Hindsight: May 1990

By Daron Aldridge

May 5, 2009

They've just realized there are no Deloreans in this era.

Eerily, Bird on a Wire's final box office tally of $71 million ($120.8 million adjusted) virtually paralleled Gibson's first go-round as Martin Riggs in Lethal Weapon, which grossed $65.2 million in 1987 ($119.7 million adjusted to 1987 dollars). Yet, Bird on a Wire didn't spawn a franchise, which is indicative to the fact this is a rather forgettable entry on either actor's filmography.

Speaking of forgettable resume entries, the number two spot was occupied by Robin Williams' Cadillac Man. The Artist Formerly Known as Mork followed up his back-to-back Oscar nominated turns in Good Morning, Vietnam and Dead Poets Society, with this R-rated comedy about a car salesman who has a bad day with his job and relationships on the line, and then, his life when Tim Robbins takes him hostage. Cadillac Man swindled $6.7 million ($11.4 million adjusted) off of moviegoers in its first weekend. It's true this isn't a stellar opening for someone who has had recent box office and critical success like Williams, but Cadillac Man would end up with $27.6 million ($47.0 million adjusted) for a 4.11 multiplier, which isn't devastating.

Here's a piece of information that is the very definition of trivial but I found it noteworthy. Similar to Alec Baldwin the previous month appearing in both The Hunt for Red October and Miami Blues but to a lesser degree, with her part in Cadillac Man and her lead in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Judith Hoag was in two top five movies. Admittedly, it would have been more impressive if anyone had ever heard from her again on the big screen. She didn't even return for the TMNT sequels.




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Pretty Woman had to settle for a third place finish but was still in spitting distance of Cadillac Man with $6.3 million ($10.7 million adjusted). More importantly for the tale of Vivian and Edward's forbidden love, Pretty Woman inched past the Tom Clancy submarine-fest to become the second highest-grossing film of the year. She was less than $5 million behind the current leader, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which claimed fourth place as Casey Jones' buddies brought home another $3.3 million ($5.6 million adjusted). Amazingly, after 52 days in theaters, TMNT still had the highest screen count of any film in release with it showing on 2,026 screens.

Finally, Tales from the Darkside was able to cling to the number five spot with $1.9 million ($3.2 million adjusted) from a 35% drop. With Memorial Day and the unquestionable start of summer on the way, Paramount had to have been pleased with Tales from the Darkside's two week tenure in the top five. Ultimately, the horror anthology would gross $16.3 million ($27.7 million adjusted) or 4.65 times its $3.5 million budget. This should be considered a definite victory for Paramount.

For the big finale that was the Memorial Day weekend of 1990, Universal wrapped up a franchise trilogy and Nicolas Cage foreshadowed future box office failures.


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