Mid-October brought out a mixture of solid hits and memorable flops. However, there is one massively iconic movie celebrating an anniversary this weekend. Happy 25th, Exit to Eden!
One Year Ago--October 12, 2018: Venom had a sharp drop, but was able to easily stay #1. A Star is Born had a shallow drop, and easily stayed #2. That was bad news for the #3 movie, which came into the fall looking like a guaranteed blockbuster and Oscar contender. Instead, First Man, Damien Chazelle's biopic of Neil Armstrong, with Ryan Gosling as the legendary astronaut and Claire Foy as his wife, ran into a ridiculous controversy a month before it opened when some conservatives complaining that there wasn't a scene of the American flag being planted on the moon, and the film oddly never recovered, despite mostly excellent reviews. It would open to $16 million and would top out at only $44.9 million. It also missed out completely on all major Oscar nominations, only getting four technical nods (winning for Visual Effects). Nearly taking out First Man was the 4th place film, Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween. The sequel to the surprise 2015 hit largely retreaded the plot of the original (R.L. Stine's monsters go on a rampage in a small town), but with an all-new cast, except for Jack Black (in his second family-friendly comedy-fantasy of the fall, after The House With a Clock in Its Walls), whose role is much reduced. Box office was also much reduced, as Haunted Halloween opened to $15.8 million and wrapped with $46.7 million, a big drop from the original's $80.1 million. After Smallfoot and Night School came the neo-noir Bad Times at the El Royale, in which an all-star cast (including Jeff Bridges, Jon Hamm, Dakota Johnson, and Chris Hemsworth) play various lowlifes who all find themselves in the titular kitschy, run-down motel that straddles the California/Nevada border. Even with an excellent cast, a film like this needs very good reviews, and not enough critics had a good time at Bad Times to get those raves. The thriller would open to $7.1 million and end its run with $17.8 million. Opening outside the Top 10 was the awkwardly-tilted Gosnell: The Trial of America's Biggest Serial Killer, about the Philadelphia abortion provider who was convicted of manslaughter for killing one of his patients and murder for killing at least three babies born alive. As utterly horrific as his crimes may have been, calling him "America's biggest serial killer" right there in the title suggests exactly who the audience for this film (which stars 90s TV fixtures-turned-conservative-media darlings Dean Cain and Janine Turner). The handful of critics who did review the movie were surprisingly mixed, though even those who liked it did say the film was "preaching to the choir". Gosnell took in $1.2 million that first weekend, and ultimately grossed $3.7 million. Opening in limited release was Beautiful Boy, one of two failed Oscar bait movies this fall about the relationship between a parent and their drug-addicted son, played by an Oscar nominee who was in Lady Bird, and one of two failed Oscar bait movies this fall with the word "Boy" in the title starring an Oscar nominee who was in Lady Bird. This one had Steve Carell as the parent and Timothee Chalamet as the kid. The film wasn't all that well-received, though Chalamet was nominated for a Golden Globe and was widely expected to get his second consecutive Oscar nomination, though he ultimately ended up falling short. Either way, Beautiful Boy did OK on the art house circuit, but never really broke out, finishing with $7.7 million (the other two movies were, respectively Ben is Back and Boy Erased, both starring Lucas Hedges).
