Mid-April has traditionally been somewhat of a slow time for wide releases, as studios generally start sending out lesser movies so they can get some cash in before the beginning of the summer movie season. Even Easter weekends generally don't bring out the big movies.
Sorry for the 48-hour delay after putting in a 48-hour delay. Hopefully, next week's will be on time. Only a couple more weeks of these double write-ups before we're caught up.
One Year Ago--April 12, 2019:
#1 Movie:
Shazam!--$24.5 million
New Wide Releases:
Little--2/$15.4 million/$40.9 million/68/47%/49--In this spin on Big in reverse that, from its title on, doesn't even try to hide the fact its a spin on Big in reverse, Regina Hall played a businesswoman, who, while successful, had become a nightmare to work with. Thanks to a kid's wish, she wakes up one morning in the body of her 13-year-old self (Marsai Martin, who is also credited as an executive producer, even though she was all of 14 when the film opened last year), with her personal assistant (Issa Rae, who does not get a producer credit) having to pose as her aunt and run the company while Martin has to re-enroll in the 8th grade. To say this wasn't as well received as Big is an understatement, but the relatively low-budgeted comedy did OK, if not blockbuster business.
Director: Tina Gordon
Hellboy--3/$12.1 million/$21.9 million/98/17%/31--A decade after Guillermo del Toro (who now has an Oscar) and Ron Perlman (who at least has a Golden Globe) collaborated on a pair of well-liked, if only moderately financially successful, PG-13 Hellboy movies, the series got a reboot without del Toro or Perlman, but with an R rating. Stranger Thing's David Harbour step into the title role with Ian McShane co-starring. The result simply made everyone wonder just how awesome this could have been with del Toro, Perlman, McShane, and the R rating.
Director: Neil Marshal
After--8/$6 million/$12.1 million/114/17%/30--A virginal college freshman finds herself falling for bad boy Hero Finnes Tiffin, who we know is trouble because he wears black, has tattoos, and isn't a virgin. That scandalizes her ultra-conservative mother (Selma Blair) who seemed to have wandered in straight from 1955. The book this was based on, like Fifty Shades of Grey, started life as fan fiction, specially about a certain British boy band. Yes, the character that Tiffin played is based on that most dangerous of musicians, Harry Styles. Despite its paltry total in the US, it did well enough overseas to earn a sequel.
Director: Jenny Gage
Missing Link--9/$5.9 million/$16.7 million/108/89%/68--The second of the three animated films released between September 2018 and September 2019 about the Yeti, Missing Link was by far the best received critically and by far the biggest flop. The stop-motion film starred the voice of Hugh Jackman as an explorer who is contacted by a Sasquatch (Zach Galifianakis) who wants help finding his own kind. They're joined by the widow of Jackman's partner (Zoe Saldana) and chased by a rival explorer (Stephen Fry) and his bounty hunter (Timothy Olyphant). Emma Thompson voiced the leader of the Yetis. Even though the film was a massive flop, it, like all Laika films, got a nomination for Animated Feature.
Director: Chris Butler
April 19, 2020:
New Wide Releases:
The Curse of La Llorona--1/$26.3 million/$54.7 million/51/29%/41--The new adaption of Pet Sematary, which opened two weeks earlier, ended up grossing more than double its budget in North America alone, so it was successful. However, the producers were probably expecting a name-brand title like Sematary to not end up with the almost exact same gross as this much more generic flick, which was produced for half the cost of the already reasonably-priced Sematary. Based on a Hispanic folk legend, the thriller, which is technically part of the Conjuring Universe (though that connection was largely ignored in the film's marketing), starred Linda Cardellini as a social worker who discovers her children are being stalked by the malevolent spirit of La Llorona, who wants to drown them. If the film ended up as the lowest-grossing of the Conjuring films, it still made six times its budget.
