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Welcome to Marquee History, the weekly column that takes you back to a time when you - or your parents - were younger. Prepare to become nostalgic (and shocked) at how much time has passed when you recall what was new in theaters 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30 years ago.

This week's highlights are the 30th anniversaries of Jagged Edge and Commando (an October opening weekend record setter), and a bad pair for Stallone.

Here are the movies that premiered on theater marquees this week...

10 years ago - October 7, 2005

Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
UK studio Aardman Animations first developed their claymation characters Wallace (an inventor) and his voiceless dog Gromit at the end of the 1980s, winning Oscars for shorts The Wrong Trousers in 1993 and A Close Shave in 1995. The studio’s first full-length movie was Chicken Run in 2000. Peter Sallis (in his early eighties) voices Wallace and Ralph Fiennes and Helen Bonham Carter voice other characters in the movie. Curse of the Were-Rabbit opened to great reviews and went on to win the Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film and the BAFTA award for Best British Film. Curse of the Were-Rabbit opened at #1 by unseating Flightplan with $16 million on 3,645 screens. It eventually grossed $56 million in the U.S., well over its production budget. A Wallace & Gromit video game was released in 2009, with Ben Whitehead providing the voice for Wallace.

In Her Shoes
Cameron Diaz and Toni Collette play sisters (the wild one and the conservative one respectively) in this comedy drama based on the novel by Jennifer Weiner. Shirley MacLaine plays their grandmother and won both the Golden Globe and Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress. Collette won the Satellite Award for Best Actress. In Her Shoes opened at #3 with $10 million on 2,808 screens. It went on to gross $32 million domestically.

Two For the Money
Matthew McConaughey and Al Pacino costar in this sports betting drama, with Rene Russo playing the love interest and Jeremy Piven playing a rival. This was McConaughey’s second movie of 2005 after the much more prominent Sahara. Reviews for Two For the Money were poor, leading to a #4 opening with $8.7 million on 2,391 screens. It eventually grossed just under $23 million domestically.

The Gospel
In his first major role, Idris Elba plays a church reverend in this modern tale of the prodigal son, played by Boris Kodjoe. Rob Hardy wrote and directed this faith-based film. Reviews were not good, but the movie earned three nominations at the Black Reel awards, for Elba, supporting actress Nona Gaye, and for Hardy’s screenplay. Opening on only 969 screens, The Gospel took the #5 spot with $7.5 million, the strongest per-site average of the weekend’s wide openers. It eventually grossed $15.7 million.

Waiting...
An example of one of those Hollywood fairy tales that gets people to move there with big dreams, first-time writer-director Rob McKittrick wrote this comedy about a restaurant while he was a waiter. Ryan Reynolds had recently gained popular attention with 2004’s Blade: Trinity and then the remake of The Amityville Horror earlier in 2005. Waiting puts his sarcastic charm up front among an ensemble cast, including Anna Faris, Justin Long, Luis Guzman, Chi McBride, Emmanuelle Chriqui, and Dane Cook as his comedy career was taking off. Reviews were not good, but it’s one of those who-cares kind of comedies that audiences forgive. Waiting opened at #7 with $6.0 million on half the screens of Flightplan. It eventually grossed $16.1 million and was followed by a sequel (without the now famous lead stars) called Still Waiting four years later.

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