Five Years Ago--October 10, 2014: Not gone from the top of the charts was Gone Girl, which held up very well, and had a much more comfortable margin of victory than it did the previous weekend. Opening at #2 was Dracula Untold, Universal's first, ill-fated attempted to launch the Dark Universe, a series of interconnected horror movies. Luke Evans starred as real-life Romanian ruler Vlad the Impaler, who probably didn't really get turned into a vampire to save his kingdom from an invading Ottoman Empire army. Critics though the whole thing was ridiculous, but audiences turned out at least for opening weekend, as the film started with $23.5 million. Like a lot of horror movies, even ones that are more action than horror, it stalled out quickly, finishing its run with $56.3 million. Universal decided to wait until the higher-profile remake of The Mummy to start the Dark Universe (oops). Opening in third was Disney's Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. The movie mostly borrowed the title and the concept of a kid having a bad day from the (very slim) children's classic. In this version, the entire family has a bad day, including parents Steve Carell and Jennifer Garner and older brother Dylan Minnette. Critics, as they usually were with modestly-budgeted live-action Disney comedies back when Disney made modestly-budgeted live-action comedies, were lukewarm, but the film did solid business, opening to $18.4 million and ultimately grossing a solid $67 million. After Annabelle in 4th came The Judge, the film that Robert Downey, Jr. decided to use his Iron Man clout to make. Here, he basically plays Tony Stark if he wasn't a zillionaire superhero but instead just an incredibly cocky attorney. After the death of his mother, Downey returns to his small hometown and to his frosty relationship with his father (Robert Duvall) the titular judge, who is soon charged with murder after potentially being involved in a fatal hit-and-run. Reviews for Duvall (who would get an Oscar nomination) were good, but the rest of the film was largely panned as melodramatic. Audience response showed why films like this aren't really made much anymore, as it opened to $13.1 million and topped out at $47.1 million. After The Equalizer in 6th is Addicted, an erotic drama about a woman (Sharon Leal) who realizes she's a sex addict after beginning affairs with not one but two different men, both of whom (of course) turn out to be violent jerks. Critics were pretty unanimous in their derision for the film, which opened to $7.5 million and topped out at $17.4 million. Opening outside the Top 10 was the documentary Meet the Mormons, a film by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints about members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, including the head football coach of the Naval Academy and a former Air Force flyer who participated in the Berlin Airlift. Although officially produced to introduce the church to a wider audience, the film was mostly seen by Mormons, who enthusiastically turned out, as the film made $2.5 million on only 317 screens. It earned $6.1 million by the end of its run, an excellent total for a documentary. Opening in limited release was Whiplash, an intense drama about a up-and-coming jazz drummer (Miles Teller) and his relationship with a teacher (J.K. Simmons) who might help him to greatness if he doesn't completely destroy him first. Contrary to popular belief, this wasn't director Damien Chazelle's first feature film (he had previously directed another musical drama, Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench, which had played festivals in 2009 before a brief art house release), but it was the one that put him on the map. Simmons got the lion's share of praise, as the prolific character actor won an Oscar for his performance, and the Best Picture nominee won two other Oscars out of the five it was nominated for. Box-office-wise, the film did decently, ultimately earning $13.1 million. Also opening in limited release was the comedy/drama St. Vincent, starring Bill Murray as a misanthrope who slowly begins to thaw when he befriends the lonely kid next door. Melissa McCarthy played the kid's distrustful mom, and Naomi Watts played a prostitute who is only of Murray's few friends. Reviewers in general liked the movie, which got Golden Globe nominations for Comedy/Musical and Murray's performance, as well as a SAG nomination for Watts, and it did all right business when it eventually went wide, grossing $44.1 million.
Ten Years Ago--October 9, 2009: Opening at #1 was Couples Retreat. The comedy, directed by Peter Billingsley (yes, Ralphie from A Christmas Story) was about four couples (Vince Vaughn/Malin Akerman, Jon Favreau/Kristin Davis, Jason Bateman/Kristen Bell, Faizon Love/Kali Hawk) who go to a luxury tropical resort that specializes in couples counseling. They think the counseling will be optional, but instead, they discover it is to be the primary part of their daily itinerary . Despite the starry cast, critics were not kind to the film, but audiences disagreed, as it opened to $34.3 million on its way to $109.2 million. Meanwhile, Paranormal Activity, which had been building buzz from mindnight shows the last two weekends, finally started showing with standard, all-day showtimes in 160 theaters, and promptly jumped to #4, with a per-screen average of nearly $50,000. Also opening in limited release was Good Hair, a documentary hosted by Chris Rock all about the African-American hair industry. Critics were generally kind to the film, and Rock's name helped pull in an audience that would normally wouldn't go see docs, as it had a final gross of $4.2 million. An Education also began its limited release. The British drama starred the relatively unknown Carey Mulligan as a teenager who meets and falls for a charming older man (Peter Sarsgaard) who may not be as he seems. The film got across the board raves from critics, and would be nominated for three Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Actress for Mulligan. It also did well on the art house circuit, grossing $12.6 million.