Director: Michael Chaves
Breakthrough--3/$11.3 million/$40.7 million/69/61%/46--The big spring Christian movie was this inspirational drama (as are most Christian movies) about the power of prayer, after pleas to God seem to bring a teenage boy who had drowned back to life. Like a lot of the bigger-budgeted Christian dramas, it has a cast filled with recognizable faces, including Chrissy Metz and Josh Lucas as the kid's parents, Topher Grace as their pastor, and Dennis Haysbert as a doctor. It didn't do I Can Only Imagine business, but it was a moderate success, and it did what few other explicitly Christian films have done: earn an Oscar nomination (for Original Song).
Director: Roxann Dawson
Penguins--12/$2.3 million/$7.7 million/128/92%/69--If this is the final Disney nature documentary to get a theatrical release (they have Disney+ for films like this now), the franchise went out on an ignoble note, as this was easily the lowest-grossing title since the series started with Earth in 2009. Perhaps if we hadn't already had multiple films about penguins (including an Oscar-winning documentary that became a mainstream hit) over the last couple of decades, this one might have done better.
Director: Alastair Fothergill and Jeff Wilson
New Limited Releases:
Kalank--$2.7 million/169/35%/NA--In this 40s-set romantic drama, a dying woman convinces her childhood friend to marry her husband after her death, while the husband's illegitimate half-brother seeks revenge on the family. The film opened well, but worldwide, it ended up being a box office disappointment.
Director: Abhishek Varman
Five Years Ago--April 10, 2015:
#1 Movie:
Furious 7--$59.6 million
New Wide Releases:
The Longest Ride--3/$13 million/$37.5 million/71/31%/33--Yet another Nicolas Sparks adaption, this one stars Scott Eastwood as a bull rider and Britt Robertson as a college student whose love story is intertwined with elderly Alan Alda's reminiscing about his late wife. Jack Huston and Oona Chaplin played the young Alda and his wife. Critics found it pretty similar to pretty much every other Nicolas Sparks adaption out there.
Director: George Tillman, Jr.
New Limited Releases:
Ex Machina--$25.4 million/94/92%/72--In this sleeper hit thriller, a programmer (Domhnall Gleeson) is invited to the isolated home of his company's CEO (Oscar Isaac) to participate in an experiment to determine if a robot (Alicia Vikander) and her A.I. system can pass successfully for human. Over the course of the week, the two humans and robot would engage in ever-shifting loyalties. In addition to a nomination for its Original Screenplay, its Visual Effects were a surprise Oscar winner, as the four films it beat out had much higher budgets. Vikander would be nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress, but at the Oscars, she would be nominated (and win) in that category for end-of-the-year release The Danish Girl.
Director: Alex Garland
Expanding:
Danny Collins--9/$1.5 million
While We're Young--10/$1.4 million
April 17, 2015:
#1 Movie:
Furious 7--$29.2 million
New Wide Releases:
Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2--2/$23.8 million/43/$71 million/5%/13--The first Paul Blart: Mall Cop was an out-of-nowhere smash in early 2009, but six years is probably way too long a wait for the sequel (Taken, which was the other out-of-nowhere smash hit of early 2009, had not one by two sequels come out during the duration). Nevertheless, here it is, as Paul (Kevin James) heads to Vegas for a security officer's convention and, while there, has to break up an art heist planned by Neal McDonough. Critics of course hated it, but even though it didn't make nearly as much as the first film, it did decently enough. Still, there's no signs of a third film.
Director: Andy Fickman
Unfriended--3/$15.9 million/$32.5 million/79/62%/59--In this surprisingly well-received horror thriller, six friends chatting online are haunted by an intruder who might be the vengeful ghost of a classmate who had killed herself the previous year. The big gimmick was that the whole film was seen through a computer screen as the characters Facetime and online chatted with each other. The low-budgeted film was followed a few years later by a stand-alone sequel, which was considerably less successful.
Director: Leo Gabriadze
Monkey Kingdom--8/$4.6 million/$16.4 million/109/93%/72--Tina Fey was the narrator for this DisneyNature documentary, which followed a troop of toque macaques living in the jungles of Sri Lanka. While hardly a blockbuster, it did decent business for this type of movie.
