Marquee History
January 2017
By Max Braden
January 30, 2017
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.
Looking back at January releases, this edition includes Star Wars controversy, Rebecca De Mornay’s devious 1992 takeover of the box office, and the 30th anniversary of Woody Allen's Radio Days.
Here are the movies that premiered on theater marquees this week...
10 YEARS AGO
January 5, 2007
As with most early January weekends, the top movies were carryovers from December: Night at the Museum held #1 with $23.7 million, followed by The Pursuit of Happyness with $12.8 million, and Children of Men expanding wide with $10.1 million. Hilary Swank’s teacher drama Freedom Writers led the new openers at #4 with $9.4 million from 1,360 theaters for an average that beat Night at the Museum. The animated animated fairytale from Lionsgate, Happily N’Ever After, opened at #6 with $6.6 million, and Cedric the Entertainer’s spy comedy Code Name: Cleaner had a weak opening at #12 with $4.2 million.
January 12, 2007
Back in 2001, Save the Last Dance set the January opening weekend record with $23 million and set off a wave of modern teen dance-dramas. Stomp the Yard stars Columbus Short, Meagan Good, and Chris Brown, and features fraternity stepping at a historically black college. Stomp the Yard took the #1 spot for Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, earning $21.8 million ($25.8 million 4-day) from 2,051 theaters. It held #1 in its second weekend and grossed a total of $61 million (compared to Step Up’s $65 million in 2006 and Save the Last Dance’s $91 million in 2001). Also opening this weekend: the Nick Cassavetes' crime drama Alpha Dog (with early roles for Justin Timberlake and Olivia Wilde) at #6 with $6.4 million, and crocodile horror film Primeval at #8 with $6 million.
Also making news this weekend was the absence of a Golden Globes ceremony due to the Writers Guild of America strike, which was ongoing through mid-February.
January 19, 2007
For the third January weekend, Stomp the Yard held the #1 spot in close competition against Night at the Museum, each taking in $12 million. Dreamgirls had expanded into wide release the previous weekend and rose to #3 this weekend with $8 million. The only new wide release was the poorly reviewed remake of The Hitcher, starring Sean Bean and Sophia Bush, which opened at #4 with $7.8 million from 2,831 theaters.
January 26, 2007
Spoof comedy writers Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer had a box office success with Scary Movie in 2000 and followed that with the less impressive Date Movie in 2006. Their second directorial entry, Epic Movie, features Jemima Mays in a send up of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Chronicles of Narnia, and others. Epic Movie was #1 this weekend with $18.6 million from 2,801 theaters, eventually earning $39.7 million. Coming in at #2 this weekend with $14.6 million, Smokin’ Aces starred an ensemble of hitmen including Ryan Reynolds, Alicia Keys, Taraji P. Henson, Chris Pine, Jason Bateman, and Ben Affleck, all out to kill Jeremy Piven’s casino owner character. The Jennifer Garner/Timothy Olyphant romantic comedy Catch and Release opened at #5 with $7.5 million, and the teen werewolf horror/romance Blood and Chocolate opened in moderate release at #16 with $2.0 million.
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