Marquee History
Weeks 22-23, 2016
By Max Braden
June 6, 2016
BoxOfficeProphets.com
This week’s highlights are the 20th anniversary of The Rock and 25th anniversaries of City Slickers and Soapdish.
Here are the movies that premiered on theater marquees this week...
10 years ago
Cars - June 9, 2006
Pixar’s family-friendly CGI adventure is similar to Toy Story but seemingly set in a world without any people, where motorized vehicles each have their own personality. Owen Wilson voices Lightning McQueen, a race car who dreams of becoming a famous winner. Larry the Cable Guy voices Mater the tow truck, Bonnie Hunt voices romance interest Sally the Porsche, and Paul Newman voices a Hudson Hornet. Cars was one of the last film roles for Newman and George Carlin, who both died two years later. Kids naturally picked up on Mater’s goofy behavior and Lightning’s catchphrase “Ka-chow!” similarly to the appeal of Buzz and Woody from Toy Story. Reviews were very positive, and Cars was later nominated for Best Animated Picture and Best Song (“Our Town” by Randy Newman). The less successful Cars 2 was released in 2011. Cars opened at #1 with $60 million - the third best ever opening for June - from 3,985 theaters and went on to gross $244 million in the U.S., the third highest domestic gross of the year.
The Break-Up - June 2, 2006
This PG-13 rated romantic comedy from director Peyton Reed stars Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn as a couple who find they can’t live with each other, but are unwilling to leave their condo to live apart, leading to a War of the Roses-style antagonistic roommate situation. This film followed recent box office successes for Vaughn (Wedding Crashers) and Aniston (Along Came Polly), and exceeded expectations for its opening weekend. The Break-Up opened at #1 on June 2 with $39 million from 3,070 theaters and then took the #2 spot the following weekend behind Cars. By the end of its run, The Break-Up had grossed $118 million in the U.S.
The Omen - June 6, 2006
This psychological/supernatural thriller was a remake of the 1976 original from Richard Donner that starred Gregory Peck. In this version directed by John Moore, Liev Schreiber plays the diplomat in Rome who secretly adopts a boy after his newborn son dies, with Julia Stiles playing his wife. Their adopted son, Damien, has a birthmark of the devil - 666, also the date of release for the movie. This remake received weak reviews and opened at #4 for the weekend with $16 million. Sharp drop-offs in the following weeks led to a domestic total of $55 million.
A Prairie Home Companion - June 9, 2006
Director Robert Altman’s ensemble comedy is based on comedian Garrison Keillor’s variety show of the same name. Keillor plays himself, while Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin, Lindsay Lohan, Woody Harrelson, John C. Reilly, and Kevin Kline play performers in a live radio show on the eve of cancellation. The film received good reviews and a good per-site average box office, opening at #7 with $4.5 million from only 760 theaters. It eventually earned $20.3 million.
District B13 - June 2, 2006
Also in limited release was this French action film from writer/producer Luc Besson. The crime plot is set in a future Paris partitioned to isolate heavily-populated and impoverished communities, and shows off plenty of Parkour action featuring the discipline’s founder David Bell. Opening at 151 theaters, District B13 earned $1.2 million in the U.S., adding to its $8.3 million grosses from overseas markets.
15 years ago
Swordfish - June 8, 2001
Hugh Jackman stars as a former convicted hacker recruited by Halle Berry’s character to help out what may or may not be a rogue black ops group headed by John Travolta’s character. Don Cheadle has a supporting role. Looking back on the film, the motives of antagonist Gabriel Shear make an interesting argument about response to terrorism that went unnoticed at the time only three months before 9/11/01. Swordfish was the next big thriller piece for Jackman after his success with X-Men the previous summer, but his stardom may have been overshadowed by the news that Halle Berry (his X-Men co-star) received bonus compensation for a brief topless scene. Teenage boys may have been impressed, but critics were not. Travolta was later nominated for a Razzie Award. Still, Swordfish was the movie that displaced Shrek and Pearl Harbor from the #1 spot with $18.1 million from 2,678 theaters. Despite some decent holdover weeks at the box office, its $69 million total in the U.S. was a bit short of its $100+ million budget.
Evolution - June 8, 2001
David Duchovny and Orlando Jones star in Ivan Reitman’s sci-fi comedy as scientists who face off against the Army in dealing with rapidly evolving alien DNA that arrived on Earth with a meteor. The style of the movie has similar splatter comedy elements to 1997’s Men in Black and Reitman’s work with Ghostbusters. Reviews weren’t great, and unfortunately for Jones this is probably his last memorable role. Evolution opened at #4 with $13.4 million and grossed a total of $38 million, also well short of its budget.
