Marquee History
Week 37 - 2016
By Max Braden
September 12, 2016
Welcome to another edition of 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.
A relatively insubstantial week for mid-September movie anniversaries also includes the significant anniversary of the 9/11 attacks and their effects on Hollywood.
Here are the movies that premiered on theater marquees this week...
10 years ago
Gridiron Gang - September 15, 2006
By the fall of 2006, Dwayne Johnson had had a handful of mixed box office results: the big budget sequel The Scorpion King in 2002 was his first and best result at $91 million, while 2005’s Doom was his weakest result at $28 million. In this sports drama he plays a probation officer who decides to create a football team for gang members and troubled teens, named the Kilpatrick Mustangs. Reviews were modest and the film would eventually take in $38 million, but at least he could say this one brought in more than the film’s budget. Gridiron Gang opened at #1 with $14.4 million from 3,504 theaters.
The Black Dahlia - September 15, 2006
Director Brian DePalma’s adaptation of James Ellroy’s novel stars Josh Hartnett and Aaron Eckhart as the LAPD detectives investigating the 1947 murder of Elizabeth Short. Scarlett Johansson co-stars. The Black Dahlia didn’t receive strong reviews, but Vilmos Zsigmond’s cinematography was nominated for an Academy Award. It is also the most recent wide release film directed by De Palma. The Black Dahlia opened at #2 with $10 million and earned a disappointing $22.5 million overall.
Everyone’s Hero - September 15, 2006
This CGI family-friendly baseball film from 20th Century Fox features the voice of Jake T. Austen as a kid named Yankee Irving, who travels to the 1932 World Series to return the stolen bat of Babe Ruth. William H. Macy, Robin Williams, Whoopi Goldberg, Rob Reiner and others also provide voices talent. Reviews were modest and Everyone’s Hero came in at #3 with $6 million from 2,896 theaters. It earned a total of $14.5 million.
The Last Kiss - September 15, 2006
Coming off his 2004 low-budget breakout hit Garden State, Zach Braff stars (under the direction of Tony Goldwyn) as a man whose doubts about his relationship with pregnant girlfriend Jacinda Barrett are made even more acute when he meets Rachel Bilson. Reviews for The Last Kiss were not as strong as for Garden State, and The Last Kiss would ultimately earn less than half of its gross (falling short of its own budget). The Last Kiss opened at #5 with $4.6 million from 1,357 theaters.
15 years ago
Notably, the films opening this weekend were released just three days after the hijacking attacks that occurred on Tuesday, September 11th. The trauma experienced by the country that week led to an uneasy choice of staying home to mourn or watch the news, or head to the theaters for a temporary distraction. It’s not easy to quantify the effect on the box office that weekend compared to previous years, given variances in movies released: in 2000 the top two films earned less than in 2001, but 1999 had the $18 million opening of Stigmata and continued strength of The Sixth Sense. 2001’s releases showed similar levels of per-theater-average activity as surrounding weeks. The most obvious effect on films was seen in content and advertising: films with scenes depicting airplanes or terrorism - such as Big Trouble, View From the Top, and Collateral Damage - delayed their release dates, and images of the World Trade Center towers were removed from the trailer for Spider-Man and other films. The films depicting the 9/11 events, United 93 and World Trade Center, were both released five years later.
Hardball - September 14, 2001
Keanu Reeves stars as the coach of an inner city kids' baseball team just to pay off a debt, but eventually comes to care for them. Diane Lane co-stars as the kids' teacher and his romantic interest. Reviews were mixed, but Hardball debuted ahead of last week’s The Musketeer and Two Can Play at That Game. Hardball opened at #1 with $9.3 million from 2,137 theaters and eventually grossed $40 million.
The Glass House - September 14, 2001
Leelee Sobieski and Trevor Morgan star in this thriller as orphaned teens who come under the care of a dangerous couple played by Diane Lane and Stellan Skarsgard. Reviews were poor, though audiences did give it a look, putting The Glass House at #2 with $5.7 million from 1,591 theaters. Its $18.1 million gross turned out to be little more than half of its production budget.
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