Director: Mark Linfield and Alastair Fothergill
New Limited Releases:
True Story--$4.7 million/150/45%/50--Despite a high profile cast, this drama fell flat with both critics and audiences. Jonah Hill played a disgraced journalist who strikes up a friendship with a suspected murderer (James Franco) who had been using the journalist's identity. As the two get to know each other, Hill begins to wonder how much of what Franco is telling him is actually true. Felicity Jones, coming off her Oscar nomination, played Hill's wife. As the title indicates, it is based on a true story, but true or not, this might have been better off going to television.
Director: Rupert Goold
Ten Years Ago--April 9, 2010:
#1 Movie:
Clash of the Titans--$26.6 million
New Wide Releases:
Date Night--2/$25.2 million/$98.7 million/31/66%/56--Steve Carell and Tina Fey, the stalwarts of NBC's Thrusday night lineup, teamed up in this action comedy playing a bored married couple from New Jersey whose attempt to liven up their lives by going to a fancy restaurant in Manhattan takes a wrong turn when they steal the reservation of a no-show couple. Unfortunately, that couple is wanted by the mob, which plunges Carell and Fey into a wacky adventure as they attempt to convince various thugs that they are not the ones the mobsters want. Mark Wahlberg played a perpetually shirtless client of Fey, Taraji P. Henson played a cop, Common played a corrupt cop, Ray Liotta played a mobster, James Franco and Mila Kunis play the couple the mob actually wants, and Mark Ruffalo and Kristin Wiig play friends of Carell and Fey.
Director: Shawn Levy
Letters to God--10/$1.1 million/$2.9 million/165/27%/31--In this inspirational Christian film, based on a true story, a young boy suffering from cancer who begins to send...well, read the title. His mailman reads the letters and becomes inspired to overcome his alcoholism. Unlike some Christian films, this one largely relied on little-known actors, with the biggest name being former Waltons star Ralph Waite. Co-director Patrick Doughtie was the father of the real-life cancer victim who inspired the film.
Director: David Nixon and Patrick Doughtie
April 16, 2010:
New Wide Releases:
Kick-Ass--1/$19.8 million/$48.1 million/68/76%/66--In this graphic novel adaption, Aaron Taylor-Johnson played a teenager who decides to become a costumed superhero despite having no skills or training or superpowers. When his exploits go viral, he gets contacted by both a much more experienced vigilante (Nicolas Cage) and his daughter (Chloe Grace Moretz), as well as the son (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) of a mobster (Mark Strong) who is convinced the teen is responsible for his recent troubles. Criticized in some circles for the amount of profanity and violence involving Moretz (who had just turned 13 when the movie opened), it still got decent reviews, but did only average business. It would still get a sequel, released in 2013.
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Death at a Funeral--4/$16.2 million/$42.7 million/42%/51--While Hollywood loves remaking both older films and foreign language films, its still fairly rare for it to remake a three-year-old English-language film that did decent business in the US. Indeed, other than shifting the action from England to Los Angeles, making most of the characters African-American, and changing the characters' names, Neil LaBute didn't really change much from Frank Oz's 2007 original. On the day of their father's funeral, estranged brothers Chris Rock and Martin Lawrence have to deal with their grieving mother (Loretta Devine), their cantankerous uncle (Danny Glover), and a stranger who comes with a demand (Peter Dinklage, who played the same role in Oz's version). Regina Hall played Rock's wife, Tracy Morgan played a family friend, Zoe Saldana played their cousin, James Marsden her finance, and Luke Wilson as Saldana's obnoxious ex. Despite the considerably starrier cast, critics preferred the original.
Director: Neil LaBute
New Limited Releases:
Exit Through the Gift Shop--$3.3 million/159/96%/85--This highly acclaimed documentary introduced the wider world to famed, anonymous street artist Banksy, who directed, though the film focuses on fellow street artist Thierry Guetta, who obsessively films everything he encounters. Also appearing prominently is Shepard Fairey, best known for the Obama "Hope" poster. Despite questions about whether the footage was genuine or staged, the film became a critical darling, including earning an Documentary Feature Oscar nomination, and did decent business.
