Marquee History
Week 36 - 2015
By Max Braden
September 5, 2015
BoxOfficeProphets.com
This week's highlights are a mix of strong and weak opening movies, and creative hits Nurse Betty and To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything! Julie Newmar.
Here are the movies that premiered on theater marquees this week...
10 years ago - September 9, 2005
The Exorcism of Emily Rose
This horror film about an exorcism gone wrong stars Jennifer Carpenter as the victim, with Laura Linney as a lawyer defending the priest played by Tom Wilkinson. Despite mostly taking place in a courtroom and some mixed reviews, the creepy flashbacks to the girl’s possession caught the attention of audiences. Carpenter later won “Best Frightened Performance” at the MTV Movie Awards. The movie outperformed April’s remake of The Amityville Horror and had the third best September opening weekend up to that year (later passed by Hotel Transylvania and Insidious Chapter 2). The Exorcism of Emily Rose opened at #1 with $30 million for the weekend and eventually went on to earn $75 million domestically, a great success over its $19 million budget.
The Man
Eugene Levy stars in this comedy as a dentist who becomes the target of an ATF agent, played by Samuel L. Jackson due to mistaken identity. Reviews were lousy. The wasn’t a good year for Levy, as he was later nominated for a Razzie Award for both this and Cheaper By the Dozen 2 at the end of the year. The Man opened at #6 on 2,040 screens with $4.0 million, and eventually earned $8.3 million overall.
An Unfinished Life
Robert Redford and Morgan Freeman play a couple of ranchers with a complicated friendship. Jennifer Lopez costars. Lasse Hallstrom directs from the novel by Mark Spragg. An Unfinished Life opened in limited release to mixed reviews, earning $1.0 million for the weekend. It expanded a week later but only drew in $8.5 million, far short of its $30 million budget.
15 years ago - September 8, 2000
The Watcher
A month after starring in the romantic comedy The Replacements, Keanu Reeves plays a serial killer in this R-rated thriller. James Spader plays an FBI agent and the killer’s target. Reviews were lousy, and Reeves later earned a Razzie nomination for Worst Supporting Actor. Audiences must have felt compelled to grab on to anything new, as the previous week’s opener Highlander: Endgame fell to #10. The Watcher opened at #1 on 2,742 screens, the weekend’s widest release, with $9 million. It eventually left theaters with $28 million.
Nurse Betty
Director Neil LaBute’s third dark comedy stars Renee Zellweger as a waitress who becomes delusional after witnessing a murder, and Morgan Freeman as a slightly less delusional hitman (who killed her husband) who becomes infatuated with her. Critics responded much more positively to this comedy than LaBute’s harsher In The Company of Men and Your Friends and Neighbors. Zellweger went on to win a Golden Globe for her performance. Nurse Betty had the best site average of the weekend, opening at #2 on 1,459 screens with $7.1 million. It eventually earned $25 million.
The Way of the Gun
Christopher McQuarrie’s followup to the success of The Usual Suspects actually took awhile, and draws inspiration from Guy Ritchie’s British crime movie Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels (with Snatch recently released in the U.K.) Ryan Phillippe and Benicio del Toro play a couple of thieves who find themselves in for more they can handle with a bag man played by James Caan. The movie at least made an impression on critics, and I remember really liking the style and dialogue. Audiences were less interested. The Way of the Gun opened at #9 on 1,515 screens with $2.1 million. It eventually earned $6 million.
Turn It Up
Rappers Pras and Ja Rule star in this drama about two rappers trying to make their way out of the rough life in Brooklyn. Jason Statham appears in his first American movie. Critics weren’t impressed by the writing or senseless violence. Turn It Up opened in limited release with a weak $872 per screen average and left theaters with $1.2 million.
Backstage
This documentary covers the Def Jam’s 1999 Hard Knock Life rap tour that featured Jay-Z, DMX, Method Man, and Redman. The soundtrack to the movie was a hit, reaching #6 on the Billboard 200 chart and #1 on the R&B/Hip-Hop charts. Backstage opened in limited release with $496,226 and earned $1.1 million overall.
