The end of July, at least since the turn of the century, has been a bit of a quiet weekend. This is not to say big movies haven't opened, because they have. But they usually haven't been nearly as big as the megablockbuster that opened the weekend before. This weekend in the 20th century, however, saw the release of a number of films still well-remembered today.
One Year Ago--July 26, 2019:
#1 Movie:
The Lion King--$76.6 million
New Wide Releases:
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood--2/$41.1 million/$142.5 million/20/85%/83--Last summer's biggest hit not based on any existing IP used old-fashioned starpower, both in front of and behind the camera. In front was Leonardo DiCaprio, playing a washed up TV actor in 1969 now getting by from an endless series of guest turns as the bad guy of the week, and Brad Pitt, as his best friend/stuntman/chauffeur/handyman/general all-around one-man entourage. Living next door to DiCaprio is hot director Roman Polanski and his beautiful young wife, Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie). Behind the camera was Quentin Tarantino, one of the few directors whose every project is still a much-anticipated event. The film featured numerous cameos, including Al Pacino as an agent, Kurt Russell as a stunt coordinator, Timothy Olyphant and Luke Perry (in his final film) as the stars of the show DiCaprio is guesting on, and Bruce Dern as the owner of the old ranch the Manson family set up camp at. The film was nominated for 10 Oscars, including Picture, Actor for DiCaprio, Director, Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Costumes, and both Sound awards, and won for its production design (which accurately recreated 1969 LA) and Pitt for Supporting Actor.
Director: Quentin Tarantino
New Limited Releases:
Honeyland--$0.8 million/245/100%/86--The first film ever to be nominated for both Documentary and Foreign Language/International Film, this Macedonian production followed a wild beekeeper living in a rural area and her relationship with her new neighbors, who are less interested in sustainable living than she is.
Director: Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov
Expanding:
The Farewell--10/$1.5 million
Five Years Ago--July 24, 2015:
#1 Movie:
Ant-Man--$24.9 million
New Wide Releases:
Pixels--2/$24 million/$78.8 million/39/17%/27--The last widely released theatrical film starring Adam Sandler before his Netflix deal kicked into effect (which kept him out of movie theaters until last Christmas's Uncut Gems), this action comedy has him as an 80s video game champion who has to save the earth when aliens use classic video game characters like Pac-Man and Donkey Kong to attack. Kevin James played his childhood best friend, who is now the President, and Josh Gad and Peter Dinklage played fellow video game players. The film's poor reviews were pretty typical for a Sandler film, but the mediocre grosses showed that the Netflix deal was the right move.
Director: Chris Columbus
Southpaw--5/$16.7 million/$52.4 million/56/59%/57--This boxing drama cast Jake Gyllenhaal as a top tier fighter whose life spirals out of control after a tragedy, and has to work his way back, both to the ring and to his own respect. Rachel McAdams played his wife and Forest Whitaker played the trainer who helps him return from the brink. Critics were mixed, mostly praising the acting but disliking the predictable, melodramatic story, but the film became a surprise moderate hit.
Director: Antoine Fuqua
Paper Towns--6/$12.7 million/$32 million/81/57%/56--Despite being from the same team that helped make The Fault in Our Stars a huge hit in 2014, this adaption of another John Green novel ended up underperforming. Nat Wolff played a high schooler whose longtime crush (Cara Delevingne) vanishes, leaving behind a series of clues to her whereabouts. Wolff and his friends (including Justice Smith) head on the road to track her down.
Director: Jake Schreier
Ten Years Ago--July 23, 2010:
#1 Movie:
Inception--$42.7 million
New Wide Releases:
Salt--2/$36 million/$118.3 million/22/62%/65--This rather ludicrous action thriller starred Angelina Jolie in the title role, as a CIA agent accused of being a sleeper Russian agent. While on the run from colleagues Liev Schreiber and Chiwetel Ejiofor, she has to decide if she's going to go through with her mission--or instead try to clear her name. Andre Braugher played the Secretary of Defense, and Corey Stoll played another sleeper agent. The film did OK, but the sequel hook at the end has remained unfulfilled. The Sound Mixing was Oscar nominated.
