November is the traditional launch of the holiday movie season, but simply because its a holiday movie doesn't mean it's going to be a hit...or good.
One Year Ago--November 9, 2011: In the years since Ron Howard's live-action How the Grinch Stole Christmas hit theaters in 2000, two things have become clear: that Dr. Seuss's books should not be turned into feature films, and that moviegoers can't get enough of feature films based on Dr. Seuss's books. Those woebegone adaptions came full circle with the release of The Grinch, an animated remake (by Illumination) of the live-action remake of the animated TV adaption of the original book, with the voice of Benedict Cumberbatch as the title character. This got better reviews than the Howard version (it wisely streamlined the story, removing the heavy-handed consumerist satire, though still gave us a backstory about why the Grinch was the Grinch), though reviews were still mostly on the negative side. Audiences didn't seem to care, as it remained strong through New Year's, making more money than the holiday season's other two major animated titles (both of which got better reviews). Even weeks before Christmas, The Grinch easily opened at #1, making $67.6 million its opening weekend and ended its run with $270.6 million, making it the highest-grossing film of 2018 that was not a sequel or franchise film. Between The Grinch and second place Bohemian Rhapsody, which held up very well, there wasn't much left for the other newcomers. Opening in third was Overlord, an attempt to blend a World War II drama with horror, as a group of American soldiers in France prior to D-Day stumble across a Nazi experiment to mutate solders into others into zombie-like monsters. "Nazi zombies" isn't a bad hook, but like a lot of November horror releases, it might have been better off coming out before Halloween. Overlord would open to $10.2 million and, like most horror movies, burn out quickly, finishing its run with $21.7 million. David Fincher's lavish English-language version of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo was a box office disappointment in 2011, leading Sony, which owned the English-language rights to the late Stieg Larrson's Millennium books, to shelve their plans to film the second and third books of the initial trilogy. Seven years later, the studio decided to revive the series on the cheap, filming the fourth book in the franchise, The Girl in the Spider's Web, which was written by a different author after Larrson's death. Substituting for two-time Oscar nominee Rooney Mara was Claire Foy, most known for her 180-degree opposite role as Queen Elizabeth II on Netflix's The Crown. Dragon Tattoo had a pricey supporting cast (Daniel Craig, Christopher Plummer, Stellan Skarsgard, Robin Wright), none of whom came back for Spider's Web. Instead the biggest names outside of Foy were LaKeith Stanfield and Stephen Merchant, both fine actors, but whose combined paycheck probably didn't equal what Plummer made. And, instead of Fincher, the film was helmed by the director of Don't Breathe. All this might have worked in, say, 2013, but by 2018, Larrson's books had largely been regulated to the back shelves of bookstores, and no one was much interested in an adaption of the sequel that he didn't even write. The Girl in the Spider's Web opened in 6th, under The Nutcracker and the Four Realms and A Star is Born, to $7.8 million and would cash out at $14.8 million. Outside the Top 10, the Indian action movie Thugs of Hindostan played well in American theaters specializing in Bollywood movies, making $1.2 million. It seems unlikely that the film only played for four days, but that's all that the distributor would publicly announce earnings for, so the film appears to have only made $1.5 million in North America.
Five Years Ago--November 7, 2014: Kicking off the holiday movie season in fine style was Disney's animated superhero action-comedy Big Hero 6. Taking place in a futuristic society with heavy Japanese and American influences, the film followed teenage robotics genius Hiro, who, after the death of his older brother in a fire, discovers that someone has co-opted his invention of micobots for nefarious purposes, and teams up with his brother's tech genius friends and a friendly, re-purposed medical robot named Baymax to find out who was responsible. A decisive shift from Disney Animation's film from the previous year, Frozen, Big Hero 6 was not a musical and aimed at boys. It was also a teamup with Marvel (complete with obligatory Stan Lee cameo), a seemingly natural partnership given that both studios are under the same corporate umbrella, but one that has yet to be repeated (Disney apparently prefers animated Marvel productions to be TV series). Hero 6 wasn't nearly the hit Frozen was, but, then few things are. It still did very well, opening to $56.2 million and finishing its run with $222.5 million. It would also go on to win the Animated Feature Oscar. Before the two films opening, there was some buzz about a box office horse race between Hero 6 and Christopher Nolan's Interstellar. It turned out not to be much of a contest, as Interstellar opened to a respectable, but somewhat disappointing $47.5 million. The cerebral sci-fi drama, starring Matthew McConaughey as an astronaut trying to find a new home for humanity, wasn't quite what audiences had been expecting, as they were primed for more of a space-based thriller like the previous year's Gravity than the quieter drama that Nolan had made. Reviews weren't as good as Gravity's, either. While a number of critics absolutely loved the film, others felt it was a letdown. The film received several technical Oscar nominations, and won for its visual effects, but it missed out on any above-the-line nominations. It would finish its run with a somewhat disappointing $188 million. Opening in limited release was the first of two biopics about British mathematical geniuses that would have an impact on that year's Oscar race. The Theory of Everything starred Eddie Redmayne as the famed physicist Stephen Hawking as a young man before and during the early stages of his ALS. Felicity Jones played his wife, Jane. Critics generally liked the movie, though some felt it was rather too cliched and suffered from Great Man syndrome. Audiences turned it into a modest hit, as it would ultimately gross $35.9 million. Everything would earn 5 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actress for Jones, and in a mild upset, Redmayne would beat Michael Keaton for Best Actor.
