Marquee History
Week 32 - 2015
By Max Braden
August 9, 2015
BoxOfficeProphets.com
This week's highlights are the 30th anniversary of Pee-wee's Big Adventure and one of my favorite movies of all-time, Real Genius.
Here are the movies that premiered on theater marquees this week...
10 years ago - August 12, 2005
Four Brothers
Mark Wahlberg, Tyrese Gibson, Andre Benjamin, and Garrett Hedlund star as brothers from Detroit who track down the killer of their adoptive mother. Four Brothers won the weekend at #1, ahead of The Dukes of Hazzard's second weekend, with $21 million. It would go on to earn $74 million domestically, which is director John Singleton's second-best performer to date (not adjusted for inflation) behind 2 Fast 2 Furious.
The Skeleton Key
Kate Hudson, Peter Sarsgaard, John Hurt, and Gena Rowlands star in the PG-13 haunted house thriller. Critical and audience response was moderate, putting The Skeleton Key at #2 in the weekend box office with $16 million and an eventual total of $47 million.
Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo
Rob Schneider returns in the sequel to his 1999 comedy about a male prostitute. Suffering terrible reviews, European Gigolo opened at #5 with $9.6 million. It barely earned back its $22 million budget, less than a third of the gross of the first movie. Schneider won Worst Actor at the Razzie Awards where the movie was also nominated for Worst Picture, Worst Screenplay, Worst Remake or Sequel, and Worst Screen Couple.
The Great Raid
Benjamin Bratt, Sam Worthington, and James Franco star in this $80 million war film about a true-life rescue mission during WWII. Opening in limited release, reviews were mediocre, and the movie earned $3.3 million for the weekend.
Grizzly Man
Director Werner Herzog's documentary about naturalist Timothy Treadwell, who fell prey to the bears he loved, is perhaps as well known for Herzog's idiosyncratic narration as it is for the harrowing details of his subject. Reviews were excellent, and the film would win many critic's circle awards. Herzog won the Directors Guild of America award for documentaries. Grizzly Man opened in 29 theaters, at an average $9,280 per site, and eventually peaked at 105 sites with a total gross of $3.1 million.
15 years ago - August 11, 2000
The Replacements
Keanu Reeves stars as football quarterback Shane Falco in this sports/rom-com, with Gene Hackman and Brooke Langton. Reeves had a huge success with The Matrix the previous year, but The Replacements received mixed reviews and opened at #3 behind holdovers Hollow Man and Space Cowboys. The Replacements earned $11 million for its opening weekend and $44 million overall.
Autumn in New York
Richard Gere and Winona Ryder star in this tragic romance from director Joan Chen. Gere had a big success with Julia Roberts in the rom-com Runaway Bridge the previous year. Reviews for Autumn were weak. It had a better per-site average than The Replacements but fewer screens, opening at #4 with $10 million, eventually earning $37 million domestically.
Bless the Child
Kim Basinger stars in the R-rated horror based on the novel by Cathy Cash Spellman. Critics panned the movie but it managed a $9.4 million opening weekend at #7, going on to $29 million domestically.
20 years ago - August 11, 1995
Dangerous Minds
Another notable inspiring-teacher drama (after Stand and Deliver and Lean on Me in the late '80s),
Michelle Pfeiffer portrays a teacher based on the autobiography by LouAnne Johnson. Reviews were poor, but it received MTV Movie Award nominations for Best Picture, Pfeiffer, and Song ("Gangsta's Paradise" by Coolio, which won two Grammy awards). The box office success led to a TV series based on the movie that ran for the 1996-1997 season. Dangerous Minds opened at #1, taking down Waterworld, with $14 million and went on to gross $84 million.
A Walk in the Clouds
Keanu Reeves stars in this romance set post-WWII based on the 1942 Italian film Four Steps in the Clouds, with Aitana Sánchez-Gijón and Anthony Quinn. Critics seemed to love it or hate it. Maurice Jarre won the Golden Globe for the movie's musical score, but Reeves was nominated for a Worst Actor Razzie Award. A Walk in the Clouds opened at #2 with $9.5 million, eventually earning $50 million.
