Marquee History
Week 34 - 2015
By Max Braden
August 21, 2015
BoxOfficeProphets.com
This week's highlights are the 15th anniversary of Bring It On and the 30th anniversary of Better Off Dead.
Here are the movies that premiered on theater marquees this week...
10 years ago - August 26, 2005
The Brothers Grimm
Matt Damon and Heath Ledger star as the famous brothers who are initially con men until they actually encounter the supernatural. Production struggled from financing to shoot to editing, resulting in a movie that looked interesting but received weak reviews. The Brothers Grimm opened at #2 on The 40-Year-Old Virgin’s second weekend with $15 million. It eventually earned $37 million in the U.S. and only managed to cover its $88 million budget with the help of foreign markets.
The Cave
Cole Hauser, Daniel Dae Kim, Morris Chestnut, Lena Headey, and Piper Perabo star in this spelunking horror movie. Reviews were poor and The Cave opened at #5 with $6.1 million, struggling to reach $15 million in its theatrical run. A much better cave thriller, The Descent, was released the following summer.
Undiscovered
This aspiring-performer drama from music video director Meiert Avis has basically one claim to fame: reviews were so bad that after opening in moderate release with only $676,048 (a paltry $518 per site average), the movie shed over five hundred screens and only brought in $91,748 for its second weekend - an 86% drop. Pop star Ashlee Simpson earned a Razzie Award nomination for her role.
15 years ago - August 25, 2000
Bring It On
Before Pitch Perfect, before Stomp the Yard, before Step Up, and even before Save the Last Dance (but, okay, years after Rappin’), Bring It On was a hybrid of high school comedy, sports drama, and team dance off. Kristen Dunst leads a cheerleading team as they face off against rivals led by Gabrielle Union. This was the first directorial effort by Peyton Reed (who has gone on to direct other notable films like 2015’s Ant Man). Bring It On opened at #1 and would stay there for three weeks. It earned a strong $17 million opening and $68 million domestically. Its success spawned four DVD sequels within the decade and even a Broadway musical in 2011.
The Art of War
Wesley Snipes stars in this action film as a secret agent for the United Nations. Anne Archer plays his boss and Donald Sutherland plays the UN Secretary-General. Reviews were poor but The Art of War did manage to open at #2 with $10.4 million. Ultimately, though, its $30 million gross fell far short of the movie’s $60 million budget. Snipes would star in a sequel eight years later.
The Crew
With Clint Eastwood’s old-guys-in-space movie Space Cowboys still only a few weeks into release, Richard Dreyfuss, Burt Reynolds, Dan Hedaya, and Seymour Cassel star in this old-guys-in-crime comedy. Reviews were poor and The Crew opened at #8 on 1,510 screens with $4 million for the weekend. It only earned $13 million in its run versus the $90 million earned by Space Cowboys. You know what they say: crime doesn’t pay.
20 years ago - August 25, 1995
Desperado
The sequel to director Robert Rodriguez’s 1992 film El Mariachi stars Antonio Banderas as the mariachi out for revenge. Salma Hayek plays the woman who helps him. The first movie was produced independently for $7,000 with a largely unknown cast speaking Spanish, while this sequel was given a $7 million budget and shot in English. Reviews were good and Desperado opened at #2 behind Mortal Kombat with $7.9 million. It went on to earn $25 million and its success helped Rodriguez finish his Mexican trilogy with Once Upon a Time in Mexico in 2003.
Lord of Illusions
Scott Bakula stars in this horror movie as occult detective Harry D’Amour, from Clive Barker’s stories. To date, this is the last film that Clive Barker directed. Reviews were decent and Lord of Illusions opened at #5 with $4.8 million, eventually earning $13.2 million.
The Amazing Panda Adventure
Child actor Ryan Slater plays an American boy who visits China and ends up rescuing a panda from poachers in this family-friendly adventure. Reviews were okay but The Amazing Panda Adventure failed to draw an audience, earning just $2.4 million in wide release. Ultimately it earned $7.5 million.
Beyond Rangoon
Patricia Arquette plays a tourist caught up in the 1988 uprising in Burma in this drama from director John Boorman. Reviews were mixed. On 802 screens, Beyond Rangoon earned $2 million for the weekend and $5.7 million overall.
The Show
The Show is a documentary narrated by Russell Simmons and covering a multitude of hip hop performers. The soundtrack to the film peaked at #4 on the Billboard 200 chart. The Show opened well in limited release, earning $1.4 million on 336 screens and $2.7 million overall.
Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde
Tim Daly stars in this comedy set in contemporary times, about a perfume chemist who accidentally transforms himself into a woman, portrayed by Sean Young. Together they received a Razzie Award nomination for Worst Screen Couple. Fortunately for Daly, he had the TV series Wings to fall back on. Dr. Jekyll and Ms Hyde opened in limited release and finished its run with $2.7 million.
