Hindsight: June 1990

By Daron Aldridge

No matter what you think of the man, you have to love the pimp suit.

So far, five weeks and five new tentpole films equated to five different number one finishes. There was nary a repeat box office winner since Pretty Woman at the beginning of May. Regardless, the top five was robust with two other titles pulling in over $10 million and the other debut film ending up just shy of an eight-figure opening. Second place went to Murphy's week-old sequel, Another 48 Hrs., with a decline of 45% to $10.7 million ($18.2 million adjusted) and Total Recall banked another $10.2 million ($17.4 million adjusted) for the number three spot.

The fourth slot finds a sequel that Warner Bros. waited a bit too long to release to actually capitalize on its predecessor. Gremlins 2: The New Batch could easily be filed under "Did anyone want this other than Zach Galligan's landlord?" That might be too much of an assumption since the first film made mint for Warner Bros., or $148 million against an $11 million budget in 1984. So, six years later, a sequel is finally hatched with a $50 million budget. With a debut of $9.7 million ($16.5 million adjusted) and a fourth place start, the reality must've been sinking in that this was not the brightest moment for whichever executive signed off on that budget.

Back to the Future Part III parked in the top five for the last time this weekend with a gross of $4.9 million ($8.3 million adjusted). Ultimately, this was a fair performance that befell a film that deserved more attention. I stand by the blame I assign to Part II of the series.




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If you ever thought that summer sequel-itis is a recent phenomenon, summer 1990 can dispel that notion. June 22nd saw the fourth sequel released in five weeks. Whether it was sequel fatigue or not, Robocop 2 hit theaters and failed to score a top spot finish. Dick Tracy retained its title with $15.5 million ($26.4 million adjusted) off just 31% from its opening.

The aforementioned Robocop 2 had to settle for second place with $14.1 million ($24 million adjusted). The Robocop franchise had a quicker turnaround time than Gremlins and it built on the first film's debut to boot. Surprisingly, the first Robocop banked a modest $53.4 million in 1987 but it only cost the now-defunct Orion $13 million to make, so a sequel made sense, dollar-wise. Paul Verhoeven was out as director but sequel-champion director Irvin Kirshner was in for Robocop's second episode. Yes, the man behind arguably the best of the Star Wars films – The Empire Strikes Back – directed Robocop 2. But lightning didn't exactly strike twice. It was a respectable effort that stayed true to the first film and came close to the first film's performance with round two earning $45.3 million ($77.1 million adjusted) total for an estimated budget of $14 million.

For third through fifth place: Total Recall dipped a minor 19% to $8.2 million ($14.1 million adjusted), Another 48 Hrs. earned another $7.6 million ($12.9 million adjusted), and Warner Bros. should be pleased that Gremlins 2 only slipped 27% to $7.1 million ($12.1 million adjusted). Two weeks was all Gizmo and friends could muster in the top five and it would fall short of its $50 million budget by finishing its domestic run with $41.5 million ($70.6 million adjusted). That probably explains why we haven't been subjected to Gremlins 3: Mogwai's Revenge.


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