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20 years ago - May 1996

May 3rd new releases:
The Craft / The Great White Hype / Last Dance / The Pallbearer / Barb Wire
The teen witchcraft film The Craft had mixed reviews but it opened at #1 with $6.7 million from 1,757 theaters and made a total of $24.8 million. Boxing comedy The Great White Hype opened at #5 with $3.3 million. Last Dance (not to be confused with Save the Last Dance), a Sharon Stone prison drama, opened at #6 with $2.6 million. Rom-com The Pallbearer stars Gwyneth Paltrow and David Schwimmer; his success with television series Friends obviously didn't help, as the film opened at #9 with $2.3 million. And Baywatch star Pamela Anderson couldn't even get the comic-book-action flick Barb Wire into the top 10 for the weekend.


May 10th new releases:
Twister / Original Gangstas
One of my most vivid memories about seeing Twister was the double warning about the sound volume; a sign outside the theater plus an usher in the front of the theater informing the audience before the start that this movie was intentionally LOUD. At the Academy Awards, the film received nominations for Best Sound and Best Visual effects. It was no doubt both of these that drew audiences to see it, but there's plenty of fun dialogue between Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton as storm chasers taking on some serious tornadoes ("Cow."). My most enduring memory of Philip Seymour Hoffman will also probably be "It's coming!!" Twister opened at #1 in 2,414 theaters with $41 million, briefly taking the May opening record from Lethal Weapon 3 before Mission: Impossible would set the new record. Twister went on to earn $241 million in the U.S. and $494 million overall worldwide, making it the #2 box office movie of the year.

May 17th new releases:
Flipper / Heaven's Prisoners
Elijah Wood and Paul Hogan star in the family friendly dolphin movie Flipper, a remake of the 1963 film which was turned into a television series. Flipper opened at #2, well behind Twister with $4.2 million from 2,385 theaters, and eventually earned $20 million.


May 24th new releases:
Mission: Impossible / Spy Hard
Mission: Impossible (opening on the Wednesday before Memorial Day - May 22) was the first film version of the spy television series from the 1960s. The plot, under the direction of Brian DePalma, may have been hard to follow (something about a mole and stolen NOC list), but the style of its big moments set the standard for what would become Tom Cruise's first franchise role: eye-popping stunt pieces and scenes with high tension. The most memorable scene from this movie takes place in a brightly lit and very quiet vault in the CIA, as Ethan Hunt descends on a rope from the ceiling and very nearly activates a pressure-sensitive floor three times. The scene has been parodied both in movies and on television over the years. Mission: Impossible was the first movie to open at over 3,000 theaters, and its $45 million Monday-to-Friday and $75 million Wednesday-to-Monday takes were record openings for the month of May (broken the following year by The Lost World). Mission: Impossible went on to gross $180 million in the U.S. and $457 worldwide, putting it at #3 for the year. Meanwhile, Leslie Nielsen's spoof comedy Spy Hard opened at #3 with $10.4 million for the Memorial Day weekend.

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