Director: Phillip Noyce
Ramona and Beezus--6/$7.8 million/$26.2 million/101/70%/56--This adaption of the books of evergreen children's author Beverly Cleary (who is still with us at 104!) cast then 10-year-old Joey King as Ramona and Selena Gomez as her big sister Beatrice, as they deal with the younger girl's rather eccentric behavior while their father (John Corbett) experiences job issues and their aunt (Ginnifer Goodwin) rekindles her romance with her teenage boyfriend (Josh Duhamel). Bridget Moynahan played the girls' mother, and Sandra Oh played Ramona's teacher. Despite the popularity of the book series (which lasted from 1950 to 1999), the movie didn't do very well.
Director: Elizabeth Allen
Fifteen Years Ago--July 29, 2005:
#1 Movie:
Wedding Crashers--$20.5 million
New Wide Releases:
Sky High--3/$14.6 million/$64 million/39/73%/62--A few years before the superhero genre became all-devouring, Disney released this well-received comedy about superheroes in training, set at the titular institution. Michael Angarano as the offspring of two of the world's most powerful superheroes (Kurt Russell and Kelly Preston) who does not appear to have any powers himself, but is still sent to the school, where he finds himself getting sidekick lessons from Dave Foley. Luckily, when some of the superheroes in training turn out to be wannabe supervillians, the Angarano and his fellow sidekicks prove to have more power than imagined. Danielle Panabaker played Angarano's best friend, and the school's facility included Foley's fellow Kid in the Hall Kevin McDonald, Bruce Campbell, Cloris Leachman, and Wonder Woman herself, Lynda Carter.
Director: Mike Mitchell
Stealth--4/$13.3 million/$32.1 million/86/12%/35--In this cross between Top Gun, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Short Circuit, three top-tier Navy fighter pilots (Josh Lucas, Jessica Beal, and Jamie Foxx, in his first role since winning the Oscar) are teamed with a top secret, pilotless plane that uses AI to fly. When the plane gets hit by lightning (a scenario that none of the geniuses who created it apparently anticipated), it gains sentience and decides that it doesn't need to follow human commands anymore. Sam Shepard played the trio's commanding officer. This deeply silly action thriller ended up being the flop of the summer.
Director: Rob Cohen
Must Love Dogs--5/$12.9 million/$43.9 million/66/36%/46--This romcom starred Diane Lane and John Cusack as recent divorcees who have the usual series of complications and false starts and misunderstandings before they finally get together. Despite its predictability, the film has a strong supporting cast, including Elizabeth Perkins as Lane's sister, Christopher Plummer as her father, Stockard Channing as Plummer's lady friend, and Dermot Mulroney as Cusack's romantic rival. In a summer largely devoid of traditional romantic comedies, this one ended up having decent legs, despite the mostly poor reviews:
Director: Gary David Goldberg
Twenty Years Ago--July 28, 2000:
New Wide Releases:
Nutty Professor II: The Klumps--1/$42.5 million/$123.3 million/16/26%/38--The most memorable scene in 1996's The Nutty Professor was the dinner scene, in which Eddie Murphy played literally every member of his family. That scene was so well-received that the sequel is largely given over to those family members, with Murphy's parents (Eddie Murphy and Eddie Murphy) running into marriage trouble and Murphy's grandmother (Eddie Murphy) trying to seduce Murphy's evil alter ego (Eddie Murphy). The main plot has said alter ego managing to get his own body and try to sabotage Murphy's career and his romance with a fellow scientist (Eddie Mur...just kidding, Janet Jackson). Larry Miller returned as Murphy's obnoxious boss.
Director: Peter Segal
Thomas and the Magic Railroad--9/$4.2 million/$15.9 million/109/21%/19--If the producers of Sesame Street couldn't get parents to pluck down money to take their preschoolers to see The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland the previous fall, I'm not sure why the producers of Thomas the Tank Engine thought they could get parents to pluck down money to see this film. So the fact it flopped is not a surprise, but the fact it was able to outgross Grouchland by a few million was. Maybe it was the star power of Alec Baldwin, Peter Fonda, and Mara Wilson that put this one (slightly) over the top.