Fifteen Years Ago--October 8, 2004: Fish mobster cartoon Shark Tale repeated at #1. Opening in second was Friday Night Lights, an adaption of the 1990 non-fiction book about the 1988 football season of Permian High School in Odessa, Texas. Billy Bob Thornton starred as Permian's head coach, driving his team toward the state title game, with Lucas Black, Garrett Hedlund, Derek Luke, Jay Hernandez, and Lee Thompson Young as various members of the team, Tim McGraw as Hedlund's alcoholic father, and Connie Britton in the relatively minor role as Mrs. Coach (the subsequent TV series would be set in a fictional Texas town, and Kyle Chandler and Britton played different characters). Critics were kind to the film, and it did OK, making $20.3 million opening weekend and topping out at $61.3 million. After Ladder 49 in third, opening in fourth was Taxi. Produced during the brief window of time when Jimmy "Giggles" Fallon was allowed to star in major motion pictures, this action comedy (based on a French movie and not on the classic 70s sitcom) starred Fallon as an incompetent cop and worse driver who teams up with Queen Latifah, a cab driver with a custom taxi and dreams of racing in NASCAR, to track down a gang of supermodel Portuguese bank robbers led by Gisele Bundchen, the future Mrs. Tom Brady. With such a ridiculous plot, it is no wonder that critics thought the film was awful. Audiences agreed, as Taxi opened to a disappointing $12 million and ended its run with $36.6 million. The Forgotten came in fifth. Opening in 6th is Raise Your Voice, a vehicle for former Disney Channel star Hillary Duff, as a teen mourning her recently deceased brother while attending a summer music camp in LA, over the objections of her overly protective father (who thinks she's merely staying with her aunt). Critics labeled the whole thing melodramatic, and audiences decided they could live without seeing a Hillary Duff vehicle, as it opened to $4 million and finished its run with $10.4 million. Opening in limited release was Vera Drake, a British drama directed by Mike Leigh. Imelda Staunton starred as Vera, a housecleaner in the 1950s who has a side volunteer job performing illegal abortions. Critics loved the drama, which also featured future Oscar nominees Sally Hawkins and Lesley Manville in supporting roles. The Academy liked it as well, as Staunton was nominated for Best Actress and Leigh was nominated for Best Director. Box office-wise, the film wasn't a big hit, but did OK in the art houses, grossing $3.8 million.
Twenty Years Ago--October 8, 1999: Despite (or perhaps because of) the giant, glaring plot hole that invalidates the entire premise of the movie, Double Jeopardy had triple weekend wins, managing to edge newcomer Random Hearts by about half a million dollars, despite the latter starring Harrison Ford and Kristin Scott Thomas. The two of them play respectively a DC cop and a Congresswoman who learn that their spouses were killed in a plane crash. Further investigation reveals that they were having an affair. In trying to put the pieces of their spouses' secret lives together, Ford and Thomas fall in love. The Sidney Pollock romantic drama has a truly impressive cast, but despite the pedigree of all those involved, critics found the film to be rather tedious. Audiences listened, as Hearts opened to a mediocre $13 million and closed with just $31.5 million. Three Kings and American Beauty came in 3rd and 4th. Opening in fifth is Superstar, part of a late 90s/early 00s glut of Saturday Night Live spinoff films. This one focuses on Molly Shannon's Mary Katherine Gallagher, a Catholic high school student determined to win the most popular guy in school (Will Ferrell) by winning the school's talent show (I'll just point out here that Shannon was 35 at the time, and Ferrell was 33). Glynis Johns, for some reason, came out of retirement to play Shannon's grandmother, in what is most likely her final film. Critics were actually somewhat kinder to Superstar than Random Hearts, though they still largely panned it, as they did for nearly all SNL movies. Superstar opened to $8.9 million and topped out at $30.6 million, which actually makes it the fourth-highest grossing SNL movie ever, behind the two Wayne's Worlds and The Blues Brothers. Opening on two screens was Boys Don't Cry, directed by Kimberly Pierce. The Next Karate Kid star Hillary Swank, who had largely been bumping around various TV projects and the occasional B-list movie since that big break that wasn't, played Brandon Teena, a newcomer to a small town in Nebraska who befriends some locals, including Chloe Sevigny. She falls for Brandon, but discovers he's transgender when they have sex. She decides she's fine with that, but Brandon's other new friends, who also eventually discover he is trans, don't react so well. Boys Don't Cry opened to near-unanimous praise, with Swank's performance especially being singled out. She would win Best Actress at that year's Oscars, while Sevigny would be nominated for Supporting Actress. The acclaim and Oscar win helped propel the film to a final gross of $11.5 million.