20 years ago - September 8, 1995
To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar
Inspired by the highly praised 1994 Australian comedy The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, this road trip comedy covers a trip from New York to Hollywood. Wesley Snipes, Patrick Swayze, and John Leguizamo play drag queens who become stranded on their way to the “Miss Drag Queen of America Pageant.” While the movie’s release sparked discussion about mainstream straight male actors playing gay roles, critics and audiences were won over by the acting. To Wong Foo opened at #1 with $9 million on 1,294 screens and earned $36 million overall. Swayze and Leguizamo were later nominated for Golden Globe Awards.
The Tie that Binds
Keith Carradine and Daryl Hannah play a married pair of killers who want to reclaim their daughter, recently adopted by a nice couple played by Vincent Spano and Moira Kelly. First-time director Wesley Strick had been the screenwriter for thrillers such as Arachnophobia and Cape Fear, and continued through to 2014’s The Loft. Critics and moviegoers took to this movie less enthusiastically than they did for The Hand That Rocks the Cradle a few years earlier. The Tie That Binds opened at #6 on 1,783 screens (the widest new release) with $2.6 million. It eventually earned $5.7 million.
Last of the Dogmen
Tom Berenger and Barbara Hershey star in this western drama set in Montana about the discovery of a lost Cheyenne Indian tribe and their desire to avoid civilization. Reviews were generally good, and with a moderate release, Last of the Dogmen opened at #7 on 929 screens with $2.5 million. It eventually earned $7 million domestically.
National Lampoon’s Senior Trip
Yet another teen comedy, and one that didn’t fare too well at the box office. What audiences didn’t recognize at the time was that they were looking at future Oscar nominee and box office star Jeremy Renner in the lead role (his first movie). "Max Headroom” actor Matt Frewer costars as the student principal. Senior Trip opened at #9 on 1,397 screens with $2.1 million and managed to just more than double that in its theatrical run.
25 years ago - September 7, 1990
Slumber Party Massacre 3
There were no new wide release movies this weekend, so Ghost remained at #1 in its 9th week with $6.5 million. This second sequel to the 1982 girls-and-gore movie opened in limited release on 18 screens and earned $270,000.
30 years ago - September 6, 1985
There were no new releases this weekend, allowing Michael J. Fox to continue to dominate the box office with both Back to the Future at #1 in its 10th week and Teen Wolf at #2 in its 3rd week. Those two movies appeared on a combined 2,843 screens, more than the next three box office movies together.
The end of the summer gives me the opportunity to point out what a great year 1985 was for teens and fans of the ‘80s. Starting in April, theaters had Just One of the Guys, followed by these movies from May through August: Code of Silence, Gotcha!, Gymkata, Private Resort, Rustler’s Rhapsody, Rappin’, Rambo II, A View to a Kill, Brewster’s Millions, Fletch, The Goonies, Perfect, Prizzi’s Honor, D.A.R.Y.L., Secret Admirer, Cocoon, Lifeforce, Return to Oz, Pale Rider, St. Elmo’s Fire, Back to the Future, The Emerald Forest, Red Sonja, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, Explorers, Silverado, The Man With One Red Shoe, Day of the Dead, The Legend of Billie Jean, European Vacation, The Black Cauldron, The Heavenly Kid, Fright Night, Weird Science, Follow That Bird, Summer Rental, Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, Real Genius, My Science Project, Volunteers, Return of the Living Dead, Year of the Dragon, The Bride, Teen Wolf, Godzilla 1985, Better Off Dead, American Ninja, Compromising Positions, and re-issues of E.T., Ghostbusters, and Gremlins. Imagine the great movie marathon you could have (including some so-bad-they’re-good picks) with just a portion of that group.
Rambo took in the summer dollars, but in the end it was Back to the Future that won the year, when it finally left theaters in the spring of 1986 with a total gross of $210 million.
Come back next week for another installment of Marquee History!