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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 highlights are the 10th anniversary of United 93, the 15th anniversary of a disastrous box office weekend, and 25th anniversary of Stallone trying his hand at comedy.

Here are the movies that premiered on theater marquees this week...

10 years ago - April 28, 2006

RV
Barry Sonnenfeld directs Robin Williams in this road trip comedy about the man who is required to go on a business trip and tells his family that it’s their vacation. Cheryl Hines, singer JoJo, and Josh Hutcherson play part of his family while Jeff Daniels and Kristin Chenoweth play another family on the road. Will Arnett plays the plot’s antagonist. Poor reviews didn’t keep RV from opening at #1, and audiences made it the biggest Robin Williams live action film since Patch Adams. It was also his return to comedy after a string of dramas. RV took in $16.4 million from 3,639 theaters and went on to gross $71 million.

United 93
Four and a half years after the events of 9/11/2001, writer/director Paul Greengrass portrays the events on the hijacked flight that went down in Pennsylvania. With events aboard the plane being played out in real-time, and audiences being well-versed in the outcome of the story, it’s understandable that some audiences felt it would be too much to go through and instead stayed home. Still, despite that concern before release, United 93 earned the highest per-site average of the weekend along with strong reviews. It was later nominated for Best Director and Best Editing at the Oscars, and won in the same categories at the BAFTA Awards. United 93 opened at #2 with $11.4 million from 1,795 theaters and went on to earn $31.4 million in the U.S. for a total of $76 million worldwide.

Stick It
Life As We Know It television actress Missy Peregrym stars in this teen school sports action film as a former world-class gymnastics star who returns due to court order and clashes with her coach, played by Jeff Bridges. Kellan Lutz appears in his first film role. Jessica Bendinger had written the cheerleader comedy Bring It On, released six years earlier, and both wrote this film and directed it in her debut. Stick It opened at #3 with $10.8 million from and went on to gross $26.9 million, far short of the $68 million for Bring It On.

Akeelah and the Bee
Ten-year-old Keke Palmer stars in this spelling bee drama, with Laurence Fishburne playing her study coach. Angela Bassett co-stars as her mother. Doug Atchison’s screenplay was a Nicholl Fellowship winner, and under his direction the film later won an Image Award for Writing as well as Outstanding Actress for Palmer. Akeelah opened at #8 with $6 million and eventually brought in $18.8 million.

Also in limited release this weekend: Andy Garcia’s first time as director for the Havana tale The Lost City, and the Canadian drama based in India Water which was later nominated for a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar.

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