Ten Years Ago--November 6, 2009: Jim Carrey started the Aughts by playing one of the most iconic Christmas villains, the Grinch, and he ended it by playing the other iconic Christmas villain, Ebeneezer Scrooge, in Robert Zemeckis's motion-capture adaption of A Christmas Carol. Carrey also did the voice and motion capture for all three Ghosts, while Gary Oldman voiced Bob Cratchit and Jacob Marley. Disney was fully expecting that this version of Dickens's venerable classic to be a huge blockbuster, and while the film was a success, it fell short of what Zemeckis's adaption of The Polar Express had done five years earlier, and it failed to become a perennial (possibly because A Christmas Carol is arguably the most adapted story in the English language). Carol opened to $30.1 million and would largely be played out by the time Christmas finally arrived, as it would gross $137.9 million. This Is It came in at second, and opening in third was the all star curio The Men Who Stare At Goats. The comedy starred Ewan McGregor as a newspaper reporter who stumbles onto the army's attempts to train soldiers to use psychic powers. Jeff Bridges played the Dude-like officer who spearheads the project, and George Clooeny and Kevin Spacey play rival maybe-psychics. The film proved to be too weird for mainstream audiences, even with that all-star cast, as the comedy opened to $12.7 million and would end with $32.4 million. Opening appropriately enough in fourth was The Fourth Kind, an oddball hybrid of re-enactment and documentary that, despite claims it was based on true stories, was entirely fictional. Milla Jovovich played a psychiatrist who becomes convinced that several of her patients--and herself--have been abducted by aliens. Critics largely hated it, but the film was low budgeted enough it ended up making a small profit, as it opened to $12.2 million and wrapped up its run with $25.5 million. Opening in sixth, behind Paranormal Activity, was The Box. From Donnie Darko director Richard Kelly, Cameron Diaz and James Marsdon play a couple who receive a gift from a mysterious stranger of a box with a button inside. Should they push it, they'll get a million dollars, but somewhere in the world, someone would die. This was a rare movie that was hated far more by audiences than by critics. Critics gave it mixed reviews. Audiences, according to CinemaScore, gave the film a rare F rating, and word of mouth reflected that. The film opened to $7.6 million, but almost immediately had the button pushed on it, as it finished with $15.1 million. Outside the Top 10, the rather absurdly titled, but highly acclaimed Precious: Based on the Novel Push By Sapphire, opened in limited release. Newcomer Gabourey Sidibe played Precious, an illiterate 16-year-old living with her extremely abusive mother (Mo'Nique) in the projects, where she is pregnant, for the second time, with her father's child. After being transferred to an alternative school, she finally meets people who care about her, such as her teacher (Paula Patton) and a social worker (Mariah Carey) who help her escape her bleak surroundings. Critics for the most part liked it a lot (even if some felt it was basically misery porn), but even the ones who didn't had praise for the performances of Sidibe and Mo'Nique. The film would go on to be nominated for 6 Oscars, including Picture, Director for Lee Daniels, and Actress for Sidibe, and the film's adapted screenplay and Mo'Nique's supporting performance would win. The film would also be a solid box office success, grossing $47.6 million.
