Mid-September continues to be a higher class of January at the movies. There are a few notable (and Oscar-noticed) movies opened on this weekend, but there's more forgettable here than high quality.
One Year Ago--September 13, 2019:
#1 Movie:
It: Chapter Two--$39.6 million
New Wide Releases:
Hustlers--2/$33.2 million/$105 million/30/87%/79--On paper, it looked like a typical September throwaway--a drama about thieving strippers, starring Jennifer Lopez, who hadn't really headlined a hit since Monster-in-Law fifteen years earlier. But amazingly, this turned out to be one of the best-reviewed movies of the fall, with Lopez getting the types of raves she hadn't gotten since Out of Sight. Joining Lopez was Constance Wu, in her first film since breaking through with Crazy Rich Asians the year before, Julia Stiles, who also hadn't had a hit film in a while, Keke Palmer, Mercedes Ruehl, and musicians Lizzo and Cardi B, both making their live-action film acting debuts. The movie became a sleeper hit, ultimately outgrossing most of the other early fall movies.
Director: Lorene Scafaria
The Goldfinch--8/$2.7 million/$5.3 million/139/24%/40--Meanwhile, on paper, this looked like one of the premier prestige dramas of the fall. An adaption of a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, it was helmed by Brooklyn director John Crowley, and featured a prestigious cast led by Nicole Kidman. Then it premiered in Toronto. Critics were either bored or confused by the movie, about a young man (Oakes Fegley as a teen, Ansel Elgot as an adult) who steals the titular painting in the immediate aftermath of a museum bombing that killed his mother, and the next few years of his life, which involves his guardian (Kidman), the owner of an antique store (Jeffrey Wright), his estranged father (Luke Wilson) and his girlfriend (Sarah Paulson), and a childhood friend (It's Finn Wolfhard). Ending up nowhere near the Oscar stage, this instead was one of 2019's most epic failures.
Director: John Crowley
Five Years Ago--September 11, 2015:
New Wide Releases:
The Perfect Guy--1/$25.9 million/$57 million/51/18%/36--For a few years, Sony would release a highly profitable, if poorly reviewed, thriller aimed at the African-American market every September. This was 2015's entry, in which Sanaa Lathan broke up with long-time boyfriend Morris Chestnut and almost immediately started dating Michael Ealy, who seemed too good to be true. Of course, he turns out to be a dangerous psychopath. This burned out quite quickly, but since it was already profitable by the end of its first weekend, Sony probably didn't mind too much.
Director: David M. Rosenthal
The Visit--2/$25.4 million/$65.2 million/47/68%/55--After bombing out with big-budget movies of both his creation and the creations of others, M. Night Shyamalan tried his hand at his first low-budget, starless movie since the beginning of his career--and achieved his first real success since Signs. In this found-footage thriller, two teens (Olivia DeJonge and Ed Oxenbould) are sent to spend a week with their grandparents (Deanna Dunagan and Peter McRobbie), whom they have never met. It doesn't take long for the siblings to realize something is very, very wrong in the house. Kathryn Hahn played the kid's mother. Shyamalan was so energized that his next movie was another low-budget thriller, albeit one with bigger names, Split.
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
90 Minutes in Heaven--9/$2 million/$4.8 million/149/23%/28--With War Room still doing excellent business, there wasn't room for another Christian film, even one with big name stars--or at least recognizable name stars--like Hayden Christensen and Kate Bosworth. Christensen played a pastor who is seemingly killed in a car accident, only to be revived 90 minutes later. After his resurrection, he claimed to have been to Heaven, and struggles to re-adjust to life on Earth. Bosworth played his wife, and Dwight Yoakam, former U.S. Senator Fred Dalton Thompson (in one of his final roles), and Christian music star Michael W. Smith play supporting roles.
Director: Michael Polish
Ten Years Ago--September 10, 2010:
New Wide Releases:
Resident Evil: Afterlife--1/$26.7 million/$60.1 million/55/22%/37--The fourth entry of the zombies vs. Milla Jovovich franchise sees her battle the undead in the remains of Los Angeles, along with fellow survivors Wentworth Miller, Ali Larter, and Boris Kodjoe. This marks the return of Paul W.S. Anderson (aka Mr. Milla Jovovich) to the series's director's chair for the first time since the first one (though he did write the second and third installments). He would go on to also direct the last two entries in the series, in 2012 and 2016.
