Marquee History
Week 41 - 2015
By Max Braden
October 10, 2015
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 highlight is the 30th anniversary of one of my favorite 1980s action comedies, Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins.
Here are the movies that premiered on theater marquees this week...
10 years ago - October 14, 2005
The Fog John Carpenter’s followup to 1978’s Halloween was The Fog, released in 1980. The Fog again starred Jamie Lee Curtis and earned a healthy $21 million during its run. Twenty-five years later, Carpenter remade the movie, this time serving as producer while Rupert Wainwright served as director. Tom Welling (Smallville), Maggie Grace (Lost), and Selma Blair starred. Carpenter’s previous movie Ghosts of Mars did not fare well, and The Fog was met with poor reviews. But thanks to a weak box office weekend, The Fog unseated Wallace and Gromit for the #1 spot with $11.7 million on 2,972 screens. It went on to earn $29 million.
Elizabethtown As I mentioned in Marquee History a few weeks ago, Cameron Crowe arguably hit his peak with Almost Famous in 2000, even though the movie wasn’t a financial success. A year later he directed Tom Cruise in Vanilla Sky, which grossed $100 million in the U.S. For his latest romantic comedy he had Orlando Bloom, who was at least part of two recent big franchises: The Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean. Unfortunately neither he nor Kirsten Dunst moved critics or audiences. Elizabethtown opened at #3 with $10.6 million on 2,516 screens. It went on to earn $26 million, falling short of its budget and the $32 million gross of Almost Famous.
Domino Like Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley too was well in the public eye, having broken out in 2003 with Pirates of the Caribbean and Love, Actually. In the summer of 2005 she had yet another lovely role in Pride & Prejudice. Domino puts her in more of a gritty role, chopping her hair and casting her alongside Mickey Rourke in this action drama based on the life real bounty hunter Domino Hardy (who died of an overdose only a few months before the movie was released). Director Tony Scott had a big hit in 2004 with Man on Fire, but didn’t do so well this year. Facing negative reviews, Domino opened at #7 with $4.6 million on 2,223 screens and grossed $10 million overall - the weakest performance of Scott’s directing career since the early 1980s.
Also opening in limited release this weekend: Nine Lives (Robin Wright, Jason Issacs, Sissy Spacek, Aidan Quinn, Glenn Close, Dakota Fanning), and Loggerheads (Bonnie Hunt, Chris Sarandon, Kip Pardue).
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