Director: Banksy
The Secret in Their Eyes--$6.4 million/145/90%/80--A few weeks after winning the Oscar for Foreign Language film, this Argentinian mystery finally started its American release. Jumping back and forth between 1974 and 1999, the film follows a detective investigating a rape and murder, and his 25-year-later reminiscences of how the case remained officially unsolved. It was a massive hit in Argentina, and did solid business in the US. An American remake was released in 2015.
Director: Juan Jose Campanella
Fifteen Years Ago--April 15, 2005:
New Wide Releases:
The Amityville Horror--1/$23.5 million/$65.2 million/38/23%/33--No one knows exactly what happened in an ordinary-looking suburban house on Long Island in late 1975 and early 1976, but what the owners said happened has led to best-selling books, a hit film in 1979, two more theatrically-released sequels, a number of straight-to-video films, and, in time for the 30th anniversary, this remake, which cast Ryan Reynolds and Melissa George as the new owners of the house where, a year earlier, a young man had murdered his entire family. It doesn't take long after moving in to realize that something is seriously wrong with the place, and that supernatural forces might have malevolent intentions for the new residents. A young Chloe Grace Moretz played one of the children. While this one was a moderate hit, it didn't lead to a flood of new Amityville films.
Director: Andrew Douglas
April 22, 2005:
New Wide Releases:
The Interpreter--1/$22.8 million/$72.7 million/33/57%/62--The first film to be shot at the headquarters of the United Nations, this thriller starred Nicole Kidman as an UN interpreter who overhears a murder being plotted in a rare dialect that she happens to understand. Sean Penn is the Secret Service agent assigned to investigate her claims, and in the process discovers that she might be more involved than she led on. Catherine Keener played his partner. This was the final film directed by Sidney Pollack.
Director: Sidney Pollack
A Lot Like Love--4/$7.6 million/$21.9 million/111/41%/48--In this slow-burn romantic comedy, Ashton Kutcher and Amanda Peet meet on a cross-country flight, and proceed to drift in and out of each other's lives over the next few years. Being a romantic comedy, it takes them the entire movie for them to realize they're perfect for each other. Kal Penn played Kutcher's business partner.
Director: Nigel Cole
King's Ransom--10/$2.3 million/$4 million/172/2%/11--Anthony Anderson's first attempt at being a leading man did not go well, as this comedy opened to terrible reviews and worse box office. He played an obnoxious businessman who decides to stage his own kidnapping as part of a scheme to keep his money safe from his soon-to-be-ex-wife. Unfortunately, he doesn't count on how inept his fake kidnappers would be, nor how many people want a share of the ransom. Regina Hall played his mistress, Charlie Murphy her brother, and Jay Mohr a hapless would-be kidnapper.
Director: Jeffrey W. Byrd
New Limited Releases:
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room--$4.1 million/171/97%/NA--In 2005, the Enron scandal, when it was discovered that the Houston-based energy conglomerate had been fixing its books for years to make the company look far more profitable than it actually was, was still fresh in the minds of moviegoers, who made this Peter Coyote-narrated documentary a hit on the art house circuit. The acclaim would pay off a year later, when the film was nominated for Documentary Feature.
Director: Alex Gibney
Expanding:
Kung Fu Hustle--5/$7.3 million
Twenty Years Ago--April 14, 2000:
#1 Movie:
Rules of Engagement--$10.9 million
New Wide Releases:
28 Days--2/$10.3 million/$37.2 million/66/33%/46--Sandra Bullock, whose resume at that point mostly consisted of action and comedies and action comedies, tried a change of pace with this dramady about an alcoholic forced into rehab after crashing a limo she stole from her sister's wedding. Among her fellow rehabbers were Viggo Mortensen, Alan Tudyk, Marianne-Jean Baptiste, and Diane Ladd, with Steve Buscemi as their counselor.
