Marquee History
Week 47 - 2015
By Max Braden
November 23, 2015
BoxOfficeProphets.com
This week's highlights are the 20th anniversary of Toy Story, plus the 10th anniversary of one of my favorite comedies, Just Friends.
Here are the movies that premiered on theater marquees this week...
10 years ago - November 25, 2005
Yours, Mine & Ours
Dennis Quaid and Rene Russo star in the large-family comedy remake of the 1968 film starring Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball. This project could be easily confused with Steve Martin’s comedy Cheaper By the Dozen (2003) which had a sequel release only a month after Yours, Mine & Ours. This was Danielle Panabaker’s first year of acting in films, starting with Sky High in the summer. None of the three Dozen/Ours movies did well among critics, but this one suffered the most. Yours, Mine & Ours opened at #3 behind Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (which pulled in more viewers than the next three films combined) and Walk the Line with $17.4 million ($24.3 million for the five-day Thanksgiving weekend). This was better than the $9 million for Cheaper By the Dozen 2 in December, but Yours, Mine & Ours stalled an only made $53 million compared to Cheaper 2’s $82 million gross.
Rent
Director Chris Columbus switched from the first two Harry Potter movies to this adaptation of the the 1996 Broadway rock musical about artists in the East Village dealing with relationships and HIV. Anthony Rapp, Idina Menzel, Taye Diggs, Adam Pascal, Jesse L. Martin, and Wilson Jermaine Heredia reprise the roles they performed on Broadway, with Rosario Dawson brought in for the role of Mimi. Perhaps the decade between theatre and theater made the movie seem less relevant, as reviews weren’t as glowing as they had been for the Broadway production. The biggest winner here was probably Menzel, who had recently won a Tony for Wicked and would later appear in the TV series Glee and achieve a huge hit with Frozen. Rent opened at #5 behind Chicken Little with $10 million ($17.1 million) from 2,433 theaters. It eventually earned $29 million in the U.S.
Just Friends
I know Ryan Reynolds has been in bigger, more popular films, but Just Friends gets my vote for the best performance of his career. This home-for-Christmas comedy stars Reynolds as an L.A. hotshot who has seemingly put his small town and overweight past behind him until he reunites with his high school friend Jamie Palamino, played by Amy Smart. Anna Faris plays a hilariously egotistically oblivious pop singer, and Chris Klein plays a rival for Jamie’s affection. Critics and audiences made the terrible choice to dismiss this as just another comedy - go watch it if you haven’t seen it. Just Friends opened at #6 with $9.9 million ($13.2 million five-day) and went on to gross $32.5 million in the U.S.
In the Mix
Usher stars in this crime/rom-com as a DJ who falls for a mob boss’s daughter (Emmanuelle Chriqui). This was Usher’s second major role, after Light It Up. Interestingly he left soundtrack duties to other artists, including The Gordon Brothers, Chris Brown, and Robin Thicke. To date this is the last theatrical release directed by Ron Underwood (Tremors, City Slickers), who has moved over to television. Usher has completed filming the Roberto Duran biopic Hands of Stone, in which he portrays Sugar Ray Leonard. Reviews of In the Mix were weak, and it opened at #9 behind Derailed with $4.4 million ($6.1 million five-day) from 1,608 theaters, eventually grossing $10.2 million in the U.S.
The Ice Harvest
John Cusack, Billy Bob Thornton, Connie Nielsen, and Oliver Platt star in this heist comedy about a getaway hampered by icy roads at Christmas. Harold Ramis directed the movie based on the novel by Scott Phillips. Cusack and Thornton had worked together in 1999’s Pushing Tin. Thornton had a pretty good dark comedy holiday hit with Bad Santa in 2003. His summer comedy Bad News Bears was a disappointment. Reviews for this movie were good, but it received a moderate release from Focus Features and didn’t stay long in theaters. It’s a fun little movie - check it out if you missed it at the time. The Ice Harvest opened at #10 with $3.7 million ($5.0 million five-day) and finished with $9.0 million.