Fifteen Years Ago--November 5, 2004: Pixar's sixth film scored the studio's sixth straight #1 opening as The Incredibles opened the holiday movie season in style, taking in $70.5 million. That was the second-best animated opening at that time, being beaten only by Shrek 2, which had opened to over $100 million in May. Incredibles couldn't beat Shrek 2 at the box office, but the action comedy about a family of superheroes forced into retirement who have to battle a villain still nursing old resentments from years earlier more than made up for it with reviews and awards. The film got near-unanimous raves from critics and was nominated for four Oscars, including for its screenplay. It won two, for Sound Editing and for Animated Feature, beating out Shrek. It also grossed a total of $261.4 million. Ray stayed in second for the second weekend in a row, and with Halloween over, The Grudge and Saw slipped to third and fourth, though both held up much better than horror movies would be expected to post-Halloween. Opening in fifth was Jude Law's third movie of the fall, Alfie. A remake of the 1966 Michael Caine comedy-drama about a womanizing chauffeur, the film had an impressive list of actresses playing Law's various girlfriends, including Marisa Tomei, Jane Krakowski, Susan Sarandon and Sienna Miller (at the time, Law's real-life girlfriend). While the first film had been a huge hit and multiple Oscar nominee in the 60s, the new one got mostly mixed reviews and was largely ignored by audiences, as it opened to $6.2 million and would end its run with just $13.4 million. Law wasn't quite done remaking old Michael Caine movies, though, as three years later he starred in a redo of Sleuth, opposite co-star Michael Caine.
Twenty Years Ago--November 5, 1999: Opening at #1 was the thriller The Bone Collector, starring Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie, both of whom would get Oscar nominations that year--for different films. Washington played a paralyzed New York forensics expert who gets drawn into a case of a serial killer who is abducting random people and murdering them in very specific ways. Jolie played the young police recruit who assists Washington. The film received largely negative reviews, but did well box-office wise, as it took in $16.7 million over the weekend and would finish its run with $66.5 million. House on Haunted Hill had its expected large decline, but was still able to come in second ahead of newcomer The Bachelor. Not to be confused with the later reality show, even though this has somewhat of the same premise, the film stared Chris O'Donnell as a carefree playboy who discovers that his grandfather's will requires him to be married by his 30th birthday--which happens to be the next day--if he wants to inherit his grandfather's $100 million fortune. When his longtime girlfriend (Renee Zellweger) turns him down, he starts pursuing other ex-girlfriends (including Mariah Carey and Brooke Shields) to take the plunge. Reviews were largely awful, and audiences didn't much care for it either, as it would open to $7.5 million and finish up its run with $21.8 million. Opening in fourth was easily the weekend's most acclaimed film, The Insider. The Michael Mann-directed drama told the true story of a biochemist (Russell Crowe) with a cigarette manufacturer who attempted to blow the whistle on their unethical practices on 60 Minutes, only to have the corporation fight back by trying to enforce a non-disclosure agreement and spreading defamatory information about him and then having CBS refuse to air his interview. Al Pacino played the piece's producer, and Christopher Plummer played 60 Minutes newsman Mike Wallace, who ends up on the wrong side of the conflict. Critics raved about the film, which received uniformly excellent reviews and was nominated for 7 Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Crowe. It, unfortunately, was not a box office success, as it opened to $6.7 million and topped out at $29.1 million.
Twenty-Five Years Ago--November 11, 1994: For the second weekend in a row, a literary horror movie from an acclaimed, Oscar-nominated director opened wide. But unlike the disaster that was Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Interview With the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles would at least be a commercial hit. Tom Cruise starred as the vampire Lestat, who turned depressed New Orleans aristocrat Louis (Brad Pitt) into a vampire in the late 1700s, and the two then spent the next several centuries in and out of each other's lives, as they go from New Orleans to Paris back to New Orleans to San Francisco. Directed by Neil Jordan, critics liked it much better than Frankenstein, but still mostly gave it mixed reviews. Still, it opened at #1 to $36.4 million and would eventually gross $105.3 million. Tim Allen had shot to success thanks to his sitcom Home Improvement, then in its 4th season. The sitcom was produced by Disney, and aired on ABC, which would be purchased by Disney in 1995. So it made sense that his first big movie role would be in a Disney film. The Santa Clause starred Allen as a divorced businessman who, on Christmas Eve, accidentally knocks a guy in a red suit off his roof. After putting on the vanished man's coat, he finds himself tasked with completing Santa's rounds and becoming the new Santa, much to his consternation and the delight of his young son. Critics were largely unimpressed, but audiences loved it, as it opened to $19.3 million and played strongly throughout the holidays, still ranking at #2 as late as Christmas weekend. Clause would eventually gross $144.8 million, enough to make it the fourth-highest grossing film of 1994.
