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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.

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