15 years ago - November 24, 2000
Unbreakable
Writer-director M. Night Shyamalan set a high bar for himself with the success of The Sixth Sense, a huge audience hit and the #2 box office earner in 1999 with $293 million from U.S. theaters. For Unbreakable he again called on Bruce Willis to star as an ordinary man who is informed by Samuel L. Jackson’s character that he may have superhero powers. Unbreakable was one of the first modern "origin story" takes on comic book characters and is more of a suspense thriller than the flashy action of Spider-Man (2002) and Batman Begins (2005). With The Sixth Sense, this film helped establish Shyamalan’s reputation for films with twists at the end and a touch of universal primal fear. Unbreakable received good reviews but critics and audiences weren’t wowed by the ending as much as they had hoped to be with The Sixth Sense in mind. Unbreakable opened at #2 behind How The Grinch Stole Christmas with $30 million for Friday-to-Sunday and $46 million for the whole Thanksgiving weekend. It stayed in theaters through the spring, earning just under $95 million in the U.S. but also over $150 million from foreign markets.
102 Dalmatians
Glenn Close returns as Cruella de Vil in the live-action sequel to 1996’s 101 Dalmations. The first movie was a remake of Disney’s own animated movie from 1961, about a fashion designer who wants to use puppies for their fur. Ioan Gruffudd plays the dog shelter owner and hero of the film. The first movie did well, grossing $136 million in the U.S. This sequel faced weaker reviews, and after opening at #2 with $19.8 million ($26.2 million five-day) from 2,704 theaters it brought in $66 million in the U.S. The film received an Oscar nomination for Best Costume Design.
Quills
Quills is a drama set in late 18th century France about the life of the Marquis de Sade. Geoffrey Rush plays the notoriously perverse writer, while Kate Winslet and Joaquin Phoenix co-star as love interests under his influence. Director Philip Kaufman had previously written and directed Henry & June in 1990, the first film to receive an NC-17 rating. Reviews for Quills were good and Rush later received an Oscar nomination for his performance, alongside nominations for Art Direction and Costume Design. Quills opened at nine theaters this weekend and expanded to just over 200 at the end of the year, ultimately earning $7 million in the U.S.
20 years ago - November 24, 1995
Toy Story
Take away every technical achievement of Toy Story and you still have something brilliant at its core: a world in which toys have life of their own, with their own fears and jealousy and a simple desire to bring joy to the children who play with them. Tom Hanks voices a cowboy doll named Woody who is the de facto leader of a chest full of toys until a modern, flashy action figure named Buzz Lightyear (voiced by Tim Allen) is introduced and upsets the group dynamic. A multigenerational appeal wasn’t new in modern animated movies - consider the comedic references in the performance by Robin Williams in 1992’s Aladdin - but the inclusion of classic toys like plastic army men, Mr. Potato Head, Slinky Dog, and others tapped into a nostalgia in older viewers. At the same time, Buzz Lightyear’s catchphrase “To infinity... and beyond!” was something kids could easily latch on to, and the character would go on to become a major franchise of its own.
Reviews were out of this world, as were revenues. Opening the day before Thanksgiving, Toy Story took the #1 spot from last week’s GoldenEye with $29 million/$39 million (three-day, five-day totals) from 2,457 theaters, the third best Friday-to-Sunday opening gross of the year. It held on to the top spot for two more weeks and stayed in the top ten through January, and continued in theaters all the way to August 1996. Its $191 million domestic gross put it at #3 for animated movies up to that time, behind 1994’s The Lion King ($422 million) and 1992’s Aladdin ($217 million). Toy Story earned another $172 million from foreign box office.
It received three Oscar nominations, for Best Writing, Best Music, and Best Original Song (Randy Newman’s “You’ve Got a Friend in Me”), plus a Special Achievement Award for being the first feature-length computer-animated film. In 2005 it was added to the National Film Registry. The movie turned into a franchise with two theatrical sequels, two holiday TV specials, additional animated shorts, comic books, video games, merchandise, and theme park rides.