Twenty-Five Years Ago--October 14, 1994: Once upon a time in Hollywood (or Manhattan Beach), a young film store clerk dreamed of becoming a filmmaker. After his directorial debut, a low-budget thriller chronicling the aftermath of a jewelry heist gone very, very wrong, was a critical hit and a much-buzzed about title in the fall of 1992, Quentin Tarantino got the opportunity to make an even more ambitious film, a twisty, 2 1/2 hour, non-chronological pitch black comedy about various LA lowlifes and the extraordinary events that happen to them. Pulp Fiction caused a sensation at Cannes, where it won the Palme d'Or, and any worries that the near-unanimous critical acclaim wouldn't translate to box office were eased when the film opened at #1 with $9.3 million. Pulp Fiction quickly became the sensation of the fall (is there anyone who, by Halloween, didn't know what a quarter-pounder with cheese was called in France?), which helped fuel its long legs. The 7 Oscar nominations it eventually earned, including for Picture, Director, Actor for John Travolta, whose career was revitalized from this, Supporting Actor for Samuel L. Jackson, who graduated from "Hey, it's that guy!' roles forever (and somehow has not been nominated for an Oscar since), and Supporting Actress for Uma Thurman, and winning for Tarantino's and Roger Avary's screenplay. It eventually finished it's long run (stretching past the 1995 Oscar ceremony) with $107.9 million, though its impact proved to be far, far bigger than that gross. For whatever reason, people did go see other movies besides Pulp Fiction that weekend. After The Specialist at #2, the very meta horror film Wes Craven's New Nightmare arrived at #3. The 7th entry in the decade-old Nightmare on Elm Street series, and the first directed by Craven since the original, this had Craven, Freddy actor Robert Englund, and stars of the original John Saxon and Heather Langenkamp all playing themselves, as Langenkamp discovers that a evil spirit has chosen the personage of Freddy Kruger to enter the real world, and that she is the only one who can stop it. Critics, for the most part, liked the film, praising the decision to take Freddy back to the scary, mostly silent evil he had been in the beginning, before subsequent directors turned him into a quip machine. Audiences, expecting a routine slasher flick, were considerably more confused, as the film opened to $6.7 million and ended its run with $18.1 million, the lowest total in the franchise. Craven would have much more success with a meta horror film two years later with Scream. The River Wild came in 4th, ahead of Little Giants. The family comedy, which owes its existence to the success of The Mighty Ducks two years earlier (which owes its existence to The Bad News Bears 16 years earlier) is the usual tale of a group of ragtag, unathletic, and/or nerdy kids who form a sports team (in this case, football) and end up showing they're every bit the equal of the tougher, more athletic team they're competing against. Rick Moranis plays the ragtag team's coach, while Ed O'Neill (for some reason playing Moranis's brother) is the other team's coach. Devon Sawa, as the ragtag team's surprisingly good quarterback, is the only kid actor who had much success after this one. Despite being the first film aimed at kids to open since Camp Nowhere weeks earlier, audiences followed the critics' dismissive attitude to the film, as it opened to $4.8 million and hit the showers with $19.3 million. After Only You and the 15-week-old Forrest Gump came the film that, in a year filled with horribly misconceived projects, was possibly the most horribly misconceived film of all. Based on a minor Anne Rice novel, Exit to Eden starred Dana Delany as the mistress of a tropical resort devoted to kinky pleasures, and Australian actor Paul Mercurio making his American film debut and departure as a photographer with a spanking fetish who falls for her. Not from the novel is the subplot involving Dan Ackroyd and Rosie O'Donnell, both of whom don bondage and leather gear at some point during the film, as undercover cops tracking jewel thieves to the island. Directing it all was America's favorite directing grampa, Garry Marshall, who had, four years prior, made a movie about a hooker and the wealthy john that hired her for a week, which was only a couple of cuss words away from being fun for the entire family. Critics couldn't believe what they were seeing, and audiences rightly fled from any theater showing this, as it opened to $3 million and said the safeword when it hit $6.8 million.