25 years ago - August 24, 1990
Darkman
Darkman is an interesting case of a comic-book hero that wasn’t based on an established comic book. Evil Dead writer Sam Raimi wrote the screenplay and also directed. Liam Neeson stars as a scientist left for dead who returns with superhuman strength with no sensitivity to pain. Frances McDormand plays his love interest. Neeson spends most of the movie under facial bandages but did earn a Saturn Award nomination. Good reviews helped Darkman edge out Ghost for the #1 spot with $11.2 million at 1,786 theaters and a total gross of $33 million.
Men at Work
Brothers Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez play garbage men who get caught up in this accidental crime comedy, with Keith David. Emilio Estevez wrote and directed the film. Reviews were poor and Men at Work opened at #7 with $3.1 million at 962 theaters. It eventually grossed $16.2 million.
The Witches
Based on the book by Roald Dahl and produced by Jim Henson, The Witches stars Jasen Fisher as boy who discovers the presence of witches who want to destroy children. Anjelica Huston plays lead witch. Henson died before the film was released and Dahl followed in November. The movie received very good reviews and earned five Saturn Award nominations. The Witches opened at #10 in moderately wide release with $2.2 million and went on to earn $10.3 million.
Delta Force 2: Operation Stranglehold
That’s right, Chuck Norris was still kicking butt in the ‘90s! This sequel to 1986’s The Delta Force pits Maj. Scott McCoy up against Colombian drug lords. Reviews were negative and the movie failed to open in the top 10 with $1.8 million in moderately wide release. The movie grossed $6.6 million and although there was another sequel, Norris declined to appear in it as he transitioned to television with Walker: Texas Ranger in 1993.
Pump Up the Volume
Similar in theme to Heathers two years earlier, Pump Up the Volume features Christian Slater as a chain smoking, mad as hell high school student who broadcasts on a pirate radio station to criticize the stigma of teen depression and suicide. Samantha Mathis plays the girl who finds him out. Reviews were good and the movie received four nominations at the Independent Spirit Awards. Pump Up the Volume earned $1.6 million at 799 theaters and went on to gross $11.5 million.
After Dark, My Sweet
Jason Patric and Rachel Ward star in this passionate crime thriller with Bruce Dern, based on the novel by Jim Thompson. Reviews were good but the movie only opened on 30 screens and stayed in limited release, earning $2.6 million overall.
30 years ago - August 23, 1985
Teen Wolf
Teen Wolf stars Michael J. Fox as a high school basketball player who can’t seem to win in this comedy. Reluctantly hiding his double identity as a werewolf, he then turns it to his advantage to take down his jock rival and win the girl who’s been right in front of him the whole time. Teen Wolf didn’t win the weekend, but opening at #2 isn’t so bad when you’re also starring in the #1 movie; Back to the Future led the box office in its eighth weekend. Teen Wolf opened to mixed reviews and $6.1 million, going on to earn $30 million. A month later Fox would continue starring as Alex P. Keaton in the fourth season of Family Ties.
Godzilla 1985
Japanese film house Toho released the first Godzilla movie way back in 1954, which was edited into an American version starring Raymond Burr and titled Godzilla, King of the Monsters! In 1984 Toho produced a sequel called The Return of Godzilla, and again it was edited as an American sequel to King of the Monsters with Raymond Burr inserted to reprise his original role. The movie touches on the issue of nuclear arsenals, with the American edit depicting U.S. forces more favorably than in the Japanese version. The movie suffered poor reviews and Raymond Burr was nominated for a Razzie Award. Godzilla 1985 had a limited opening at 235 sites and went on to earn $4.1 million in the U.S. It would be another 15 years before another Japanese-produced Godzilla film was released in the U.S.
Better Off Dead...
I like Teen Wolf and Michael J. Fox plenty, but as an '80s fan my pick this weekend is Better Off Dead. John Cusack stars as Lane Myer, a high school guy depressed over losing his girlfriend to the school jock (Aaron Dozier in his only feature film). He’s eventually turned around by a French exchange student (Diane Franklin, who might be as well known for Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure in 1989) who helps him restore his 1967 Camaro and prove he’s the better skier to his nemesis. I’m sensing a common theme this week. Cusack and director Savage Steve Holland even worked together again the following year on One Crazy Summer. The movie features a flirty/working montage to Howard Jones’s “Like to Get to Know You Well” as well as a daydream stop-motion sequence with an animated hamburger dancing to “Everybody Wants Some” by Van Halen. Oh yes, and Lane plays the sax. I'm laughing again recalling some of the movie's dialogue, and that Camaro... Better Off Dead opened on only 13 screens in August and then expanded to a wide release at 650 sites in October, for an eventual total gross of $10.2 million.
Come back next week for another installment of Marquee History!