Money Train
Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson star in this action film about a pair of transit cops who attempt to rob a New York City subway train full of fare income. 1995 was the year Jennifer Lopez started appearing in significant film roles, and in this movie she co-stars as a cop and love interest. Snipes and Harrelson both had their film debuts together in Wildcats and then had a big hit together with 1992’s White Men Can’t Jump. Unfortunately, this movie was a bust. Reviews were poor and the U.S. box office came in just over half of the movie’s budget. Money Train opened at #4 behind Ace Ventura 2 with $10 million (15.5 million five-day) from 2,522 theaters. It made $35 million in the U.S. and only $77 million worldwide.
Casino
The Goodfellas are back together again - writer Nicholas Pileggi, Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro, and Joe Pesci tell another mafia story, this one set in Las Vegas during the 1970s and early 1980s. De Niro plays gambling handicapper Sam Rothstein, whose attempts to make quiet moves are difficult due to Pesci’s hot-headed character. Sharon Stone plays Sam’s wife, and her descent into the grips of various vices earned Stone an Oscar nomination and Golden Globe win. Reviews were good but not quite as strong as those for Goodfellas. Casino opened at #5 with $9.9 million ($14.5 million five-day) on a moderate release of 1,616 theaters. It grossed a total of $42 million in the U.S., slightly less than the $46 million for Goodfellas five years earlier.
Nick of Time
Johnny Depp stars in this thriller about a man who is told he must assassinate someone or his wife will be killed. Director John Badham had a mix of dramas, comedies, and action in his filmography, but the selling point for this movie was that it took place in real-time to enhance the tension. This being years before devil-may-care roles like Pirates of the Caribbean, Depp’s persona in most movies of this period was fairly bookish and sensitive. Christopher Walken co-stars as the villain. Reviews were weak, and Nick of Time opened at #9 with $2.7 million ($3.8 million five-day) from 1,849 theaters. It left theaters with $8.1 million.
25 years ago - November 23, 1990
Three Men and a Little Lady
Three Men and a Baby was a huge comedy hit in 1987, becoming the year’s top grossing movie with $167 million earned in the U.S. Three Men and a Little Lady brings back Tom Selleck, Steve Guttenberg, and Ted Danson as the three single dads of a five-year-old daughter. Unfortunately the sequel didn’t have the spark of the first movie and Ted Danson’s peak fame with Cheers didn’t provide much of a boost. Three Men and a Little Lady opened at #2 behind Home Alone with $13 million from 1,281 theaters. A few weeks later it was further eclipsed by the sequel to Look Who’s Talking and ultimately brought in $71 million from its U.S. run.
Predator 2
Moving on from two high profile Lethal Weapon movies, Danny Glover stars in the sequel to the hit sci-fi thriller from 1987. None of the original main cast appear here, though Anna Gonsalves has a cameo. This time a Predator alien is in a near-future Los Angeles “with a few days to kill” (per the movie’s tagline), hunting Jamaican drug dealers and pulling Glover’s LAPD officer into the violence. Gary Busey plays a government agent secretly attempting to nab one of the aliens (just like in Aliens!). Maria Conchita Alonso and Bill Paxton co-star. Reviews were favorable to Glover but not the movie itself. Predator 2 opened at #4 behind Dances With Wolves with $8.7 million from 1,950 theaters, a much wider release than Three Men but with a weaker per-site average. Predator 2 earned a total of $30 million in the U.S., well short of the $59 million gross from Schwarzenegger’s first Predator. Two crossover movies in the Alien vs. Predator franchise were released in 2004 and 2007, with a third solely Predator entry released in 2010.
The Nutcracker Prince
Kiefer Sutherland provides the voice of the main character in this animated fairytale about a man who is cursed to be a toy for a little girl, voiced by Megan Fellows. Peter O’Toole and Phyllis Diller provide additional voices. Reviews were poor and the movie opened with less than a million dollars from 906 theaters. It only grossed $1.7 million during its run.
Robot Jox
In a future devastated by nuclear war, nations resolve disputes by blah blah blah... It’s about robots. Robots that fight each other. Robot Jox was written by sci-fi author Joe Haldeman and completed three years earlier but held up by bankruptcy. As is typical of these situations,the movie received weak critical and audience attention. Robot Jox opened with less than half a million dollars from 333 theaters and tapped out with $1.2 million. The movie has become better known in recent years thanks to repeated rentals by Barney Stinson and general interest in fighting robots surrounding the release of Pacific Rim.