The Animal - June 1, 2001
The combination of Deuce Bigalow in 1999 and The Animal in 2001 were peak years for Rob Schneider as a lead actor. In this comedy he plays a police officer brought back from near death by a mad scientist who has used elements from animals for the procedure. His new animal instincts both help and hinder his work and relationships: hijinks etc. Colleen Haskell, a contestant on the reality television show “Survivor”, plays his love interest in her only film role to date. Of more lasting notoriety than either the movie or Haskell’s career was the discovery that positive film critic David Manning turned out to be a fake identity created by Sony as a marketing tool. The Animal opened at #3 with $19.6 million and dropped to #5 for the June 8th weekend, eventually earning $57 million in the U.S.
Technically in its third weekend of release, Moulin Rouge! added 2,277 theaters and rose to the #4 spot on the June 1st weekend with $13.7 million. It held over well during June and went on to gross $57 million from its U.S. run plus another $121 million from overseas markets, all on a $50 million budget.
What’s the Worst That Could Happen? - June 1, 2001
For Martin Lawrence, the answer to this question would probably be “going into a coma and almost dying from heat exhaustion while filming Big Momma’s House.” Fortunately he survived and Big Momma became a big hit in the summer of 2000. This year’s comedy was not a financial success, but all things considered, that’s not so bad. Lawrence plays a high class thief who is caught attempting to steal from Danny DeVito’s character, who in turn takes his favorite ring, sparking an escalating war between the two. The film opened at #5 with $13.0 million and dropped to #7 for the weekend of June 8th. It grossed a total of $32.2 million, barely half of the the film’s budget. Lawrence’s next two comedies performed similarly, but he bounced back in 2003 with Bad Boys II.
The Anniversary Party - June 8, 2001
In limited release at 120 theaters, this ensemble comedy is led by Jennifer Jason Leigh and Alan Cumming (who co-directed the film), as a couple who host a party to celebrate their wedding anniversary, but the mood declines over the course of the evening. Kevin Kline, Phoebe Cates, and Gwyneth Paltrow co-star. The Anniversary Party took in a total of $4 million during its run.
20 years ago
The Rock - June 7, 1996
Director Michael Bay’s second film is arguably his best for its non-stop action. Nicolas Cage stars as a chemical weapons scientist who is teamed up with the only man who ever escaped from Alcatraz (the “Rock”) in order to secure a weaponized nerve agent held on the island by a group of Marines led by Ed Harris. The film features one of the more exciting car chases of modern cinema, with Connery in a Hummer and Cage in a Ferrari crashing through traffic down the hills of San Francisco. Critics and fans gave the film positive reviews; Cage and Connery won Best On-Screen Duo at the next MTV Movie Awards, and the film received an Oscar nomination for Best Sound. For Connery, this was the second-highest grossing movie of his career (not adjusted for inflation) behind Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. For Cage it was the first of a trio of blockbusters which included Con Air and Face/Off the following year. The Rock opened at #1 with $25.0 million and brought in a total of $134 million in the U.S.
Dragonheart - May 31, 1996
The Rock was released a week after Dragonheart, which also featured Sean Connery, albeit as the voice of a computer-generated dragon. Dennis Quaid stars in a live-action role as a medieval knight who builds a reputation as a dragonslayer but partners with the dragon Draco (Connery). David Thewlis plays a corrupted king who shares half of the heart of the dragon. The tone of the film is more lighthearted than Disney’s Dragonslayer from 1981. Dragonheart opened at #3 with $15.0 million and then held box office position #4 for the weekend of June 7th, eventually grossing $51 million.
Eddie - May 31, 1996
This basketball comedy stars Whoopi Goldberg as the New York Knicks’s biggest fan. As part of a contest she becomes the team’s coach and works with the players’ personalities in order to get them to the NBA playoffs. Frank Langella and Dennis Farina co-star, with lots of cameo roles from real NBA players and New Yorker celebrities. Reviews were poor and Goldberg was later nominated for a Razzie Award. Coincidentally or not, 1996 turned out to be the last year for Whoopi in lead film roles. Eddie opened at #4 with $8.0 million and dropped to #5 for the weekend of the 7th, ultimately grossing $31.3 million.
The Phantom - June 7, 1996
Perhaps lost in the conversation about modern comic book hero movies is this adventure based on the strip from the 1930s and also set in that era. Billy Zane plays the next in a multi-generational line of heroes who take up the mask to fight crime. Treat Williams, Kristy Swanson, and Catherine Zeta-Jones co-star. Zeta-Jones was two years away from breaking through with The Mask of Zorro, and Zane would get his biggest career role in Titanic the following year. But this year, reviews were poor. The Phantom opened at #6 with $5.0 million and made only $17.3 million overall.
The Arrival - May 31, 1996
This sci-fi thriller stars Charlie Sheen as an astronomer with the SETI project who discovers an alien signal. That discovery leads to another; that aliens are on Earth masquerading as humans. Ron Silver plays the antagonist, with Teri Polo and Richard Schiff co-starring. The Arrival opened at #5 with $4.8 million and slipped to #8 for the June 7th weekend. By the time it left theaters it had only grossed $14.0 million.
