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20 years ago

The Rock - June 7, 1996
Director Michael Bay’s second film is arguably his best for its non-stop action. Nicolas Cage stars as a chemical weapons scientist who is teamed up with the only man who ever escaped from Alcatraz (the “Rock”) in order to secure a weaponized nerve agent held on the island by a group of Marines led by Ed Harris. The film features one of the more exciting car chases of modern cinema, with Connery in a Hummer and Cage in a Ferrari crashing through traffic down the hills of San Francisco. Critics and fans gave the film positive reviews; Cage and Connery won Best On-Screen Duo at the next MTV Movie Awards, and the film received an Oscar nomination for Best Sound. For Connery, this was the second-highest grossing movie of his career (not adjusted for inflation) behind Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. For Cage it was the first of a trio of blockbusters which included Con Air and Face/Off the following year. The Rock opened at #1 with $25.0 million and brought in a total of $134 million in the U.S.

Dragonheart - May 31, 1996
The Rock was released a week after Dragonheart, which also featured Sean Connery, albeit as the voice of a computer-generated dragon. Dennis Quaid stars in a live-action role as a medieval knight who builds a reputation as a dragonslayer but partners with the dragon Draco (Connery). David Thewlis plays a corrupted king who shares half of the heart of the dragon. The tone of the film is more lighthearted than Disney’s Dragonslayer from 1981. Dragonheart opened at #3 with $15.0 million and then held box office position #4 for the weekend of June 7th, eventually grossing $51 million.

Eddie - May 31, 1996
This basketball comedy stars Whoopi Goldberg as the New York Knicks’s biggest fan. As part of a contest she becomes the team’s coach and works with the players’ personalities in order to get them to the NBA playoffs. Frank Langella and Dennis Farina co-star, with lots of cameo roles from real NBA players and New Yorker celebrities. Reviews were poor and Goldberg was later nominated for a Razzie Award. Coincidentally or not, 1996 turned out to be the last year for Whoopi in lead film roles. Eddie opened at #4 with $8.0 million and dropped to #5 for the weekend of the 7th, ultimately grossing $31.3 million.

The Phantom - June 7, 1996
Perhaps lost in the conversation about modern comic book hero movies is this adventure based on the strip from the 1930s and also set in that era. Billy Zane plays the next in a multi-generational line of heroes who take up the mask to fight crime. Treat Williams, Kristy Swanson, and Catherine Zeta-Jones co-star. Zeta-Jones was two years away from breaking through with The Mask of Zorro, and Zane would get his biggest career role in Titanic the following year. But this year, reviews were poor. The Phantom opened at #6 with $5.0 million and made only $17.3 million overall.

The Arrival - May 31, 1996
This sci-fi thriller stars Charlie Sheen as an astronomer with the SETI project who discovers an alien signal. That discovery leads to another; that aliens are on Earth masquerading as humans. Ron Silver plays the antagonist, with Teri Polo and Richard Schiff co-starring. The Arrival opened at #5 with $4.8 million and slipped to #8 for the June 7th weekend. By the time it left theaters it had only grossed $14.0 million.

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