Marquee History
Early January - 2016
By Max Braden
January 18, 2016
BoxOfficeProphets.com
January is an awkward time for new movies. The big money comes from movies released in the Thanksgiving-Christmas window, and the high quality Oscar contenders get wider releases as they appear more in the news. There’s little incentive, then, to make early January your movie’s premiere date, resulting in weaker product appearing at this time, and some weeks go without new releases at all. Every now and then, though, we see some hits. The most notable highlight in this week’s history is the 15th anniversary of January record-setter Save the Last Dance.
Here are the movies that premiered on theater marquees...
10 years ago - January 13 & 20, 2006
January 2006 started off with a surprise, with Hostel toppling The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe from the top spot on the January 6th weekend. Hostel more than doubled Narnia’s per-theater average with $19.5 million from only 2,195 theaters. It picked up on the success of torture horror movie Saw II released three months earlier, though Hostel’s $47 million gross didn’t come near the $87 million for Saw II.
Glory Road
This sports film dramatized the story of the Texas Western College men’s basketball team during the 1966 NCAA championship season. Josh Lucas portrayed head coach Don Haskins, who led the first team with an all-black starting lineup. Derek Luke, Mehcad Brooks, and Jon Voight co-starred. Glory Road opened at #1 on January 13th with $13.5 million from 2,222 theaters over three days and $16.9 million over the four-day Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend. It eventually earned $42.6 million overall, short of the $67.2 million earned by Coach Carter released a year earlier.
Last Holiday
Queen Latifah starred in this remake of the 1950 Alec Guinness comedy. In it, her character is diagnosed with a fatal brain condition and decides to spend her last days on a lavish and adventurous trip to Europe. LL Cool J and Timothy Hutton co-starred. Critics found it lightly amusing. Last Holiday opened on January 13th at #2 with $12.8 million from 2,514 theaters.
Hoodwinked
This animated adventure from Blue Yonder Films told the story of Little Red Riding Hood as a fractured fairytale investigated by a police detective frog voiced by David Ogden Stiers. Anne Hathaway provided the voice of Red, with Granny and the Wolf voiced by Glenn Close and Patrick Warburton. Reviews of the story and the animation quality were mixed. Hoodwinked opened at #3 with $12.4 million from 2,394 and earned $51.3 million overall. A sequel was released five years later but performed poorly.
Tristan and Isolde
This 5th century romance based on the medieval legend starred James Franco as a wounded warrior who is brought back to health by the Irish princess daughter (Sophia Myles) of the enemy of Tristan’s British lord. Rufus Sewell, Mark Strong, and Henry Cavill co-starred. Reviewers were unimpressed. Tristan and Isolde opened at #8 with $6.5 million from 1,845 theaters and went on to gross $14.7 million.
Underworld: Evolution
This sequel to the 2003 horror-action thriller brought back Kate Beckinsale as the “death-dealer” for a coven of vampires and Scott Speedman as Michael Corvin, a hybrid being, in their effort to survive a coup and war between vampires and werewolves. Reviews were poor, but the first movie had generated a following, leading this one to open at #1 on the January 20th weekend with $26.8 million from 3,207 theaters, making it the second-best January opening weekend to that time (excluding the 1997 re-release of Star Wars) after 2002’s Black Hawk Down. Underworld: Evolution grossed a total of $62.3 million, which is the best performance of the series when adjusted for inflation. Two more movies in the series were released in 2009 and 2012.
End of the Spear
This Christian-based film dramatized a 1956 incident in which American Christian missionaries were speared during their attempts to meet with an indigenous tribe in Ecuador, as well as the aftermath and reconciliation. The film opened at #8 with $4.2 million from 1,163 theaters, a strong opening for a faith-based film. It eventually earned $11.9 million.
15 years ago - January 12 & 19, 2001
Early January 2001 began with Cast Away leading the box office along with What Women Want and Traffic. Officially released in December, Thirteen Days added over 2,000 theaters for wide release on January 12th, landing the #4 spot with $9.7 million. Thirteen Days starred Kevin Costner as advisor to President Kennedy (played by Bruce Greenwood) during the Cuban Missile Crisis. The film earned $66 million during its run, but that was against a budget of $80 million and it failed to produce any Oscar nominations.
Save the Last Dance
This high school drama starred Julia Stiles as a white teenager who hopes to go to Juilliard to study ballet, but gives up dancing after her mother dies. Transferring to an urban Chicago high school, she develops a relationship with a black classmate played by Sean Patrick Thomas, and they deal with issues of race and class. Eventually she combines hip-hop dancing with ballet to impress the Julliard admitting faculty. Stiles had earned Breakthrough Role nominations by the Teen Choice Awards and MTV Awards the previous year for 10 Things I Hate About You, and this film may have been primed by the December release of its soundtrack, which rose to #3 on the Billboard charts and achieved platinum sales at the end of January.
