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30 years ago - November 1, 1985

Death Wish 3
Charles Bronson returns as Paul Kersey in the vigilante role he launched in 1974 (based on the 1972 novel by Brian Garfield). In this third installment, Kersey moves back to Brooklyn after his daughter was killed in Los Angeles and takes on a local gang. Critics were less and less impressed with the series as it went on, but audiences still made it #1 for the weekend. Death Wish 3 opened with $5.3 million at 1,460 sites, taking down Jagged Edge in its fifth week. Its $16.1 million gross matched that of Death Wish II and made it profitable. While Bronson was nearly a decade older than Clint Eastwood, who started the similarly themed Dirty Harry around the same time as Death Wish, Bronson returned for Death Wish 4 in 1987 and Death Wish V in 1994.

To Live and Die in L.A.
Another crime-action film this weekend, this one features William Petersen as a U.S. Secret Service agent out to take down a counterfeiter played by Willem Dafoe. The French Connection director William Friedkin directed the movie, which is based on the novel by a former Secret Service agent. Initial reviews were mixed but it has kept a far better score on Rottentomatoes.com than Death Wish 3 has over the years. Perhaps the more memorable aspect of the movie was its soundtrack, composed by Wang Chung; the title song became a Billboard Hot 100 hit. To Live and Die in L.A. opened at #2 with $3.5 million at 1,135 sites. It went on to earn $17.3 million, making it profitable.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge
In 1984, Wes Craven created one of the most iconic killers in slasher movie history with Freddy Krueger, the knife-glove wielding burn victim who haunts teenagers in their sleep. That low-budget production was a hit, earning $25 million at just 380 theaters. For this sequel Wes Craven left the directing job to someone else, and features a new cast other than Robert Englund. Mark Patton plays Jesse, who is possessed by Freddy in the real world. Following a similar limited release as the first movie, Freddy’s Revenge opened at only 522 theaters and peaked at only 614 theaters in January. Freddy’s Revenge opened at #4 with $2.8 million and eventually earned $30 million in the U.S., well above its budget. Wes Craven returned for the third Nightmare movie, released in 1987, and the series continued with more sequels and a Friday the 13th crossover, as well as a remake of the original in 2010.


Come back next week for another installment of Marquee History!

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