Marquee History
Week 51 - 2015
By Max Braden
December 21, 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.
With three dozen films covered this week, it’s difficult to pick one highlight. Casanova, Cast Away, The Color Purple… the list goes on!
Here are the movies that premiered on theater marquees this week...
10 years ago - December 23 (21-25), 2005
This was a tricky weekend for theaters, with Christmas Day falling on the Sunday. As a result, some of the opening movies skipped Friday and opened on Sunday, while Fun with Dick and Jane and Cheaper by the Dozen 2 opened on Wednesday the 21st.
Fun with Dick and Jane
This remake of the 1977 comedy starring George Segal and Jane Fonda stars Jim Carrey as a corporate worker who is on the verge of bankruptcy when he and his wife (Tea Leoni) resort to crime to pay the bills. Eventually they target his corrupt boss, played by Alec Baldwin. Reviews were poor, but audiences kept the money rolling in over the holiday. Fun with Dick and Jane opened at #3 behind King Kong and Narnia with $14.3 million from 3,056 theaters and eventually earned $110 million overall.
Cheaper by the Dozen 2
Steve Martin returns with Bonnie Hunt as the parents of a large clan who bring the family back to their old lake vacation house to strengthen the family bond. Eugene Levy plays the wealthier head of another large family, which sparks competition between the two. Reviews were poor, and both Levy and Hilary Duff received Razzie Award nominations. Cheaper by the Dozen 2 opened at #4 with $9.3 million from 3,175 theaters and eventually went on to earn $82 million. That fell short of the $132 million for the first movie but ahead of the $53 million for Dennis Quaid’s similar Yours, Mine, and Ours.
The Ringer
This comedy stars Jackass comedian/stuntman Johnny Knoxville as a regular guy who decides to enter the Special Olympics as a con to win money for both his uncle and his injured friend. Posing as a developmentally disabled athlete, he develops a relationship with a volunteer, played by Katherine Heigl, as well as his actual disabled teammates. It was a risky plotline, but the Farrelly brothers eventually got the Special Olympics to endorse the production of the movie. Reviews were fair. The Ringer opened at #7 with $7.7 million from 1,829 theaters.
Rumor Has It
Jennifer Aniston stars in this comedy from director Rob Reiner, which poses the possibility that her character’s grandmother, played by Shirley MacLaine, may have been the inspiration for the novel The Graduate, and that the character played by Kevin Costner might be her father. Mark Ruffalo, Richard Jenkins, and Mena Suvari co-star. Reviews were not great. Rumor Has it opened at #10 with $3.4 million from 2,815 theaters and went on to earn $43 million.
Munich
Steven Spielberg’s drama covers the Israeli response to the PLO terrorist attack on the 1972 Summer Olympics. Eric Bana, Geoffrey Rush, Daniel Craig, Ciaran Hinds, Mathieu Kassovitz, and Hanns Zischler form a team of Mossad assassins who take down targets one by one. Reviews praised the look and style of the film over the performances. The film received Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Score, and Best Film Editing. Munich opened at #10 with $6.0 million from 532 theaters this weekend, expanded to just under 1,500 on January 6th, and went on to earn $47 million.
Wolf Creek
This horror film from Australia tells the grim fate of three backpackers killed in the Australian outback. U.S. critics were not enthusiastic about the violence, but it impressed Australian critics. The film was shown at Sundance and Cannes earlier in the year. Wolf Creek opened at #12 with $2.8 million from 1,749 theaters and eventually earned $16.1 million in the U.S. and a total of $27.7 worldwide.
Casanova
For me, it’s a tough choice between this and A Knight’s Tale for my favorite performance of Heath Ledger’s career. He’s fantastic as The Joker in The Dark Knight, of course, but his charm is in full effect here. The comedy stars Ledger as the 18th century Italian romancer who meets his match in a woman (Sienna Miller) who has been secretly writing treatises about women’s rights and independence. Oliver Platt, Lena Olin, Omid Djalili, Natalie Dormer, and Jeremy Irons co-star. Critics didn’t give this film much notice but it’s one of my favorites of the year. Casanova opened in 37 theaters this week and expanded to wide release on January 6th. It eventually grossed $11.3 million.
The White Countess, a romance from Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel starring Ralph Fiennes and Natasha Richardson opened in very limited release this weekend and eventually earned $1.6 million.
The New World
Terrence Malick’s historical drama about the founding of Jamestown stars Colin Farrell as John Smith and Q’orianka Kilcher as Pocahontas. Reviews were good and the film received an Oscar nomination for Best Cinematography. The New World opened in three theaters on Christmas and expanded to just over 800 sites on January 20th, eventually earning $12.7 million.
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