Reviews were mixed, but teen audiences made this film a hit. Save the Last Dance opened at #1 with $23 million from 2,230 theaters over three days and $27.5 million for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend, smashing the January opening weekend record set by She’s All That two years earlier (Star Wars earned $35.9 million as a Special Edition re-release in January 1997). The MTV-produced film earned a win in the Best Onscreen Kiss category at the MTV Movie Awards and won Teen Choice Awards for Stiles and co-star Kerry Washington. Eventually the film earned $91 million in U.S. theaters, a career best for director Thomas Carter.
The Pledge
The only new premiere for the weekend of January 19th was this crime drama about a police chief on his last case, driven to find a child-murderer. Jack Nicholson starred as the police chief, with Aaron Eckhart, Patricia Clarkson, Benicio del Toro, Helen Mirren, Robin Wright Penn, and Vanessa Redgrave co-starring. The film was Sean Penn’s third project as director, and it earned him a Palme d’Or nomination at Cannes. Reviews were good, but they didn’t help the film’s box office. The Pledge opened at #11 with $5.7 million from 1,275 theaters and eventually grossed $19.7 million.
20 years ago - January 12 & 19, 1996
Early January in 1996 saw one movie in particular lead the box office: 12 Monkeys had an Oscar-qualifying run at the end of December and then expanded to 1,533 theaters on January 5th, taking the #1 spot for two weekends in a row. Audiences were more interested in Brad Pitt’s eccentric performance and the alarming future depicted in Terry Gilliam’s bio-threat thriller than the slew of competitors that opened on Martin Luther King Jr. weekend.
Don’t Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood
This second spoof from the Wayans brothers was a send-up of Boyz n the Hood and Menace II Society, starring Shawn Wayans and Marlon Wayans. Reviews were poor, but it opened at #2 on January 12th with $8.1 million from 1,010 theaters, the best average of the wide-release movies this weekend. It eventually earned $20.0 million, better than the $13 million for 1988’s I’m Gonna Git You Sucka.
Eye for an Eye
This revenge thriller starred Sally Field as a mother who decides to kill the murderer of her daughter after he (Kiefer Sutherland) goes free due to a technicality at trial. Ed Harris and Joe Mantegna co-starred. Reviews were terrible. Eye for an Eye opened at #3 with $6.9 million from 1,528 theaters and eventually grossed $26.8 million.
Bio-Dome
I don’t know what it is that hooked me, but this Pauly Shore comedy was a longtime guilty pleasure of mine. Shore and Stephen Baldwin starred as dimwitted buddies who inadvertently join a long-term bio-dome project and disrupt its science and the serious scientists inside. Joey Lauren Adams, Teresa Hill, William Atherton, Rose McGowan, and Kylie Minogue co-starred. Reviews were lousy and Shore was nominated for a Razzie, but the movie holds a better score by viewers on RottenTomatoes.com. Bio-Dome opened at #9 with $5 million from 1,510 theaters and eventually earned $13.4 million.
Two If By Sea
This romantic comedy starred Sandra Bullock and Denis Leary in a plot surrounding art theft. Not only were reviews poor, but the box office was the worst of Bullock’s career (which had its jump-start with Speed two years earlier) for nearly two decades. Two if by Sea opened at #10 with $4.6 million from 1,712 theaters and only grossed $10.6 million overall.
Dunston Checks In
1996 was still in that era of Hollywood films that were fascinated with orangutans. Child actor Eric Lloyd starred as a boy who saves an orangutan from his human controller, a thief played by Rupert Everett. Jason Alexander and Faye Dunaway co-starred. Reviews were bad except for the consideration of pre-teen audiences. Dunston Checks In opened at #13 with $3 million from 1,290 theaters and checked out with $9.8 million.
Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace
When the first Lawnmower Man (an adaptation of a Stephen King story in name only) was released in 1992, it was sort of a new TRON in the pre-browser days of the internet. This sequel featuring a plot about controlling the world through cyberspace arrived in a time where internet usage maturity was becoming widespread. It failed to excite anyone and opened at #17 with $1.4 million from 1,589 theaters - a paltry sub-$900 per-site average. Total gross $2.4 million.
From Dusk Till Dawn
This horror-crime-comedy was written by Quentin Tarantino and directed Robert Rodriguez, and starred George Clooney in his first lead theatrical role. Clooney had recently received an Emmy nomination for his role on the television series E.R., while Tarantino was riding high on the success of Pulp Fiction. Tarantino and Rodriguez had worked together previously on Desperado. This film follows two brothers on the run after robbing a bank, and turns into a horror film when they hole up in a brothel inhabited by vampires. Salma Hayek, Harvey Keitel, Juliette Lewis, and Danny Trejo co-starred. From Dusk Till Dawn opened on January 19th at #1 with $10.2 million from 2,004 theaters and went on to gross $25.8 million. It spawned two direct-to-video sequels, neither of which starred Clooney or Tarantino.
25 years ago - January 11 & 18, 1991
The early January box office in 1991 continued to be dominated by Home Alone. It had opened at #1 in mid November and not only held that position through December but also for each weekend in January and the first weekend in February. By mid-January it was nearing a box office tally of $200 million, and was the only movie playing at over 2,000 theaters during the month. Awakenings, Kindergarten Cop, and Dances With Wolves continued to do well, while The Godfather Part III fell quickly.