Director: Britt Allcroft
Twenty-Five Years Ago--July 28, 1995:
New Wide Releases:
Waterworld--1/$21.2 million/$88.3 million/12/46%/56--At the time the most expensive movie ever made, mostly as a result of having to be shot primarily in large water tanks, this post-apocalyptic action flick, set after the melted polar ice caps flooded the entire planet, starred Kevin Costner as a traveler who has both gills and lungs who is forced to take care of a young girl (Tina Majorino) who possibly has a map to the world's last remaining spot above the water tattooed on her back. Jeanne Triplehorn played Majorino's guardian, and Dennis Hopper played the pirate leader who is also after Majorino. A then-unknown Jack Black played one of Hopper's pirates. The film wouldn't come close to making back its budget in the US, though it did better overseas, though it still lost quite a bit of money. It would receive one Oscar nomination, for Sound.
Director: Kevin Reynolds
The Net--2/$10 million/$50.7 million/35/40%/51--The Internet was brand new to most Americans when this paranoid thriller, starring Sandra Bullock as a shut-in computer programmer who finds her entire identity erased when she comes into possession of a floppy disk (remember those?) with proof that a major tech company has been up to no good. The plot, which seemed preposterous in 1995, really seems ridiculous today, but the film was a modest success, proving that Bullock's newfound star power wasn't a fluke.
Director: Irwin Winkler
Operation Dumbo Drop--6/$6.4 million/$24.7 million/67/31%/48--In perhaps the world's only family comedy set in the Vietnam War, a group of American soldiers (including Danny Glover, Ray Liotta, Denis Leary, and Doug E. Doug) try to transport an elephant to a small, strategically important village after the Viet Cong kill the village's previous elephant right before the spring festival. Based on a true story, which is probably the only way something like this could have been greenlit. July wasn't a great month for family films, as this, Free Willy 2, and The Indian in the Cupboard all underperformed.
Director: Simon Wincer
Thirty Years Ago--July 27, 1990:
New Wide Releases:
Presumed Innocent--1/$11.7 million/$86.3 million/12/87%/72--This adaption of Scott Turow's twisty bestseller starred Harrison Ford as a prosecutor who is put in charge of the investigation into the murder of a colleague (Greta Scacchi)--at least until he becomes the prime suspect himself after his affair with her is revealed. Raul Julia played his defense attorney, Brian Dennehey his boss, Bonnie Bedelia his wife, and Paul Winfield a judge. Eventual West Wing co-stars John Spencer and Bradley Whitfield also appear, as a detective and a lawyer, respectively.
Director: Alan J. Pakula
Problem Child--3/$10 million/$53.5 million/21/0%/27--This rather odious family comedy became a surprise late summer hit. Future real-life married couple John Ritter and Amy Yasbeck play a couple (he a pushover, she a social climber) who decide to adopt a kid, and end up with young Michael Oliver, who is...well, the title doesn't even begin to sum up how awful he is. Jack Warden played Ritter's dad, who was maybe even worse than the kid, and Michael Richards played a serial killer that Oliver was a big fan of (ha ha?). Somehow, this has a script by the future writers of Ed Wood and The People vs. Larry Flynt and a closing credits title song by the Beach Boys. Followed a year later by a quickie sequel, with Oliver, Ritter, Warden, and Yasbeck (in a different role) returning.
Director: Dennis Dugan
Expanding:
The Freshman--6/$4.2 million
Thirty-Five Years Ago--July 26, 1985:
New Wide Releases:
National Lampoon's European Vacation--1/$12.3 million/$49.4 million/14/36%/47--This sequel to 1983's hit Vacation has the Griswolds (Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo, along with kids du jour Dana Hill and Jason Lively) leaving their usual trail of destruction across the continent, after winning the trip on a game show. Like its predecessor and successor Christmas Vacation, this one is largely a series of vignettes, though there's not nearly the amount of connective tissue that the other two films have. This would gross almost exactly what Fletch had grossed earlier in the summer, giving Chase arguably a better summer than anyone outside of Sylvester Stallone and Michael J. Fox.
