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25 years ago

City Slickers - June 7, 1991
If there’s one movie that defines Billy Crystal’s career, it’s probably When Harry Met Sally...but his next movie was a significant financial and critical hit. He and his city friends played by Bruno Kirby (who co-starred with Crystal in When Harry Met Sally) and Daniel Stern (coming off the huge hit Home Alone seven months earlier) try to reestablish their manhood by participating in a cattle drive from New Mexico to Colorado. Jack Palance plays a gruff trail guide. Palance had been twice nominated for Oscars in the 1950s, and at age 72 Palance received his third nomination. At the following Academy Awards ceremony he famously performed one-armed pushups on stage, and won the award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. City Slickers opened at #1 with $13.0 million from 1,992 theaters and grossed $124 million overall, the fifth highest of the year’s releases. Crystal and Palance returned for the sequel in 1994.

Jungle Fever - June 7, 1991
Writer-director Spike Lee’s interracial romance stars Wesley Snipes and Annabella Sciorra in an adulterous relationship in New York City. Lonette McKee, Ossie Davis, John Turturro, and Samuel L. Jackson co-star. Jackson was nominated at the Cannes Film Festival, and the film received strongly positive reviews. Opening at #3 with $5.3 million from 636 theaters, Jungle Fever scored a significantly higher per-site average than City Slickers. Jungle Fever eventually earned $32.4 million, the best of Spike Lee’s five films to that time.

Soapdish - May 31, 1991
This great comedy depicts the twists and turns in the production of a daytime television soap opera. Sally Field stars as an aging star of the show fending off younger actresses played by Cathy Moriarty and Elisabeth Shue. Whoopi Goldberg, Kevin Kline, and Robert Downey Jr. co-star. Kevin Kline received a Golden Globe nomination for his performance. Soapdish opened at #2 behind Backdraft with $6.7 million from 1,275 theaters and slipped to #5 for the June 7th weekend. Eventually it earned $36.4 million.

Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead - June 7, 1991
Christina Applegate stars as a teenager who takes charge or her sibling household after her mother is away for the summer and their babysitter dies. Keith Coogan, Danielle Harris, Christopher Pettiet, and David Duchovny (then 30 years old) play her siblings, while Josh Charles plays a love interest. On weak reviews, Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead opened at #6 with $4.2 million, and eventually earned $24.1 million.

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