Lionheart
Jean-Claude Van Damme starred in this martial arts film as a French Foreign Legion paratrooper who comes to Los Angeles and competes in illegal fights to earn money for his brother’s family. Despite weak reviews, this film was Van Damme’s best performer of his career to date and achieved appreciation from fans. Lionheart opened on January 11th at #3 with $7.0 million from 1,462 theaters, eventually earning $24.04 million in the U.S.
Not Without My Daughter
Sally Field starred in this drama based on the book by Betty Mahmoody as a mother who travels to Iran with her husband but is not allowed to leave, prompting her to escape her husband’s abuses back to America with her daughter. The film was blasted by critics for its depictions of Iranians and Muslims, and Field received a Razzie nomination for her performance. Not Without My Daughter opened on January 11th at #7 with $3.8 million from 1,137 theaters but did manage to gross $14.7 million overall.
Flight of the Intruder
This Vietnam War drama, adapted from the novel by Stephen Coonts, was released just days after the bombing campaign of Operation Desert Storm began in Iraq and Kuwait. Brad Johnson, Danny Glover, and Willem Dafoe starred as A-6 pilots who flew bombing runs and launched an unauthorized attack over Hanoi. Rosanna Arquette, Tom Sizemore, and Ving Rhames appeared in supporting roles. Facing negative reviews, Flight of the Intruder opened at #5 on January 18th behind 1990’s holdovers with $5.7 million from 1,489 theaters. It eventually earned $14.5 million in the U.S., far short of its $35 million budget.
White Fang
This family-friendly live action Disney adaptation of Jack London’s novel starred Ethan Hawke (two years after he became noticed in Dead Poets Society) as the young man who rescues a dog-wolf mix from an abuser in the Yukon. White Fang opened at #6 with $5.6 million from 1,108 theaters and went on to earn a profitable $34.7 million.
Eve of Destruction
This action thriller starred Gregory Hines as a military colonel who must stop a robot-gone-haywire, played by Renee Soutendijk in her first and most notable U.S. film role. Reviews were very poor, and it was a box office bomb. Eve of Destruction opened at #13 with $2.1 million from 985 theaters, and eventually earned only $4.7 million.
30 years ago - January 10 & 17, 1986
Early January moviegoers largely went to see carryover movies from December 1985: Out of Africa, Rocky IV, The Jewel of the Nile, Spies Like Us, and The Color Purple all led the box office for the first two weeks of the year.
Black Moon Rising
In one of Tommy Lee Jones’s less impressive projects, he starred in this action thriller as a former criminal hired by the government to steal a computer disk for an investigation. The cool factor of the movie was a prototype car called the Black Moon, capable of driving 325mph using water as fuel. Linda Hamilton and Robert Vaughn co-starred. Former football star Bubba Smith, of the Police Academy series, played a supporting role. Black Moon Rising opened at #7 on January 10th with $2.7 million for the weekend at 907 theaters. The film eventually earned $6.4 million and disappeared from memory as fast as the car.
Iron Eagle
Here’s a bit of trivia you can use to trip up some friends: name the jet fighter action movie that was a knockoff of Top Gun. Well, it wasn’t Iron Eagle, because this movie was in theaters four months before Top Gun was released. It starred Jason Gedrick as a young Air Force pilot who goes to rescue his father, held hostage in a Middle Eastern country, with the help of a veteran pilot played by Louis Gosset Jr. This was the first major lead role for Gedrick. Gossett had won an Oscar for his supporting role in An Officer and a Gentleman four years earlier. Iron Eagle won the weekend of the 17th with $6.1 million from 1,080 theaters. It went on to earn $23 million, which was enough to spawn three sequels featuring Gossett’s character Col. Chappy Sinclair. Of course, the entire franchise income didn’t come near to the $179 million that Top Gun earned in the U.S. alone, but it was a big year for air combat in the movies.
Troll
This PG-13 horror movie tells the story of a troll who terrorizes a San Francisco family in their apartment. The film starred Noah Hathaway (Atreu in The Neverending Story) as a boy named Harry Potter (how about that?), Michael Moriarty (years before Law & Order), and Shelley Hack (of Charlie’s Angels). Sonny Bono plays a supporting role as a neighbor in their apartment building. Troll opened at #9 with $2.5 million from 959 theaters and eventually earned $4.5 million.
The Clan of the Cave Bear
This imagining of prehistoric times (based on the novel by Jean M. Auel) starred Daryl Hannah as a tall, blonde Cro-Magnon who is adopted by a group of less advanced Neanderthals. Hannah had had her breakthrough two years earlier with Splash. Not many audiences saw this during its run - it opened in one theater on January 17th and peaked at 106 during its run, eventually earning $1.9 million. That made it a box office bomb, especially since reviews from critics and audiences have been overwhelmingly negative. Still, the movie did earn an Oscar nomination for Makeup.
Come back next week for another installment of Marquee History!