30 years ago - November 22, 1985
King Solomon’s Mines
I love this terrible cash-in on Indiana Jones fever! Richard Chamberlain stars as the adventurer Allan Quartermain, 100 years after the character first appeared in print in the novel on which this movie is based (nice alibi, guys, but it’s still clearly a knockoff of Indiana Jones). John Rhys-Davies, who had co-starred with Chamberlain in Shogun, co-stars in this movie four years after having appeared as Sallah in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Sharon Stone provides the sex appeal as she and Quartermain race against the Germans on a quest to find legendary riches in Africa.
Critics dismissed the movie as an obvious and inferior copycat and it even earned two Razzie award nominations for Jerry Goldsmith’s score and Herbert Lom’s performance as the German antagonist. Still, audiences were obviously interested, making King Solomon’s Mines the #1 movie for the weekend with $5 million from 1,122 theaters. This movie made $15 million in the U.S., a fraction of the $175 million earned by The Temple of Doom in 1984. A sequel, Allan Quartermain and the Lost City of Gold (filmed back to back with the first movie), was released just over a year later and bombed at the box office. Sean Connery didn’t do much better with the Quartermain role in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, but I think that just means it’s ripe for a refresh.
One Magic Christmas
This family-oriented drama from Disney stars Mary Steenburgen as a mother who is given the It’s-A-Wonderful-Life treatment by an angel played by Harry Dean Stanton. The cast includes a lot of unknowns at the time in early roles: Elisabeth Harnois (now known for playing Morgan on the TV series CSI) plays one of the children in her first role; Michelle Meyrink appears in the cast a couple months after Real Genius was released; Elias Koteas (later seen in Some Kind of Wonderful) appears in his first role; and Sarah Polley appears in her first role (she’d go on to become known as a director, for Take This Waltz and others). One Magic Christmas opened at #2 with $2.6 million from 824 theaters and eventually took in a total of $13.6 million.
Starchaser: The Legend of Orin
Starchaser is an animated sci-fi adventure involving a magical sword and robots and some villain named Zygon… sounds like a mess. The marketing tool for this project was that it was released in 3-D. Reviews were poor and audience response was weak, leading to an opening at #6 behind the long-legged Back to the Future with $1.6 million from 1,020 theaters. Starchaser earned just $3.3 million in the U.S.
Bad Medicine
Steve Guttenberg had two big hits in 1985 with Police Academy 2 and Cocoon, which means this comedy had to be pretty bad to bomb this hard. Guttenberg stars as a med student in Central America who provides medical assistance to the local population with the help of another student played by Julie Hagerty (Elaine from the Airplane! movies). Alan Arkin plays the school’s dean. Bad Medicine opened at #8 behind the last month’s To Live and Die in L.A. with $1.2 million from 731 theaters, and barely doubled that during its short stay in theaters.
White Nights
Making the most of talent and circumstance, White Nights is a drama starring Mikhail Baryshnikov as a ballet dancer who trying to defect from the Soviet Union. He’s forced by the KGB to work with a tap dancer who has defected from the United States, played by Gregory Hines. Helen Mirren plays Baryshnikov's former lover, who helps the two plan to defect to the U.S. (She and the film’s director, Taylor Hackford began their long-term relationship after the movie.)
Baryshnikov had defected from the Soviet Union in the mid 1970s and became a renowned dancer in America, also earning an Oscar nomination for 1977’s The Turning Point. Both he and Hines had received multiple Emmy nominations for their dance performances by the time of this movie. 1985 was a hotbed of U.S.-Soviet Cold War news, with the defection and redefection of KGB agent Vitaly Yurchenko just weeks before the movie was released. The real draw, though, was of course the dance sequences, and the music - Lionel Richie won the Oscar for Best Original Song with “Say You, Say Me,” with “Separate Lives” performed by Phil Collins receiving a nomination as well. White Nights opened this weekend at 21 theaters and later expanded to just under 900, eventually earning $42 million in the U.S.
Come back next week for another installment of Marquee History!