Director: Betty Thomas
Keeping the Faith--3/$8.1 million/67/$37.1 million/69%/60--The premise for this dramady sounds like the setup to a joke. A priest (Edward Norton, who also directed) and a rabbi (Ben Stiller) fall for the same girl (Jenna Elfman). That's a problem as Elfman isn't Jewish and, of course, Catholic priests aren't allowed to be romantically involved with anyone. Anne Bancroft played Stiller's mother, with Milos Forman (who directed Norton in The People vs. Larry Flynt) and Eli Wallach as a senior priest and rabbi, respectively.
Director: Edward Norton
American Psycho--7/$5 million/$15.1 million/116/69%/64--This adaption of the extremely controversial novel by Bret Easton Ellis starred Christian Bale as an investment banker with a respectable fiancee (Reese Witherspoon) who leads a double life as a psychopath, murdering prostitutes, co-workers, even police officers--or maybe not. Jared Leto played a co-worker Bale might have murdered, Chloe Sevigny played his assistant, and Willem Dafoe played a detective investigating Leto's disappearance. While critical reaction to the movie was moderately positive in 2000, it is seen today as a classic.
Director: Mary Harron
Where the Money Is--13/$2.5 million/$5.7 million/147/48%/49--Paul Newman's final leading role was in this marginal heist comedy, playing a successful bank robber who fakes the after-effects of a stroke in order to get out of going to prison. When his nurse (Linda Fiorentino) figures him out, she recruits him into her own scheme to rob the local bank. Newman and Fiorentino got good reviews, but the film itself fell flat.
Director: Marek Kanievska
April 21, 2000:
New Wide Releases:
U-571--1/$19.6 million/$77.1 million/28/68%/62--In this WWII action thriller, Matthew McConaughey plays an American navel officer who finds himself commanding a stolen German U-boat complete with an Enigma machine that might be the key to cracking the Nazis' codes. He and his small crew (including Harvey Keitel and Jon Bon Jovi) have to evade the Germans and figure out a way to make them think the sub sunk with the machine still on board. While well-received by critics, it ran into controversy over its historical accuracy, since it was the British who were the first to capture an Enigma machine. The film was nominated for both Sound Mixing and Sound Editing at the Oscars, winning for the latter.
Director: Jonathan Mostow
Love & Basketball--2/$8.1 million/$27.5 million/86/83%/70--Next-door neighbors Omar Epps and Sanaa Lathan grow up to be two of the top young basketball players in the country, as their personal relationship goes though numerous ups and downs as they pursue hoops careers. Alfre Woodard played Lathan's disapproving mother, Dennis Haysbert played Epps's NBA star father, and Regina Hall played Lathan's sister.
Director: Gina Prince-Bythewood
Gossip--12/$2.3 million/$5.1 million/150/29%/31--This poorly received thriller starred James Marsden, Norman Reedus, and Lena Headey as college students who, as an experiment, begin a rumor about golden couple Joshua Jackson and Kate Hudson, that quickly spirals out of control. As it turned out, one of the trio might have had ulterior motives in starting the rumor. Edward James Olmos played a detective. A rare example of a flop film with a young, hot cast, where all the young, hot cast members, if not becoming superstars, at least have all carved out respectable careers for themselves.
Director: Davis Guggenheim
Twenty-Five Years Ago--April 14, 1995:
#1 Movie:
Bad Boys--$11 million
New Wide Releases:
Jury Duty--4/$4.8 million/$17 million/90/0%/NA--This quickie comedy, released to a nation transfixed by the O.J. Simpson trial, starred Pauly Shore as a typical Pauly Shore buffoon who decides to be on a jury for the paycheck ($5 a day) and the free accommodations. In order to prolong his stay, he holds out on convicting the obviously guilty suspect. If that plot sounds familiar, that's because its the plot of The Simpsons episode "The Boy Who Knew Too Much", which aired before a few months before this movie started filming (and was far funnier than this movie). Both the episode and the movie are also a parody of Twelve Angry Men. Tia Carrere, whose career for some reason immediately collapsed after Wayne's World and True Lies, played a fellow juror that Shore falls for. A largely unknown Stanley Tucci played a fellow juror with a secret, Abe Vigoda played the judge, and Shelley Winters played Shore's mother.