25 years ago
City Slickers - June 7, 1991
If there’s one movie that defines Billy Crystal’s career, it’s probably When Harry Met Sally...but his next movie was a significant financial and critical hit. He and his city friends played by Bruno Kirby (who co-starred with Crystal in When Harry Met Sally) and Daniel Stern (coming off the huge hit Home Alone seven months earlier) try to reestablish their manhood by participating in a cattle drive from New Mexico to Colorado. Jack Palance plays a gruff trail guide. Palance had been twice nominated for Oscars in the 1950s, and at age 72 Palance received his third nomination. At the following Academy Awards ceremony he famously performed one-armed pushups on stage, and won the award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. City Slickers opened at #1 with $13.0 million from 1,992 theaters and grossed $124 million overall, the fifth highest of the year’s releases. Crystal and Palance returned for the sequel in 1994.
Jungle Fever - June 7, 1991
Writer-director Spike Lee’s interracial romance stars Wesley Snipes and Annabella Sciorra in an adulterous relationship in New York City. Lonette McKee, Ossie Davis, John Turturro, and Samuel L. Jackson co-star. Jackson was nominated at the Cannes Film Festival, and the film received strongly positive reviews. Opening at #3 with $5.3 million from 636 theaters, Jungle Fever scored a significantly higher per-site average than City Slickers. Jungle Fever eventually earned $32.4 million, the best of Spike Lee’s five films to that time.
Soapdish - May 31, 1991
This great comedy depicts the twists and turns in the production of a daytime television soap opera. Sally Field stars as an aging star of the show fending off younger actresses played by Cathy Moriarty and Elisabeth Shue. Whoopi Goldberg, Kevin Kline, and Robert Downey Jr. co-star. Kevin Kline received a Golden Globe nomination for his performance. Soapdish opened at #2 behind Backdraft with $6.7 million from 1,275 theaters and slipped to #5 for the June 7th weekend. Eventually it earned $36.4 million.
Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead - June 7, 1991
Christina Applegate stars as a teenager who takes charge or her sibling household after her mother is away for the summer and their babysitter dies. Keith Coogan, Danielle Harris, Christopher Pettiet, and David Duchovny (then 30 years old) play her siblings, while Josh Charles plays a love interest. On weak reviews, Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead opened at #6 with $4.2 million, and eventually earned $24.1 million.
30 years ago
Raw Deal - June 6, 1986
Arnold Schwarzenegger’s sixth action film has him playing a disgraced FBI agent who is offered a chance at a comeback if he goes undercover to take down a mob leader played by Sam Wanamaker. Raw Deal opened at #2 with $5.4 million between holdovers Top Gun and Sylvester Stallone’s Cobra. Raw Deal’s $16.2 million total was far less than the $49 million for Cobra and Schwarzenegger’s weakest lead performance of the 1980s.
Space Camp - June 6, 1986
Lea Thompson stars in this adventure as an ambitious teen at NASA’s youth summer training program. A sequence of events triggered by a robot named Jinx leads to the program’s group of teens being launched on a Space Shuttle along with only one adult astronaut played by Kate Capshaw. Together they have to work together to return safely to Earth. Tate Donovan, Larry B. Scott, Kelly Preston, Joaquin Phoenix, and Tom Skerritt co-star. Critics were not impressed. I attended the real Space Academy five years later and can confirm that there was no joystick control system as depicted in the movie. Space Camp opened at #6 behind Short Circuit with $2.9 million from 979 theaters and eventually grossed $9.6 million.
Invaders From Mars - June 6, 1986
This sci-fi horror was a remake of the 1953 film of the same name about an alien invasion. Despite involvement of Oscar-winning special effects artists Stan Winston and John Dykstra, the film received a Razzie Award nomination for Worst Visual Effects. The film opened at #7 with $2.0 million and only made $4.8 million in total.
My Little Pony: The Movie - June 6, 1986
This adventure based on the Hasbro toy line was animated by Toei Animation in Japan. That studio had a long history of prior animated works but this was the first of four Hasbro Toy movies that included Transformers and G.I. Joe. This film featured voices from Danny DeVito, Rhea Perlman, Madeline Kahn, Cloris Leachman, and Tony Randall. Opening at 421 theaters, My Little Pony placed #10 for the weekend at the box office and eventually earned $5.9 million overall.
Jake Speed - May 30, 1986
I feel like I’m one of the few who have fond memories of this adventure movie, though I only caught it on video later on. Screenwriter Wayne Crawford stars as a hero who is called on to rescue the sister of a character played by Karen Hopkins from a white slavery ring in Africa. John Hurt plays the antagonist. Basically it’s a cheap knockoff of Romancing the Stone. Lacking similar star power or support from critics, Jake Speed opened at #6 with $1.0 million and fell quickly, earning only $1.9 million.
Come back next week for another installment of Marquee History when we celebrate the 30th anniversary of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off!