Thirty Years Ago--November 10, 1989: The holiday movie season hadn't quite started, which is why Look Who's Talking was able to win its fifth and final weekend. The Bear repeated at second. Dad finally went wide in third, and Shocker and Crimes and Misdemeanors rounded out the Top 5. Opening in sixth was the family melodrama Staying Together, about three brothers (including Sean Astin and Dermot Mulroney) whose lives are knocked for a loop when their father announces that, instead of leaving the family business for the boys to run after he retired, he has gone ahead and sold it off. Reviews were mixed, but audiences weren't particularly excited, as it opened to $2 million and only ended up making $4.4 million. Opening outside the Top 10 was the martial arts movie Best of the Best, in which a group of Americans train, hoping to overcome long odds to beat the South Koreans in a tournament on their own turf. The film attracted a far better cast than it deserved, including recent Oscar nominees Eric Roberts and Sally Kirkland, Oscar winner Louise Fletcher, and James Earl Jones as the team's coach. The film wasn't much of a success in theaters, only grossing $1.7 million total, but would become a huge cult hit on video, and would spawn several sequels. Opening in limited release would be two of the year's major Oscar contenders. Henry V starred and was directed by 28-year-old British wonderkid Kenneth Branagh, the film starred a whose-who of British Shakespeare thespians, including prior Oscar winner Paul Scofield and future Oscar winners Christian Bale, Judi Dench, and Emma Thompson, who had married Branagh a few months before. The film would win an Oscar for its costumes, and Branagh would be nominated for both Actor and Director. He'd lose Actor to Daniel Day-Lewis, star of My Left Foot. This film told the story of artist Christy Brown, who was born with cerebral palsy, and only had muscular control over his left foot, which is what he used to paint with. Brenda Fricker played his loving mother. The film would earn five Oscar nominations, including for Picture and Director for Jim Sheridan, and in addition to Day-Lewis, Fricker would win Supporting Actress. Box-office wise, Henry V would earn $10.2 million and My Left Foot would make $14.7 million.
Thirty-Five Years Ago--November 9, 1984: The holiday movie season arguably launched with the release of the comedy Oh God! You Devil. The third entry in the popular series starring George Burns as a down-to-earth Lord and Savior, this one, as the title implies, has Burns taking on a duel role as Satan, who tries to lure a struggling rock musician to sell his soul for fame and fortune. Critics weren't too enamored with the film, which opened to $5.6 million and ultimately made $21.5 million, an improvement over Oh God! Book II, but only about half of what the first Oh God! had made in 1977. After The Terminator in second, third saw the debut of No Small Affair. The comedy starred Jon Cryer as a teenage amateur photograph who falls for a slightly older woman (Demi Moore) after he takes her picture. The film didn't make much of an impression on critics or audiences, as it opened to $2.3 million and would end its run with $5 million. After future Best Picture nominees Places in the Heart in 4th and A Soldier's Story in 5th, came future Best Picture winner Amadeus, which made its Top 10 debut in sixth after finally expanding to enough theaters. After Teachers in 7th, the extremely controversial slasher movie Silent Night, Deadly Night opened in 8th. The film, about a teenager who, as a child, witnessed his parents murdered by a man in a Santa suit, and then goes on a killing spree of his own on Christmas Eve while also wearing a Santa suit, horrified critics and caused mass protests. The film opened to $1.4 million, but the controversy would end up shortening the run, as it ultimately made only $2,5 million. While Silent Night Deadly Night would attract all the controversy and result in numerous sequels, another, far more iconic horror movie also opened that weekend. A Nightmare on Elm Street starred Heather Langenkamp as a teenage girl whose discovers that she and her friends are being stalked and killed in their dreams by a psychopathic ghost named Freddy Kruger (Robert Englund), seeking revenge on his death at the hands of their parents. The Wes Craven-directed original was considerably darker than later entries, which turned Freddy into a quip machine and were almost comedies. For a slasher film, Nightmare got solid reviews at the time of its release, and would go on to be a big hit after a so-so opening, making $25.5 million and inspiring numerous sequels.
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