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15 YEARS AGO

John Q. - February 15, 2002
This Nick Cassavetes moral dilemma stars Denzel Washington as a father who takes hostages in a hospital in order to secure a vital organ transplant for his son.  Robert Duvall plays the hostage negotiator, and James Woods, Anne Heche, and Ray Liotta have supporting roles.  Despite reviews criticizing the film’s overt agenda, audiences undoubtedly showed up because Denzel had just been nominated this week for his role in Training Day.  This put John Q. at #1 for the weekend with $20.2 million ($23.6 million over the four-day President’s Day holiday weekend) from 2,466 theaters, and a $71 million gross that was just shy of the $76 million earned by Training Day when that film left theaters in December.

Crossroads - February 15, 2002
Before Shonda Rhimes became the queen of ABC TV dramas she worked in film and wrote this teen road trip, which became her first produced feature film.  Britney Spears stars in her debut along with Zoe Saldana and Taryn Manning.  Reviews were not great and the box office wasn’t something you might expect from a huge star like Spears, but then again it significantly outperformed Mariah Carey’s Glitter, which had bombed at the box office five months earlier.   Crossroads opened at #2 with $14.4 million and took in a domestic gross of $37.1 million.

Return to Never Land - February 15, 2002
Almost 50 years after the first Peter Pan, Disney released this animated sequel, featuring the daughter of Wendy in a similar adventure with the Lost Boys, Peter Pan, and Tinker Bell.  This failed to excite critics and audiences, but fortunately had a modest budget to recover.  Return to Never Land opened at #3 with $11.9 million and closed with $48.4 million.





Hart’s War - February 15, 2002
Something of a cross between Stalag 17 and Hogan’s Heroes, this World War II drama stars Colin Farrell as a U.S. Army soldier captured by the Germans, who becomes the defense counsel for fellow prisoners in a murder case within their POW camp.  Bruce Willis plays the prisoners’ leading officer who uses the trial as a decoy for sabotage against the Germans.  Terrence Howard and Cole Hauser have supporting roles, and Sam Worthington appears in his first notable role.  It’s a decent film but an expensive failure:  Hart’s War opened at #7 with $7.7 million and finished with only $19 million against a $70 million budget.

Super Troopers - February 15, 2002
This cop comedy from Jay Chandrasekhar’s Broken Lizard group was originally passed over by critics and audiences but has become a cult favorite.  Fans probably know it as one of those stupid-funny comedies that get better with medicinal accompaniment.  It opened this weekend at #9 with $6.2 million, eventually earning a decent $18.4 million.  Superfans may already know:  15 years later, the sequel Super Troopers 2 is currently in production thanks to crowdsource funding.

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