July 12, 1996
The Adventures of Pete & Pete co-star Michelle Trachtenberg, then 10-years-old, had her first lead film role as the young writer and snoop, based on the 1964 children’s novel. Reviews were mixed but Trachtenberg and Vanessa Lee Chester won Young Artist Awards for their roles, and co-star Rosie O’Donnell won the year’s Kids’ Choice Awards for Favorite Movie Actress. Harriet opened at #5 with $6.6 million and managed to earn $26.5 million overall.
The Frighteners - July 19, 1996
This R-rated horror comedy from director Peter Jackson stars Michael J. Fox as a widower who can see ghosts and uses them in a Ghostbusters-like con to make money from "haunted" customers, but then runs into trouble with the Grim Reaper killing people. Notable for its large amount of special effects, The Frighteners led a batch of new films that couldn’t unseat the holdovers, and opened at #5 with $5.5 million from 1,669 theaters. It brought in a gross of $16.7 million domestically.
Fled - July 19, 1996
Stephen Baldwin and Laurence Fishburne star as escaped prison inmates who are stuck shackled together and are pursued by federal agents and local detective Will Patton. Fled opened at #6 with $5.4 million and took in $17.1 million.
Multiplicity - July 19, 1996
This comedy from director Harold Ramis stars Michael Keaton who creates clones of himself as a way to alleviate his workload and enjoy life with his wife, played by Andie MacDowell. The three clones display various personality differences and eventually cause problems. Multiplicity opened at #7 with $5 million and earned $21 million against a significantly larger budget.
Kazaam - July 19, 1996
Shaq stars as a genie in contemporary Brooklyn who helps out a kid played by Francis Capra. Remember when Shaq released his own rap album? He contributes to this movie’s soundtrack as well. If it didn’t hurt, it certainly didn’t help; Kazaam opened at #8 with $5 million and earned $18.9 million. Fortunately, Shaq had another career to fall back on: The same summer, he won a gold medal at the Summer Olympics in Atlanta and accepted a $121 million contract to play for the Lakers.
Trainspotting - July 19, 1996
Though this film only opened at 19 theaters and peaked at fewer than 400, Trainspotting is significant for bringing director Danny Boyle and Scottish actor Ewan McGregor to the attention of American audiences. Both had worked together on Shallow Grave the year before, but Trainspotting was nominated for an Oscar for writing - by John Hodge, who won the BAFTA award. The MTV Awards nominated McGregor for Best Breakthrough Performance in his role as Mark Renton, a heroin addict trying to quit amidst friends who use and suffer prison or HIV. Trainspotting earned $16.4 million in the U.S., and Boyle and McGregor worked together again for A Life Less Ordinary in 1997.
25 years ago
Boyz n the Hood - July 12, 1991
This film was notable for both launching multiple film careers and for its race relations, gangs, and youth culture in California during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Cuba Gooding Jr. has his first starring role as teenager in Crenshaw named Tre Styles, N.W.A. rapper Ice Cube has his first film role as Doughboy, and Morris Chestnut makes his film debut as Ricky. And for John Singleton’s first film, he received Oscar nominations for Best Director (the youngest ever at 23, and first African-American) and Best Writing. Reviews were excellent and audiences made Boyz n the Hood #3 (behind Terminator 2 in its second weekend, and 101 Dalmatians in re-release) for the weekend with $10 million from just 829 theaters, the second-highest per-theater average for a wide release film that year. It went on to earn $55 million on a small budget.
Point Break - July 12, 1991
Though typical of the late 1980s/early 1990s action genre, Point Break has had longevity to the point that it was referenced heavily in 2007’s Hot Fuzz and was remade in 2015. Keanu Reeves stars as former football quarterback and new FBI agent Johnny Utah, who goes undercover to take down a thrill-seeking group of surfer-bank thieves called the Ex-Presidents, led by Patrick Swayze’s character, Bohdi. Big waves, big talk, and skydiving sequences made for an instant classic. Point Break opened at #4 with $8.5 million and went on to earn $43 million.
Regarding Henry - July 12, 1991
Harrison Ford wasn’t always the action hero in the 1980s, taking on more personal roles in Witness, The Mosquito Coast, and Presumed Innocent. Here he plays a lawyer and shooting victim who struggles to regain his mobility, speech, and relationship with his wife, played by Annette Bening. The quieter pace and release pattern led to quieter box office, with Regarding Henry opening at #7 with $6.1 million from 800 theaters and $43 million from a peak of just over 1,000 theaters.
Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey - July 19, 1991
Time travelers Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves return as William “Bill” S. Preston and Ted “Theodore” Logan in a surreal trip to the afterlife where they battle robot duplicates of themselves and Death in various board games for a chance to get back to the real world. It may have not been as memorable as Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, but it did manage to nearly match the box office total of the first film. This sequel opened at #2 behind Terminator 2 in its third weekend, with $10.2 million from 1,620 theaters (matching T2’s per-theater average), and grossed a total of $38 million. Word about a third entry in the series has been on and off for years.
Dutch - July 19, 1991
Dutch is one of my favorite overlooked John Hughes-written comedies. Married...With Children star Ed O’Neill stars as a working class guy who is dating a wealthy divorced mother (JoBeth Williams) and offers to transport her son Doyle (Ethan Embry) from school back home for Thanksgiving. Their road trip suffers mishaps and mutual dislike but warms with comedy and life lessons. Dutch opened at #10 with $1.8 million and made only $4.6 million. But the critics called this one wrongly, I think, because it’s still funny and worth a look for Hughes fans.
30 years ago
Club Paradise - July 11, 1986
This Harold Ramis comedy stars Robin Williams as a former Chicago firefighter who starts a resort on a Caribbean island that is the point of a military takeover. As he puts it sarcastically: “Fun with guns in the sun!” Peter O’Toole, Rick Moranis, Jimmy Cliff, Twiggy, and others co-star. With Karate Kid 2 and weeks-old (or months, in the case of Top Gun) holdovers still dominating the top of the box office, Club Paradise opened at #5 with $4.1 million from 1,172 theaters and earned $12.3 million overall, far short of other Ramis comedies like Caddyshack, Vacation, and Groundhog Day.
Aliens - July 18, 1986
Released seven years after the first Alien, this sequel took on a notably different style from Ridley Scott’s slower-paced nail-biter. The Terminator director James Cameron took the sci-fi and horror of the first film and made it into an outright action genre film. Michael Biehn leads a team of space Marines on a mission to secure any aliens for possible military technology use by the Weyland-Yutani Corporation under the lead of Paul Reiser’s character, Burke. Where in the first film Sigourney Weaver had been struggling just to survive, in this film she acts as protector of young survivor Newt, and elevates Ripley to one of the most badass action heroines of the genre. Newt has few lines but a memorable one with “They mostly come out at night… mostly.” in the same scene as Bill Paxton’s outburst, “That’s it, man! Game over, man! Game over!” Aliens finally took down The Karate Kid Part II for the #1 spot with $10 million from 1,437 theaters and eventually earned $85 million (seventh best for the year) and seven Oscar nominations with two wins (Visual Effects and Sound Editing, along with Actress, Editing, Art Direction, Sound, and Original Score). This was the best box office performance of the series, which included two more appearances for Weaver, plus two crossovers with Predator, before Ridley Scott returned to direct the prequel Prometheus in 2012.
35 years ago
Escape from New York - July 10, 1981
Kurt Russell stars as Special Forces convict “Snake” Plissken in futuristic 1997, coerced into saving the U.S. President, who is stranded in the walled off prison of Manhattan. Ernest Borgnine, Donald Pleasence, Adrienne Barbeau, and Isaac Hayes (as The Duke of New York City) co-star in this action thriller from John Carpenter. Escape from New York earned $25 million in the U.S. and brought back Russell 15 years later for the sequel Escape from L.A.
The Fox and the Hound - July 10, 1981
Yet another lovely animated adventure from Disney features the lifelong friendship of two animals that would normally be enemies. Mickey Rooney voices Tod the fox, and Kurt Russell voices the adult Copper the hound (Corey Feldman provided the voice for hound as a puppy), with Pearl Bailey, Jack Albertson (Grandpa Joe in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory) and Sandy Duncan providing other voices. The Fox and the Hound grossed $40 million during its first run and was re-released in 1988. A sequel was released to video in 2006.
Arthur - July 17, 1981
Dudley Moore stars as a lovable millionaire alcoholic named Arthur Bach who is engaged to marry a wealthy woman played by Jill Eikenberry but starts falling for Liza Minnelli’s working class character through a random encounter. John Gielgud co-stars as Arthur’s butler, Hobson. Arthur grossed $96 million - the fourth highest of the year’s releases - on just a $7 million budget, and earned Oscars for Gielgud and the Burt Bacharach/Christopher Cross theme song “Best That You Can Do” in addition to nominations for Moore and Steve Gordon’s screenplay. Moore, Minnelli, and Gielgud returned in 1988 for the sequel, and Russell Brand starred in the 2011 remake; neither was as successful as the first film.
Come back next week for another installment of Marquee History!