Thirty Years Ago--October 13, 1989: Five years before Pulp Fiction, Travolta had an earlier comeback, though that one wouldn't last. Look Who's Talking, easily 1989's most unexpected smash, starred Kristie Alley as a woman impregnated by her much older, married boyfreind (George Segal). When she catches him with yet another woman, she decides to raise the baby herself. Travolta plays a cab driver who ends up befriending Alley and helps her with babysitting, and Olympia Dukakis as Alley's disapproving mother. The central gimmick was that we could hear the thoughts of the baby voiced by Bruce Willis, who would later share two antagonistic scenes with Travolta in Pulp Fiction. Critics weren't really all that impressed, but audiences loved it, as the Amy Heckerling-directed film opened to $12.1 million and would spend over a month at the top of the chart, eventually grossing $140.1 million, good enough to be the 4th highest-grossing film of 1989. It also spent most of the 90s as the highest-grossing film ever directed by a woman until Deep Impact and Doctor Dolittle passed it in 1998. Opening in 2nd was Halloween 5. The horror film picks up a year after Halloween 4, when Michael Myers had been presumed killed. He wasn't, of course, and arrives back in town to try to kill his niece (Danielle Harris), while being hunted himself once again by Donald Pleasence. Critics considered it a typical slasher, and audiences largely ignored it, as it opened to $5.1 million and ultimately grossed $11.6 million. It would be six more years before the film's ending cliffhanger got resolved, before Halloweens 4-6 would be retconned out of the timeline by Halloween H20. After Sea of Love, An Innocent Man, and Black Rain (falling from 1st to 5th), was The Fabulous Baker Boys. Real life brothers Jeff and Beau Bridges play brother pianists whose duel act is getting stale, so they decide to hire a singer (Michelle Pfeiffer) to help enliven things up. The revised act is a success, but Pfeiffer unintentionally begins to come between the brothers and open up long-simmering resentments. Critics loved the film, but audience response was more muted, as it opened to $3.3 million and would go on to make $18.4 million. It would also earn four Oscar nominations, including a Best Actress nod for Pfeiffer. Opening in 10th was Woody Allen's Crimes and Misdemeanors. The film's two major storylines center on a doctor (Martin Landau) who is contemplating extreme action to keep his mistress (Anjelica Huston) from exposing their affair to his wife (Claire Bloom) and a documentary filmmaker (Allen) who falls for the assistant (Mia Farrow) of his latest subject (Alan Alda). Critics were enthusiastic about the film, which would receive three Oscar nominations, including Director and Supporting Actor for Landau. As the days when a Woody Allen film could become a blockbuster were long past, Crimes opened to $0.9 million and had good legs, eventually making $18.3 million.
Thirty-Five Years Ago--October 12, 1984: These days, nearly every weekend has at least one brand new wide release. That wasn't the case in 1984, as Hollywood was still transitioning from the old system of opening major titles in one theater in big cities, before slowly sending it out to the rest of America to the current system of opening most films everywhere at once. This weekend was a weekend where the biggest new release, a Kris Kristofferson/Willie Nelson vehicle called Songwriter, would open in only 500 theaters--and utterly flop (the film wouldn't even gross a million dollars during its run). Teachers won for the second weekend in a row, with Places in the Heart and All of Me switching places between second and third.
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