Marquee History
Week 30, 2016
By Max Braden
July 25, 2016
BoxOfficeProphets.com
This edition features the 10th anniversary of the award-winning hit Little Miss Sunshine, and sadly, anniversaries of the last roles for Gene Wilder, Richard Pryor, and Gilda Radner.
Here are the movies that premiered on theater marquees this week...
10 years ago
Miami Vice - July 28, 2006
Following his first $100 million hit Collateral, director Michael Mann adapted the 1980s television series he served on as producer. Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx (who starred in Collateral) play Miami detectives Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs investigating a case involving a Colombian drug cartel. Miami Vice took over the #1 box office spot which had been held by Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest for the past three weeks, with $25.7 million from 3,021 theaters. It earned only $63 million in the U.S. - less than half its budget - but did bring in another $100 million from foreign markets.
John Tucker Must Die - July 28, 2006
This high school comedy stars Brittany Snow and Arielle Kebbel, Sophia Bush, and Ashanti as girls out to get even for being lied to by their (unknown) mutual boyfriend, played by Jesse Metcalf. John Tucker took the #3 spot with $14.2 million and finished with a total of $41 million.
The Ant Bully - July 28, 2006
Based on the 1999 children’s book, this animated adventure from the producers of Jimmy Neutron tells the tale of an ant colony that shrinks a human down to size to teach him a lesson. Julia Roberts, Nicolas Cage, and Meryl Streep provide voices to some of the ant characters. This was the last film role for Ricardo Montalban. The Ant Bully fell short of Jimmy Neutron’s success, opening at #5 with $8.4 million and closing with a gross of $28.1 million.
Scoop - July 28, 2006
Woody Allen experienced a box office resurgence from 2005 to 2008, and it probably isn’t a coincidence that Scarlett Johansson starred in three of his successes during that time. Following Match Point, she returned to work with Allen again for this investigative news comedy with Hugh Jackman. Opening in limited release at 538 theaters, Scoop eventually grossed $10.5 million - not as strong as Match Point or Vicky Cristina Barcelona, but still stronger than his films since 2000’s Small Time Crooks.
Little Miss Sunshine - July 28, 2006
This ensemble comedy centers around a family headed by Greg Kinnear and Toni Collette, and features Abigail Breslin as their daughter Olive and her quest to be part of the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant. Their cross-country road trip also makes their malfunctioning yellow Volkswagen Type 2 van a character itself. After its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January, Fox Searchlight paid a festival record amount of $10.5 million to purchase distribution rights, and the gamble paid off. Opening at just seven theaters this weekend, excellent reviews and high theater averages led to expansion up to a peak of 1,602 theaters over Labor Day weekend, where it appeared in the top five in box office results. By December it had earned $59 million and began receiving multiple award nominations: Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress (Breslin), Best Writing (Michael Arndt), and Best Supporting Actor (Alan Arkin) at the Oscars, Outstanding Cast at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, and nominations from the Directors Guild and Writers Guild. Arndt won both the WGA and Oscar for his first produced screenplay. Arkin won his Oscar, his first win 40 years after being first nominated for The Russians Are Coming the Russians Are Coming.
15 years ago
Planet of the Apes - July 27, 2001
Over 25 years after the last sequel in the original Planet of the Apes franchise sequel, director Tim Burton took up this remake. Mark Wahlberg stars as a USAF astronaut who emerges from an electromagnetic storm in space to crash land on a planet where talking apes rule over humans in slavery. Tim Roth and Michael Clarke Duncan play the militaristic leaders of the apes, with Helena Bonham Carter and Paul Giamatti as more friendly characters. Charlton Heston has a cameo role as Zaius. Planet of the Apes took the #1 spot from Jurassic Park III with $68 million from 3,500 theaters, the year’s second highest opening. Its $180 million gross was a top ten result for the year, but did not generate a sequel. Rather, the series was rebooted ten years later with Rise of the Planet of the Apes.
Also in limited release this weekend: Clive Owen and Helen Mirren in the prison comedy Greenfingers, and Janeane Garofalo with an ensemble cast in the camp comedy Wet Hot American Summer.
20 years ago
A Time to Kill - July 26, 1996
The fourth John Grisham legal thriller to be adapted for film stars Matthew McConaughey as the lawyer for an outraged father (Samuel L. Jackson) who kills his daughter’s rapists. Sandra Bullock, Oliver Platt, and Donald Sutherland co-star as part of the legal team. A Time to Kill opened at #1, finally unseating Independence Day in its fourth weekend, with $14.8 million from 2,123 theaters. Its $108 million gross passed The Pelican Brief and The Client, and is still the second highest grossing adaptation of Grisham’s novels, behind The Firm.
Kingpin - July 26, 1996
Woody Harrelson, Randy Quaid, and Bill Murray star in this bowling comedy from The Farrelly brothers, their next project after the success of their first film, Dumb and Dumber in 1994. This remains one of the Farrelly’s weakest performing films, but they bounced back with There’s Something About Mary, and we got a superior bowling comedy two years later with The Big Lebowski. Kingpin opened at #5 with $5.5 million and took in a total of $25 million.
