Marquee History
Weeks 24, 2016
By Max Braden
June 13, 2016
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 25th anniversary of Robin Hood: Men in Tights, and 30th anniversary of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
Here are the movies that premiered on theater marquees this week...
10 years ago
Nacho Libre - June 16, 2006
Jack Black stars in this comedy written by Mike White about a cook who works at an orphanage while taking on a secret life as a masked Mexican professional wrestler (lucha libre) named Nacho. Black and White (oley!) had both worked together on School of Rock three years earlier, and director Jared Hess had a surprise hit with his low budget project Napoleon Dynamite in 2004. This film didn’t exactly win over critics but it managed to be financially successful. Nacho Libre opened at #2 behind holdover Cars with $29.3 million from 3,070 theaters, and went on to gross $80 million in the U.S.
The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift - June 16, 2006
This third entry in the car-focused action franchise was something of a spinoff, since it didn’t feature Vin Diesel or Paul Walker, and is out of the sequential timeline of their movies. Sung Kang’s character Han plays a significant supporting role and the events of this story later became an important catalyst for the plot of 2015’s Furious 7. Lucas Black (Friday Night Lights) stars as a rebellious teenager from the U.S. transplanted to Japan, where he learns drifting and goes after the Drift King title held by Brian Tee’s character. Drifting has been popular in Japanese culture for years, highlighted by the animated series Initial D, but under-appreciated in America, where the Formula D professional motorsport series had just come into existence only a few years before this film. Reviews of the acting and plot were weak and without the franchise’s major stars, audiences didn’t support this film as much as its two predecessors. Tokyo Drift opened at #3 with $23.9 million and only made $62 million in the U.S. However, it did earn $95 million from overseas markets, and director Justin Lin was brought back for the fourth, fifth, and sixth movies in the franchise.
The Lake House - June 16, 2006
Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock are back together again 12 years after co-starring in Speed. This bittersweet romance has a sci-fi element, where their characters live in the same house but two years apart, communicating via letters in the house’s mailbox. Despite weak reviews, this film’s box office results were within range of Bullock’s other films since her $106 million hit Miss Congeniality in 2000. The Lake House opened at #4 with $13.6 million, and went on to gross $52 million.
Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties - June 16, 2006
This CGI animated comedy is the sequel to the 2004 Garfield film inspired by the comic strip. Bill Murray returns as the voice of Garfield, with Breckin Meyer playing Jon Arbuckle. Jennifer Love Hewitt plays Jon’s love interest. Tim Curry voices a royal cat in London who looks just like Garfield. A Tail of Two Kitties attracted about a third of its predecessor’s domestic audience, opening at #7 with $7.2 million, going on to a $28.4 million total in the U.S. However, both Garfield films were popular in foreign markets, where this one earned $113 million.
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