Marquee History
Week 16 - 2016
By Max Braden
April 18, 2016
BoxOfficeProphets.com
This week’s slate of films are mostly duds, so let’s celebrate the 30th anniversary of Tom Cruise cavorting with forest creatures in Legend.
Here are the movies that premiered on theater marquees this week...
10 years ago - April 21, 2006
Silent Hill
This horror film was adapted from the Konami video game series that began in 1999. Radha Mitchell plays Rose, the mother of adopted daughter Sharon (Jodelle Ferland). Sharon is strangely drawn to the foggy town of Silent Hill and disappears there, leaving Rose to uncover the town’s secrets and its witch-burning cult. The movie drew heavily on the four existing games, including using the musical soundtrack. Thanks to Brotherhood of the Wolf director Christophe Gans and cinematographer Dan Laustsen, the result was an impressive, moody atmosphere that drew in audiences. Silent Hill opened at #1, taking down Scary Movie 4 despite 20% fewer screens, with $20 million from 2,926 theaters. It went on to earn $46.9 million. Its sequel, Silent Hill: Revelation, opened in 2012 to weaker numbers.
The Sentinel
Michael Douglas stars in this thriller as a Secret Service agent who is both protecting and romancing the Vice President, played by Kim Basinger, while an assassination plot unfolds. Kiefer Sutherland, Eva Longoria, and Martin Donovan co-star. The Sentinel opened at #3 to moderate reviews with $14.3 million and went on to gross $36.2 million.
American Dreamz
This satire stars Dennis Quaid as a thinly veiled version of President George W. Bush American, who becomes a judge on a musical talent show called American Dreamz (real life television show American Idol was in its fifth year), simultaneously becoming the target of a terrorist attack. Mandy Moore plays a version of Kelly Clarkson, and Hugh Grant fills the Ryan Seacrest role. American Dreamz opened at #9 with $3.6 million and went on to gross $7.1 million.
Also opening in limited release this weekend: the coming of age drama Somersault, which earned multiple award wins from the Australian Film Institute and earned critical acclaim for actress Abbie Cornish.
15 years ago - April 20, 2001
Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles
The first Crocodile Dundee movie was an enormous hit in 1986, becoming the second highest grossing movie of the year with $175 million. Paul Hogan and his wife/co-star Linda Kozlowski returned for a successful sequel in 1988 that featured the couple being chased into the Australian outback by Colombian drug cartel members. This third and thankfully final entry in the series, released 13 years later, was clearly too little, too late. In it, the couple moves to Los Angeles with their son, and Mick pokes his nose into a Hollywood murder mystery. Unlike the first two movies, critical reception of this one was poor. Dundee III opened at #4, while Bridget Jones’s Diary moved up to #1, with $7.7 million from 2,123 theaters. It went on to earn $25.6 million in the U.S, which was barely more than Crocodile Dundee II’s opening weekend take.
Freddy Got Fingered
What to say about this "comedy." I suppose it’s a love-it-or-hate-it choice, and most everybody I know hates it for its obnoxious, in-your-face comedic style drawn from The Tom Green Show. Critics especially hated the movie, and it won Razzie Awards for Worst Screenplay, Worst Actor, Worst Director, and Worst Screen Couple (all for Tom Green), and Worst Picture. Co-stars Rip Torn, Drew Barrymore, and Julie Hagerty were also nominated. Freddy Got Fingered opened at #5 with $7 million and went on to earn $14.2 million.
20 years ago - April 19, 1996
The Substitute
Capitalizing on the prior year success of high school drama Dangerous Minds and Steven Seagal’s regular-guy-with-deadly-backstory action movies, The Substitute stars Tom Berenger as a former Vietnam special forces veteran who takes on a drug ring infesting a high school in Miami. Reviews and overall box office were not good, but the film began a franchise that had sequels (each starring Treat Williams instead of Berenger) in 1998, 1999, and 2001. The Substitute opened at #2 behind Primal Fear in its third weekend, with $6 million from 1,742 theaters. It earned just $14.8 million overall.
Mrs. Winterbourne
Ricki Lake stars in this mistaken-identity romantic comedy along with Shirley MacLaine and Brendan Fraser, set at a wealthy estate. Lake was currently in the third season of hosting her daytime talk show. Mrs. Winterbourne opened at #6 with $3.8 million and eventually earned $10 million.
Celtic Pride
Celtic Pride was one of writer Judd Apatow’s early comedies. It stars Daniel Stern and Dan Aykroyd as obsessed Boston Celtics fans who kidnap a Utah Jazz star player (Damon Wayans) in order to secure a Game 7 win in the NBA finals. Celtic Pride opened at #8 with $3.8 million and earned a disappointing $9.2 million overall.
Also opening in limited release this weekend: Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie, which earned just $1 million during its run.
25 years ago - April 19, 1991
Mortal Thoughts
This crime thriller stars Demi Moore and Glenne Headly (of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and Dick Tracy) as potential murder suspects. Harvey Keitel plays the investigating detective, and Bruce Willis plays an abusive and murdered husband. Willis was coming off a rough year in 1990 with Bonfire of the Vanities and Look Who’s Talking Too. Moore had just recently appeared in the terrible Nothing But Trouble in February. Still, as the only new opener this weekend, the film managed intense interest with less than half the distribution of its competitors. With Out for Justice holding the #1 spot in its second weekend on 2,010 theaters, Mortal Thoughts opened at #2 with $6 million from 963 theaters - a very strong average. It went on to gross $18.7 million.
30 years ago - April 18, 1986
Legend
Just like its fairytale subject, many of the elements from this movie may have fallen away to hazy memory, leaving two highlights for those of us who haven’t seen it in years: I know it starred Tom Cruise, and there was a big red horned devil in it. Legend was director Ridley Scott’s next theatrical project after Blade Runner. Tom Cruise had last been seen in Risky Business and All the Right Moves in 1983; known, but not the star he would soon become in the summer with Top Gun. And his co-star? Mia Sara, who was also about to hit it big in the summer with Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, but appearing here as an unknown in her first film role. Legend’s dreamlike plot features the Lord of Darkness (Tim Curry in that red devil makeup) threatening to destroy the unicorns in a magical forest of goblins, ogres, and elves. The film earned an Oscar nomination for Best Makeup, and BAFTA nominations for Best Costume, Best Make Up Artist, and Best Visual Effects. Legend opened at #1 with $4.2 million from 1,187 theaters and earned $15.5 million in the U.S. The similarly themed Labyrinth, starring David Bowie and Jennifer Connelly, later opened in June 1986 but managed just $12.7 million.
Murphy’s Law
Yet another action thriller from Charles Bronson, this time featuring him as a cop named Jack Murphy, who is framed for murdering his ex-wife. Kathleen Wilhoite co-stars as a thief who becomes his ally. Murphy’s Law opened at #2 with $3.3 million and went on to earn $9.9 million.
Wise Guys
Danny DeVito and Joe Piscopo star in this buddy/mob comedy from director Brian De Palma. These were early leading roles for both DeVito, who had been in Taxi and the Romancing the Stone series, and Piscopo, who had been on Saturday Night Live. Lou Albano and Dan Hedaya co-star. Wise Guys opened at #6 with $1.3 million and went on to earn $8.4 million.
Also opening in limited release this weekend: mob drama At Close Range with Sean Penn and Christopher Walken, and the British pop history Absolute Beginners with Patsy Kensit and David Bowie.
Come back next week for another installment of Marquee History!