Supercop - July 26, 1996
The third entry of Jackie Chan’s Police Story films was actually completed and released in Hong Kong in 1992. Michelle Yeoh plays an Interpol director who works with him to take down an opium drug lord and recover funds from a secure bank account. Released this weekend only five months after Rumble in the Bronx, Supercop didn’t fare as well, opening at #6 with $5.5 million and grossing only $16.2 million in the U.S. compared to Rumble’s $32.3 million.
The Adventures of Pinocchio - July 26, 1996
This live action adaptation of the familiar story includes Martin Landau as the toymaker Gepetto but mostly focuses on the hijinks of the wooden doll in the midst of other humans. Sort of like a less creepy Chucky. Pinocchio landed at #8 with $3.8 million and took in $15.0 million during its run.
Joe’s Apartment - July 26, 1996
This comedy starring Jerry O’Connell was the first project for MTV Films and featured a plot that even the MTV audience didn’t love: an apartment full of talking cockroaches. Joe’s Apartment bombed with only $1.8 million for the weekend, and a $4.6 million gross that didn’t come near its $13 million budget.
25 years ago
Mobsters - July 26, 1991
This crime flick from Universal Pictures covers the rise of Lucky Luciano, Meyer Lansky, Frank Costello, and Bugsy Siegel, portrayed by Christian Slater, Patrick Dempsey, Costas Mandylor, and Richard Grieco. The glamorized take was a flop with critics, and Slater and Anthony Quinn later received Razzie Award nominations for their performances. While Terminator 2 held the #1 spot with $11 million in its fourth weekend, Mobsters opened at #2 with $6 million from 1,441 theaters and eventually took in $20.2 million, prompting memory of that old saying about crime.
V.I. Warshawski - July 26, 1991
This crime comedy did even worse in its debut, though. Kathleen Turner plays the private eye from the novels by Sara Paretsky in a plot surrounding the murder of a former hockey player. Results were abysmal compared to Turner’s 1980s hits, with Warshawski failing to break the top ten and earning just $3.6 million over the weekend and $11.1 million in total.
Life Stinks - July 26, 1991
This straight-up comedy from Mel Brooks is a weak imitation of Trading Places, with Brooks’s CEO character agreeing to live among the homeless on the streets of L.A. as part of a bet against his rival, played by Jeffrey Tambor. Its box office performance stunk, earning $1.9 million this weekend and only $4.1 million overall, an experience in failure for the often successful filmmaker.
Another You - July 26, 1991
The last buddy comedy and last lead roles for Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder features the two in a plot about mistaken identity and a wealthy fortune. Pryor stepped away from acting due to multiple sclerosis, and Wilder stopped making films but made an attempt at television with 1994’s Something Wilder. Another You marked an unfortunate end to two great comedic careers, earning just $1.5 million this weekend and $2.8 million overall.
30 years ago
Heartburn - July 25, 1986
Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson star in this comedy from director Mike Nichols and screenwriter Nora Ephron, about the ups and downs of marriage. Kevin Spacey has his first film role in a brief scene as an unnamed thief. Between Streep, Nicholson, Nichols, and co-star Maureen Stapleton, there was a pedigree of 21 previous Oscar nominations represented here. This one didn’t earn any, but did have the highest per-theater average of the weekend, earning $5.7 million from just 843 theaters compared to Aliens bringing in $8.6 million in its second weekend from 1,454 theaters. Top Gun, in its 11th weekend, was still in the top five and crossed over the $100 million mark this weekend. Heartburn grossed a total of $25.3 million.
Maximum Overdrive - July 25, 1986
This horror based on Stephen King’s short story Trucks marks his first and only time as a film director. Emilio Estevez stars in a plot where a close pass between Earth and a comet causes all electrical devices to go haywire and kill people. Vehicles pose a major problem to Estevez, Yeardley Smith, Frankie Faison, and Laura Harrington, in particular one big rig with Green Goblin body work on its cab. This fight for survival was not as successful as say Red Dawn, earning just $3.2 million in seventh place and grossing a maximum of $7.4 million. Maximum Overdrive remains one of the lowest grossing adaptations of King’s works.
Haunted Honeymoon - July 25, 1986
Gene Wilder wrote, directed, and starred in this horror comedy with his wife, Gene Wilder, along with Dom DeLuise. Wilder and Radner play a couple who plan to marry in his family’s castle but are disrupted by the house’s curse. DeLuise plays a drag role (“Aunt Kate”) that earned him the Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actress that year. Sadly this was the last role for Radner, who died of cancer three years later. Haunted Honeymoon failed at the box office with $2.7 million this weekend and only $8 million in total.
Out of Bounds - July 25, 1986
Anthony Michael Hall stars in this thriller as a teen who is framed for his brother’s murder by a drug ring boss. Hall was trying to play against his previous comedic roles, but that came with a price that audiences didn’t want to pay: the film opened at #11 with $2.1 million and grossed only $5 million compared to the tens of millions earned by his John Hughes collaborations.
Come back next week for another installment of Marquee History!