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30 YEARS AGO

January 2, 1987
The only significant new opener this weekend was Wisdom, starring Emilio Estevez and Demi Moore as bank robbers.  Wisdom snagged less than $2 million from 788 theaters and landed at #11.  Leading the box office were holdovers The Golden Child with $6.6 million, Star Trek IV with $6.1 million, and Crocodile Dundee still earning $4.6 million after four months in theaters.

January 9, 1987
The Golden Child, Star Trek IV, and Crocodile Dundee again held the top three spots at the box office.  This weekend’s new entry was Assassination, starring Charles Bronson as a Secret Service agent along with his co-star and off-screen wife Jill Ireland.  Assassination opened at #6 with $2.7 million from 1,000 theaters (compared to 1,876 for Star Trek IV).

January 16, 1987
The first film to open at #1 this year was Critical Condition, an imposter doctor comedy starring Richard Pryor.  Critical Condition earned $5.7 million from 1,343 theaters and grossed a total of $20.2 million, a small take compared to his early 1980s peak.  Opening at #7 and #8 were The Bedroom Window and Wanted: Dead or Alive with $2.9 million each.

January 23, 1987
No new wide releases this weekend;  Critical Condition held on to #1 with $3.3 million, just ahead of Platoon, which had risen in the charts each week this month despite playing at just over 200 theaters after six weeks of release.  

January 30, 1987
Audiences continued to show strong interest in Platoon, which moved up to #1 with $8.3 million from just 590 theaters.  The odd-couple road trip comedy Outrageous Fortune, starring Bette Midler and Shelley Long, opened at #2 with $6.4 million from 1,081 theaters and stayed in the top 3 at the box office through February and March, eventually earning over $52 million.  A year ago on the same weekend, Midler’s Down and Out in Beverly Hills opened at $5.7 million and earned $62 million in total.  At #7 this weekend was the Indiana-Jones-esque adventure Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold (sequel to 1985’s King Solomon’s Mines), starring Richard Chamberlain, Sharon Stone, James Earl Jones, and Henry Silva. It took in $1.9 million - half of its eventual $3.7 million total, and a fraction of the $15 million total for King Solomon’s Mines.  Woody Allen’s nostalgic comedy Radio Days (Seth Green’s first starring role) opened at #10 with $1.5 million from 128 theaters, but it managed to bring in $14.7 million over its run at fewer than 500 sites.  It also later earned Oscar nominations for Best Original Screenplay, and Best Art Direction.  Next to Zelig, Radio Days is one of my favorites from Woody Allen - go rent it if you’ve never seen this one.

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