A Kid in King Arthur's Court
Thomas Ian Nicholas stars in this Disney time-travel adventure, based on Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. Joss Ackland costars as King Arthur, while Kate Winslet has a supporting role. Reviews and box office were poor. Opening in moderate release, it earned $4.3 million at #9.
The Brothers McMullen
Writer/Director/Actor Edward Burns's debut won the grand jury prize at the Sundance Film Festival at the beginning of the year and was picked up to be Fox Searchlight's first release, opening in seven theaters. Sarah McLachlan's song "I Will Remember You" is featured in the soundtrack (a 2000 live version of the song won a Grammy award). Made for only $28,000, The Brothers McMullen would eventually earn $10 million and is still Burns's highest rated movie on Rotten Tomatoes.
25 years ago - August 10, 1990
Flatliners
Kiefer Sutherland, Julia Roberts, William Baldwin, Oliver Platt, and Kevin Bacon star in this sci-fi thriller from Joel Schumacher. Pretty Woman, released five months earlier, was still in theaters earning a million dollars a weekend when Flatliners was released. Reviews were mixed but the movie unseated Ghost at #1 with a $10 million opening. It eventually earned $61 million domestically.
Air America
Mel Gibson and Robert Downey Jr. star in this Vietnam War era action comedy. This was Gibson's second movie of the summer and was not as successful as his rom-com with Goldie Hawn, Bird on a Wire. Reviews were poor. The movie opened at #3 with $8 million and failed to earn back its $35 million budget.
The Two Jakes
Jack Nicholson stars (with Harvey Keitel) in the sequel to 1974's Chinatown. Nicholson also directed, the third and final time he directed a movie. Reviews were decent, but nowhere near the first movie's praise. With a moderate release it opened at #7 with $3.7 million.
30 years ago - August 9, 1985
Summer Rental
John Candy stars in this comedy directed by Carl Reiner, with Karen Austin, Kerri Green, Joey Lawrence, and Rip Torn. Candy was on a good run of comedies, having appeared in Stripes, Vacation, Splash, and Brewster's Millions earlier this summer. The movie failed to unseat Back to the Future at #1, but opened with $5.7 million at 1,584 theaters. At this time, audiences would have also seen ads for Volunteers, starring Tom Hanks and Candy, opening the following week.
Pee-wee's Big Adventure
Paul Reubens had a success with his Pee-wee Herman character as a stage act and Late Night guest starting in 1981, and brought this to theaters with Phil Hartman co-writing, and Tim Burton directing his first feature. Releasing at 829 theaters, it earned $4.5 million for the #3 spot, it became an audience hit and earned $40 million domestically, leading to the Pee-wee's Playhouse TV show the next year and the sequel Big Top Pee-wee in 1988.
Real Genius
Val Kilmer's second film, after Top Secret! the previous summer, didn't make a big splash when it was released. Opening at 990 theaters, it earned $2.5 million for #7, and reviews were decent but not great. This, to me, is a travesty, because after thousands of movies I've seen over the last 35 years, Real Genius is among my top five movies ever. I didn't see it in theaters, but thanks to video I watched it enough times (along with Back to the Future) that I specifically went to college as a physics major to study lasers six years later. The movie has endured with fans, even being featured in a 2009 Mythbusters episode to test the scene in which a laser makes enough popcorn to burst a house from the inside. Also a travesty: no official soundtrack available for purchase (which featured Carmen McRae, Tonio K, Y&T, The System, The Call, The Comsat Angels, Bryan Adams, Don Henley, Chaz Jenkel, the Payolas, and the iconic Tears For Fears song "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" in addition to some neat themes by composer Thomas Newman). Watch it again and note how themes of unmanned weapons systems are still relevant in 2015. Real Genius earned $12 million during its run and gave Val Kilmer a supporting role in Top Gun the following summer.
My Science Project
Another '80s sci-fi favorite of mine (though it may not hold up in later viewings) stars John Stockwell as a high school gearhead who discovers a long buried alien time/space portal device that
allows dangers from other times to threaten his town. Dennis Hopper plays his science teacher, and
Fisher Stevens plays his buddy. Stevens has gone on to become an Academy Award winning documentary director. My Science Project opened at a thousand theaters but only earned $1.5 million for the weekend.
Come back next week for another installment of Marquee History!