Director: Amy Heckerling
The Black Cauldron--4/$4.2 million/$21.3 million/42/55%/59--Disney's nightmare 1985 continued with perhaps the studio's most notorious flop of all time, a loose adaption of Lloyd Alexander's The Chronicles of Prydain. Embracing fantasy in one of their full-length animated films for the first time since 1963's The Sword in the Stone, this story, about a young farmhand and a young princess who have to save the kingdom from the evil Horned King (no relation to the evil Nome King from Disney's other summer flop, Return to Oz). This was the first Disney animated production to get a PG rating, and would be the only one until Dinosaur got rated PG 15 years later. The film has attracted a small cult, but the general consensus remains that it was a misfire.
Director: Ted Berman and Richard Rich
The Heavenly Kid--11/$1.6 million/$3.9 million/123/22%/30--After dying in a car crash, a teenager (future TV staple Lewis Smith) is told by an angel (once and future TV staple Richard Mulligan) that he has to help someone else in order to get to Heaven, and roughly 18 years later, gets assigned a nerdy kid (future TV staple Jason Gedrick), who turns out to be the son of Smith's former girlfriend (future TV staple Jane Kaczmarek). Audiences gave this one a wide pass.
Director: Cary Medoway
New Limited Releases:
Pee-Wee's Big Adventure--$40.9 million/19/87%/47--Tim Burton's feature directorial debut wasn't the first time Paul Reubens had brought his Pee-Wee Herman persona to the big screen (as discussed last week, a much more adult version had appeared five years prior in Cheech and Chong's Next Movie), but this comedy, in which he travels to Texas and back to locate his stolen bike, was probably the general public's introduction to the character. They liked what they saw as the film became one of the summer's sleeper hits, and Reubens would go on to star in a sequel (1988's Big Top Pee-Wee) and his long-running Saturday morning series. Reviews were less-than-stellar, but the film launched Burton's career and almost immediately became a beloved cult hit. Reubens's old friends Phil Hartman and Jan Hooks, both a year away from being hired by Saturday Night Live, had memorable bit parts.
Director: Tim Burton
Kiss of the Spider Woman--$17 million/53/86%/80--In this Brazilian-set drama, a political prisoner (Raul Julia) has to share a cell with a gay man (William Hurt). Despite the vast differences between them, the two men begin to bond while Hurt attempts to entertain by relating the stories of his favorite films. This was the first independent film to get an Oscar nomination for Best Picture, and it was also nominated for Best Director for Hector Babenco and Adapted Screenplay. Hurt would win Best Actor.
Director: Hector Babenco
Forty Years Ago--July 25, 1980:
New Wide Releases:
Caddyshack--$39.9 million/17/74%/48--As the title implies, the focus of the comedy was originally going to be on the caddies, rather than on the film's famed quartet of comic actors. But when first-time director Harold Ramis started editing, he realized that--surprise!--Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, Ted Knight, and Rodney Dangerfield (in his film debut) were far funnier than the antics of the teenagers. There's still a lot of remains of the film's original plot in the film, namely every time the focus shifts to Michael O'Keefe (who would get an Oscar nomination that year for his much more interesting work on The Great Santini) and his pursuit of the caddy scholarship. But wait a few moments, and Knight or Murray or Chase or Dangerfield will show back up. The film got mediocre reviews, but was a sizable hit, and quickly became embraced. A sequel followed in 1988, with only Chase returning, and even that was just a cameo.
Director: Harold Ramis
Dressed to Kill--$31.9 million/21/81%/74--This violent thriller starred Angie Dickinson as a bored housewife, Nancy Allen as a hooker, and Michael Caine as Dickinson's shrink. When one of them is brutally murdered, one of the others turns detective, while being stalked by the killer. While the film's final twist--which owes more than a little bit to the final twist in one of Hitchcock's most famous films--was highly acclaimed in 1980, in 2020, the revelation of the killer's motive is considerably more problematic.
Director: Brian De Palma
New Limited Releases:
The Mountain Men--NA/NA/43%/NA--Speaking of films that are rather problematic in 2020, here is this violent western starring Charlton Heston and Brian Keith as fur trappers whose attempt to work in Blackfoot territory gets them on the bad side of a Blackfoot warrior (the decidedly not Native American Stephen Macht), especially after Heston takes up with the warrior's woman. Despite Heston's star power, this didn't get a widescale release.
Director: Richard Lang
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