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30 years ago - August 9, 1985

Summer Rental
John Candy stars in this comedy directed by Carl Reiner, with Karen Austin, Kerri Green, Joey Lawrence, and Rip Torn. Candy was on a good run of comedies, having appeared in Stripes, Vacation, Splash, and Brewster's Millions earlier this summer. The movie failed to unseat Back to the Future at #1, but opened with $5.7 million at 1,584 theaters. At this time, audiences would have also seen ads for Volunteers, starring Tom Hanks and Candy, opening the following week.

Pee-wee's Big Adventure
Paul Reubens had a success with his Pee-wee Herman character as a stage act and Late Night guest starting in 1981, and brought this to theaters with Phil Hartman co-writing, and Tim Burton directing his first feature. Releasing at 829 theaters, it earned $4.5 million for the #3 spot, it became an audience hit and earned $40 million domestically, leading to the Pee-wee's Playhouse TV show the next year and the sequel Big Top Pee-wee in 1988.

Real Genius
Val Kilmer's second film, after Top Secret! the previous summer, didn't make a big splash when it was released. Opening at 990 theaters, it earned $2.5 million for #7, and reviews were decent but not great. This, to me, is a travesty, because after thousands of movies I've seen over the last 35 years, Real Genius is among my top five movies ever. I didn't see it in theaters, but thanks to video I watched it enough times (along with Back to the Future) that I specifically went to college as a physics major to study lasers six years later. The movie has endured with fans, even being featured in a 2009 Mythbusters episode to test the scene in which a laser makes enough popcorn to burst a house from the inside. Also a travesty: no official soundtrack available for purchase (which featured Carmen McRae, Tonio K, Y&T, The System, The Call, The Comsat Angels, Bryan Adams, Don Henley, Chaz Jenkel, the Payolas, and the iconic Tears For Fears song "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" in addition to some neat themes by composer Thomas Newman). Watch it again and note how themes of unmanned weapons systems are still relevant in 2015. Real Genius earned $12 million during its run and gave Val Kilmer a supporting role in Top Gun the following summer.

My Science Project
Another '80s sci-fi favorite of mine (though it may not hold up in later viewings) stars John Stockwell as a high school gearhead who discovers a long buried alien time/space portal device that
allows dangers from other times to threaten his town. Dennis Hopper plays his science teacher, and
Fisher Stevens plays his buddy. Stevens has gone on to become an Academy Award winning documentary director. My Science Project opened at a thousand theaters but only earned $1.5 million for the weekend.


Come back next week for another installment of Marquee History!

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