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March 16th new releases:
Exit Wounds / Enemy at the Gates / Memento
Exit Wounds was notable this weekend for capturing the #1 spot with $18.4 million, making it the biggest opening of Steven Seagal’s career before or since. The box office performance was no doubt helped by the presence of rapper DMX; director Andrzej Bartkowiak had previously mixed martial arts with hip-hop in Romeo Must Die (starring Jet Li and Aaliyah) in 2000 with similar box office results. But the film that had critics talking was Memento, writer/director Christopher Nolan’s first significant theatrical release. Guy Pearce stars as Leonard Shelby, a man who suffers amnesia but uses Polaroid photos and notes to remind himself of what has happened in the past. He uses these clues to investigate who killed his wife. The mix of color sequences and black-and-white, intriguing mystery plot, and telling the story both forward and in reverse greatly impressed both critics. A year later, Memento earned Academy Award nominations for Best Original Screenplay and Best Editing and a Directors Guild Award nomination for Nolan, paving the way for him to helm Batman Begins. Though the Writers Guild did not nominate it at the time, they eventually included Memento in their 2005 list of the “101 Greatest Screenplays” in film history. On this weekend, Memento opened at 11 theaters and expanded to a peak of just over 500 by the end of May, eventually earning $25.5 million in the U.S.

March 23rd new releases:
Heartbreakers / The Brothers / Say It Isn’t So
The Sigourney Weaver-Jennifer Love Hewitt comedy Heartbreakers won this weekend with $11.8 million followed closely by The Brothers, starring Morris Chestnut, D.L. Hughley, Bill Bellamy, and Shemar Moore at #2 with $10.3 million.

March 30th new releases:
Spy Kids / Someone Like You / Tomcats / The Tailor of Panama
The box office winner for both this weekend and the month was Spy Kids from director Robert Rodriguez, who was known up to that time for adult action films Desperado and From Dusk Till Dawn. Alexa Vega and Daryl Sabara star as the children of Carla Gugino and Antonio Banderas. The parents are revealed as superspies when they are captured, requiring the kids to save them from Alan Cumming’s villain. Critics were impressed by the movie’s comedy, action, and treatment of the kids without belittling them or the audience. Spy Kids opened at #1 with $26.5 million from 3,104 theaters and eventually earned $112 million, the highest gross of Rogdriguez’s career so far. Two sequels followed in 2002 and 2003, and the most recent entry in the franchise was released in 2011 (to significantly lower numbers).

20 years ago - March 1996

March 1st new releases:
Up Close and Personal / Down Periscope
Robert Redford and Michelle Pfeiffer led the weekend with the journalism romance Up Close and Personal, opening at #1 with $11.1 million and a strong per-site average. Kelsey Grammer’s submarine comedy Down Periscope opened at #2 with $7.2 million.

March 8th new releases:
The Birdcage / Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco / Hellraiser 4: Bloodline / If Lucy Fell / Fargo
The Birdcage had the biggest opening of the weekend and the month, taking in $18.2 million for the #1 spot and holding it for three more weekends. The comedy from director Mike Nichols stars Robin Williams and Nathan Lane as a flamboyantly gay couple challenged with playing it straight to impress some conservative future in-laws. Critics and audiences were impressed by the writing and entertaining performances, and the film was also later nominated for a Best Art Direction Oscar. The Birdcage went on to earn $124 million, putting it in the top ten box office hits of the year.

The release with the most lasting legacy from this weekend is of course Fargo, the crime comedy from the Coen brothers. Frances McDormand plays Marge Gunderson, a pregnant and no-frills local Minnesota police chief who investigates a kidnapping gone wrong. William H. Macy, Steve Buscemi, Peter Stormare, and John Carroll Lynch co-star. The Coens’ peculiar sense of humor is present in both the sight gags (a dead body being fed into a wood chipper) and the dialogue, and the film helped bring the small-town Minnesota accent to national attention. Critics gave the film overwhelming praise, and at the Oscars it was nominated for Best Picture, Best Actor (Macy), Best Directo and Best Editing, as well as Best Actress (McDormand) and Best Writing - winning the last two. Fargo has since been entered into the National Film Registry. Released at 36 theaters this weekend, it expanded to over 700 theaters and eventually earned $24.6 million. Its lasting popularity with fans helped bring Fargo to television as a highly-praised series in 2014.

March 15th new releases:
Executive Decision / Ed
Kurt Russell’s terrorism thriller was something of a Jack Ryan copy that still managed decent reviews. Steven Seagal, who performs in an unusual co-starring role, thrilled audiences by dying early and earned a Razzie Award nomination for his troubles. Executive Decision opened at #2 with $12.0 million from 2,232 theaters and went on to earn $56.5 million.

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