Marquee History
Weeks 25-27, 2016
By Max Braden
July 6, 2016
Welcome to Marquee History, the 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.
Sequels, sequels, sequels! July 4th’s anniversary movies feature some record breakers as well as iconic fan favorites. This edition stretches back to 1981.
Here are the movies that premiered on theater marquees this week...
10 years ago
Click - June 23, 2006
Adam Sandler had another hit with this comedy in which he plays a family man with a remote control that can speed up time. Click opened at #1 with $40 million from 3,749 theaters and went on to gross $137 million from its domestic run, plus another $100 million from overseas markets. Cars came in at #2 with $23.2 million in its third weekend, and the only other wide opening movie, Tyrese Gibson’s crime thriller Waist Deep, opened at #5 with $9.4 million from 1,004 theaters and went on to gross $21.3 million.
Superman Returns - June 28, 2006
The first Superman film in two decades stars Brandon Routh, with Kate Bosworth and Kevin Spacey as Lois Lane and Lex Luthor. The story takes place after the events of 1980’s Superman II. Superman Returns opened on the Wednesday before July 4th, which fell on the Tuesday the following week. By the 4th it had earned $108 million in the U.S. from 4,065 theaters heading toward a relatively so-so $200 million total (considering a $260 million budget), with another $191 million from overseas markets. There would be no sequel for Routh; Henry Cavill stepped in for a complete reboot in 2013 and 2016’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
The Devil Wears Prada - June 30, 2006
Superman may have won the box office this weekend, but this Anne Hathaway/Meryl Streep comedy about the fashion business won audiences and critics. Streep was later nominated for a Best Actress Oscar and won the Golden Globe for her role. Prada opened at #2 with $27.5 million over three days from 2,847 theaters and eventually grossed a total of $124 million, all on a shabby chic budget of just $35 million.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest - July 7, 2006
The second film in Disney’s swashbuckler adventure franchise brings back Johnny Depp and the cast of The Curse of the Black Pearl, this time chasing after the beating heart of Davy Jones (Bill Nighy underneath some tentacle effects) and his Flying Dutchman. Opening 4,133 theaters, its $135 million took the opening weekend record from Spider-Man and the single day record from Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith. Dead Man’s Chest was also the highest grossing film of the year with $423 million from the U.S. and a total of $1.06 billion worldwide. And in limited release this weekend, Richard Linklater’s rotoscope-animated mindbender A Scanner Darkly starred Robert Downey Jr. and Keanu Reeves.
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