Director: John Fortenberry
The Pebble and the Penguin--13/$1.1 million/$4 million/11%/NA--Just a few short years after animator Don Bluth and his studio seemed on the verge of eclipsing Disney, his studio was on the brink of closing and the Mouse House had completely reinvigorated itself. This animated musical, one of his studio's final efforts, starred the voice of Martin Short as a penguin who, after his romantic rival (Tim Curry) banishes him out to sea, struggles to get back to Antarctica before said rival steals his girlfriend. Bluth and his co-director were so incensed by the changes that the studio made to the film that they took their names off, leaving the final film without any directorial credits at all (a situation that wouldn't be repeated with a major release until another animated film, Wonder Park, went out without a director's credit 24 years later).
Director: None credited (uncredited: Don Bluth and Gary Goldman)
April 21, 1995:
New Wide Releases:
While You Were Sleeping--1/$9.3 million/$81.1 million/15/80%/67--Sandra Bullock successfully made the leap from supporting player to leading lady with this beloved romantic comedy. Bullock played a lonely toll collector for the Chicago El train who fantasizes about a particularly handsome frequent passenger (Peter Gallagher). When she saves him after he falls on the track, which causes him to fall into a coma, a mix-up with his large family leaves them thinking she's his fiancee, which she goes along with, at least until she meets and falls for Gallagher's brother (Bill Pullman).
Director: Jon Turteltaub
Kiss of Death--3/$5.3 million/$14.9 million/98/68%/NA--David Caruso, whose departure from his leading role on the hit cop drama NYPD Blue after a single season had been the source of quite a bit of controversy a year earlier, had his first starring movie role in this neo-noir, a loose remake of a 1947 thriller. Caruso played an ex-con who gets roped into one last score by his cousin (Michael Rapaport) that leads to him getting arrested and sent to prison. Years later, he gets parole for agreeing to work undercover to bring down the psychotic crime lord (Nicolas Cage) that he used to work for. Samuel L. Jackson played the detective who was Caruso's contact, Helen Hunt played Caruso's ill-fated wife, Ving Rhames played a drug kingpin, and Phillip Baker Hall played Cage's father. Despite the strong cast and solid reviews, the film flopped, amid much schadenfreude regarding Caruso's career decisions. After his next movie, Jade (which, unlike this one did not get solid reviews), flopped as well, Caruso was back on TV.
Director: Barbet Schroeder
New Limited Releases:
New Jersey Drive--$3.6 million/163/64%/NA--In this Spike Lee-produced drama, a couple of Newark teenagers bring down a lot of trouble on themselves when they decide to take a police car out for a joyride. Despite decent reviews, it failed to attract much notice.
Director: Nick Gomez
The Cure--$2.6 million/176/45%/NA--This downbeat drama, made in the wake of Philadelphia, starred Brad Renfro as a lonely kid who befriends his neighbor (Joseph Mazzello), who has AIDS. The two set off for New Orleans in the hopes of finding a cure for his disease. "Kid dying of AIDS" would be a hard sell no matter what, and this didn't get the reviews to justify a larger audience.
Director: Peter Horton
Burnt By the Sun--$2.3 million/180/80%/NA--Fresh off of winning the Oscar for Foreign Language Film, this Russian drama didn't have a huge impact on the art house circuit. Nikita Mikhalkov directed and starred as a beloved hero of the Russian Revolution in pre-WWII Soviet Union whose idyllic life with his wife and daughter comes to a swift end when he inadvertently runs afoul of a former comrade. It was followed 15 years later by a WWII-set sequel, that retconned this film's bleak ending.
