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15 years ago - February 23, 2001

3000 Miles to Graceland
I can see the sense of Kurt Russell as an Elvis impersonator, but Kevin Costner? Together they’re the leaders of a crew that robs a Las Vegas casino during an Elvis convention. The heavy gunplay and heist-gone-wrong plot includes Courteney Cox as a love interest and single mom. Poor reviews were followed by Golden Raspberry Award nominations for Worst Picture, Actor (Costner and his big mutton chops), Supporting Actress, Screenplay, and Screen Couple. 3000 Miles to Graceland opened at #3 behind Hannibal and Down to Earth with $7.1 million and nosedived to a total of $15.7 million (one of the worst box office results of Costner’s career when adjusted for inflation).

Monkeybone
Brendan Fraser stars in this live-action/animated comedy as a cartoonist who falls into a coma and finds himself in the animated world of his cartoon strip, while his lead character Monkeybone takes over his body in the real world. Bridget Fonda plays his real-world love interest, with Chris Kattan featured as a co-star. This kind of comedy is bound to be hit or miss, and for the most part critics and audiences agreed that it missed the mark. Monkeybone opened at #11 with $2.6 million from 1,722 theaters and took in a total of $5.4 million. That made it the weakest performer for Fraser since 1994, but he had a big hit with The Mummy Returns less than three months later.

20 years ago - February 23, 1996

Rumble in the Bronx
Fans of Hong Kong martial arts films had long been familiar with Jackie Chan throughout the 1980s but it was this film that made him known to broader audiences in the United States. Chan plays a foreign cop visiting family in the Bronx and becomes involved in rescuing them from a local gang. His famous stunt work and fighting acrobatics helped audiences look past some major faults with the production: mountains in the background of the Canadian shooting location despite its intended setting, unimpressive English language dubbing over the Cantonese dialogue, and some laughably bad street thugs. The film was a huge hit in Hong Kong, where it was released first in 1995. For its U.S. release, Rumble in the Bronx opened at #1 over Broken Arrow with $9.8 million from 1,736 theaters. His next U.S. release was Supercop during the summer of 1996, but Rumble in the Bronx’s $32.3 million gross was Jackie Chan’s best U.S. box office performer until Rush Hour in 1998.

Before and After
Meryl Streep and Liam Neeson star in this drama based on the novel by Rosellen Brown as a couple troubled by an investigation into a hit-and-run death involving their son, played by Edward Furlong. Director Barbet Schroeder had a success with Reversal of Fortune six years earlier, but did not have a critical hit with this film. Before and After opened at #7 with $4.0 million from 1,313 theaters and grossed $8.7 million overall.

Mary Reilly
Julia Roberts stars in this historical thriller from Dangerous Liaisons director Stephen Frears, based on the novel by Valerie Martin. Mary Reilly is the assistant of Dr. Jekyll (John Malkovich) and gradually discovers his alternate identity as the murderous Mr. Hyde. Glenn Close co-stars. Reviews were poor and Roberts earned a Razzie Award nomination for her performance, along with Frears as Worst Director. Mary Reilly opened at #8 with $2.8 million from 1,470 theaters and only grossed $5.7 million during its run - the poorest wide release of Julia Roberts’s career.

Unforgettable
Ray Liotta stars in this forgettable thriller as a psychologist seeking the truth about his murdered wife. Linda Fiorentino plays a colleague who provides a drug that allows Liotta to tap into the memories of others to help his investigation. Critics dismissed the movie’s sci-fi elements. Unforgettable opened at #14 with $1.4 million from 1,573 theaters for a lousy $916 per-site average for the weekend, and only managed to gross $2.8 million overall.

Bottle Rocket
This comedy caper from Wes Anderson, Owen Wilson, and Luke Wilson originally began as a short film in 1994 and was rewritten (by Owen and Wes) as a feature (the debut for the trio) after its success at the Sundance Film Festival. Owen and Luke appear in reverse hair lengths from what we’ve become familiar. Owen plays Dignan, the big idea planner of the heist plot, and Luke plays his less enthusiastic friend Anthony. Robert Musgrave co-stars as their getaway driver, and James Caan plays another crew leader. Despite good reviews, Bottle Rocket opened at only 28 theaters this weekend and never had more than 50, resulting in a $500,000 gross against a $7 million budget. But it helped launch the careers of Anderson and the Wilsons, who worked together over multiple films.

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