Director: Nikita Mikhalkov
Thirty Years Ago--April 13, 1990:
#1 Movie:
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles--$14.1 million
New Wide Releases:
Crazy People--6/$3.4 million/$13.2 million/87/37%/42--In one of his final starring roles, Dudley Moore played a burnt out advertising exec who gets committed to a sanitarium after proposing brutally honest ad campaigns. When his campaigns accidentally gets released and become a sensation, Moore recruits his fellow patients (including love interest Daryl Hannah) to help him come up with more ads for his clients. Paul Reiser and J.T. Walsh played Moore's agency co-workers, David Paymer played a fellow patient, and Mercedes Ruehl played a doctor.
Director: Tony Bill and Barry L. Young
The Gods Must Be Crazy II--10/$1.2 million/$6.3 million/54%/NA--The 1980 South African comedy The Gods Must Be Crazy became an out-of-nowhere smash hit when it was belatedly released in the US in 1984. The sequel, which once again starred N!xau, a poor rural farmer-turned-actor, picks up a number of years after the first film, with N!xau trying to rescue his young son and daughter, who have been inadvertently kidnapped by a pair of poachers. Hijinks ensure. While not nearly as successful in North America as the first film, it still did OK business.
Director: Jamie Uys
April 20, 1990:
#1 Movie:
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles--$9.8 million
New Wide Releases:
Miami Blues--4/$3 million/$9.9 million/101/81%/72--The success of The Hunt for Red October did not spill over into Alec Baldwin's other spring movie, even if the reviews were just as good. Baldwin played a recently released convict who moves to Miami, takes up with a hooker (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and steals the badge of a cop (Fred Ward) and begins using it to break up robberies--and keep the money for himself. Despite Baldwin's newfound star power, the black comedy actually ended up opening behind Red October (then in its 8th weekend) on the box office chart.
Director: George Armitage
Lisa--10/$1.1 million/$4.3 million/128/NA/NA--14-year-old TV star Staci Keanan played the title role in this thriller, playing a teenage girl who becomes infatuated with a handsome restaurant owner (D.W. Moffett), and begins calling him. They begin an over-the-phone relationship, with him being unaware that she is 14 and her being unaware that he is a serial killer. Cheryl Ladd played Keanan's overprotective mother, and Jeffrey Tambour played the father of Keanan's best friend. After a short run, this fell into complete obscurity.
Director: Gary Sherman
Thirty-Five Years Ago--April 12, 1985:
#1 Movie:
Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment--$5.4 million
New Wide Releases:
Cat's Eye--3/$3.5 million/$13.1 million/64/67%/70--A few years after the success of Creepshow, Stephen King wrote another horror-comedy anthology, which despite having a starrier cast (Drew Barrymore and James Woods were the big names), didn't do nearly as well. The stories, all of which are loosely related by a cat crossing paths with the characters, concern a man (Woods) who signs up for a quit smoking program that will go to any lengths to ensure its clients succeed, another man (Robert Hays) forced into a sadistic bet by his girlfriend's mobster husband, and a little girl (Barrymore, who had starred a year earlier in another King adaption, Firestarter), who is protected from an evil troll by the cat.
Director: Lewis Teague
Ladyhawke--4/$3.5 million/$18.4 million/48/65%/64--In this fondly remembered fantasy, Rutger Hauer and Michelle Pfeiffer are lovers who are cursed--she transforms into a hawk by day, and he becomes a wolf at night--keeping them apart. Matthew Broderick played a thief who is recruited to help them break the curse by killing the evil bishop responsible. While not a major hit at the time, it has become a cult favorite. It was nominated for two Oscars, in the sound categories.
Director: Richard Donner
Girls Just Want To Have Fun--10/$1.7 million/$6.3 million/107/38%/56--This dance romcom, which followed the typical plot of opposites attracting leading to the big end-of-movie contest, is best remembered for being an early starring role for Sarah Jessica Parker, who is new in town and has the standard issue strict father who refuses to admit that his little girl is growing up. There's also the standard issue best friend (a young Helen Hunt), the standard issue mean girl enemy, and the standard issue "They could win this/artificial setback/triumph" plotline. Robert Downey, Jr., who was dating Parker at time, has a cameo.
Director: Alan Metter
New Limited Releases:
Fraternity Vacation--$3.3 million/128/NA/NA--A pretty typical mid-80s sex comedy, one that tried to piggyback onto the successful Chevy Chase vehicle from two years prior, this one has a couple of frat bros taking a pledge to spring break in Palm Springs in order to get him laid. It should probably be noted that majority of the entries in the IMDB Trivia page for this one are about a scene in which two girls take their bikini tops off. A young Tim Robbins played one of the frat bros.
Director: James Frawley
Expanding:
Desperately Seeking Susan--5/$2.7 million
April 19, 1985:
#1 Movie:
Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment--$4.1 million
New Wide Releases:
Moving Violations--2/$3.5 million/$10.6 million/79/NA/24--In this very Police Academy-type movie, written and directed by the writer of Police Academy, a group of drivers get assigned to traffic school after getting tickets. Hijinks ensure. The cast seems to be largely made up of siblings of more famous actors, including John Murray (brother of Bill), James Keach (brother of Stacey) and the then-largely unknown Jennifer Tilly (sister of Meg). Also in the cast was Fred Willard, Sally Kellerman, Robert Conrad, and early appearances by unknowns Don Cheadle and David Hyde Pierce.
Director: Neal Israel
The Company of Wolves--6/$2.2 million/$4.4 million/118/79%/NA--Director Neil Jordan, who would go on to direct Mona Lisa and The Crying Game, helmed this British Gothic horror film that puts a werewolf spin on Little Red Riding Hood. Angela Lansbury played the grandmother, and Stephen Rea, who would appear in most of Jordan's movies, had a small part as a newlywed who mysteriously disappears.
Director: Neil Jordan
Forty Years Ago--April 11, 1980:
No wide releases
April 18, 1980:
Every Which Way But Loose--NA/NA/37%/41--A re-release of the spectacularly silly--and spectacularly popular--comedy starring Clint Eastwood as a trucker with a talent for fist-fighting, who has a pet orangutan. This re-release might have been an effort at early promotion of the sequel Any Which Way You Can, which would come out at Christmas.
Director: James Fargo
ffolkes--$3 million/95/43%/58--Roger Moore took a break from James Bond to play a different British secret agent in this action thriller. Moore plays a counterterrorism expert called on to rescue a pair of oil derricks in the North Sea from terrorist Anthony Perkins and his team. James Mason played the admiral in charge of the mission. The film's unusual title came from Moore's character's last name, an Old English name properly spelled with the lowercase double f.
Director: Andrew V. McLaglen
Foxes--$7.5 million/73/67%/65--The directorial debut of Adrian Lyne, this drama followed four teenage girls, including 16-year-old Jodie Foster, as they navigate adolescence, which tends to involve a lot of partying, drinking, and drugging. Scott Baio played Foster's boyfrend, Randy Quaid played the much older boyfriend of one of the girls, Sally Kellerman played Foster's mother, and musician Cherie Currie of The Runaways played, appropriately enough, a runaway. This might have done better if its wide release wasn't following bigger hit Little Darlings, which mined much of the same material regarding teenage girls.
Director: Adrian Lyne
Gilda Live--$2.3 million/100/NA/NA--Saturday Night Live star Gilda Radner had a (mostly) one-woman show on Broadway over the summer of 1979. The show was filmed (in Boston instead of New York), and released nationwide to indifferent audiences. Radner mostly trotted out her SNL characters, albeit in newly-written sketches. While she was changing in between sketches, Don Novello, in the guise of Father Guido Sarducci, came out to do his own comedy skits. Radner was a singular talent, but movies never really captured what made her unique.
Director: Mike Nichols (Lorne Michaels was the stage show director)
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