Director: Paul W.S. Anderson
Fifteen Years Ago--September 16, 2005:
New Wide Releases:
Just Like Heaven--1/$16.4 million/$48.3 million/60/55%/47--Recent widower Mark Ruffalo moves into a new apartment, only to discover that the previous occupant, Reese Witherspoon, has yet to leave it and has no plans to, mainly because she doesn't realize she's a ghost. With the help of psychic Jon Heder (in his first film since unexpected success of Napoleon Dynamite the previous year), the two begin to try to figure out exactly what happened to her and why she's still there in this romcom that got wildly mixed reviews and mediocre box office. Witherspoon would have much more luck with her other big fall movie.
Director: Mark Waters
Lord of War--3/$9.4 million/$24.2 million/105/61%/62--This pitch black comedy starred Nicolas Cage as a Ukrainian refugee (luckily, one without an accent) who becomes the world's #1 illegal arms dealer, supplying weapons to anyone who is willing to pay his prices. Jared Leto played his brother and partner in crime, Ethan Hawke an idealistic federal agent hoping to bring him down, Ian Holm a rival arms dealer and Bridget Moynahan Cage's unsuspecting wife. Despite solid reviews, audiences who were still at the time largely supportive of the Iraq War weren't really interested in seeing who was supplying all those weapons.
Director: Andrew Niccol
Cry Wolf--5/$4.6 million/$10.1 million/147/24%/39--Forgettable horror flick in which several students at a remote boarding school try to pull a prank on the student body about a possible serial killer on campus--only to have bodies start showing up for real. Jon Bon Jovi played a teacher, Anna Deavere Smith played the school's headmistress, and Gary Cole the father of one of the students. Among the actors playing the students, the only one whose really done anything of note since is Jared Padalecki, whose new horror-fantasy WB series had just premiered earlier in the week.
Director: Jeff Wadlow
New Limited Releases:
Corpse Bride--$53.4 million/51/84%/83--The first of two stop-motion horror comedies featuring the voice of Helena Bonham Carter that opened during the fall of 2005, this one was co-directed by Carter's then-boyfriend, Tim Burton, making his first fully-animated feature film and first time he directed an exclusively animated movie since his short Vincent in 1982 (despite being credited above the title, Burton didn't direct The Nightmare Before Christmas--Henry Selick did, as well as James and the Giant Peach--but did produce it and created the story and characters). Co-starring was Burton's favorite actor, Johnny Depp, who voiced a nervous young man who, through a grave misunderstanding, finds himself "married" to a friendly zombie (Carter), much to the consternation of his actual fiancee (Emily Watson). Burton recruited an all-star cast, including Richard E. Grant, Albert Finney, Tracy Ullman, Christopher Lee, Jane Horrocks, and Danny Elfman. Despite glowing reviews, this only did so-so business at the box office, though the film did score an Oscar nomination for Animated Feature.
Director: Tim Burton and Mike Johnson
G--$3 million/182/NA/42--For those who always wished F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby was set in the world of present-day hip hop, here was G, which was finally released after sitting on the shelf for three years. Richard T. Jones played a famous music mogul (any resemblence to Sean Combs was purely intentional) who moves to a large estate in the Hamptons, that just happens to be next to the estate of his college love (Chenoa Maxwell) and her jealous husband (Blair Underwood). Critics were fairly mixed, and it didn't do much business when it went semi-wide in October.
Director: Christopher Scott Cherot
Proof--$7.5 million/154/62%/64--Gwyneth Paltrow reunited with her Shakespeare in Love director, John Madden, in this drama based on the Pultizer Prize-winning play. She played the daughter of a famed, recently deceased mathematician (Anthony Hopkins) who struggled with mental illness in his later years, and she fears she is beginning to succumb to it as well. Jake Gyllanhaal played a former student of Hopkins who is researching his unpublished work, and Hope Davis played Paltrow's sister. Reviews were decent, but this ended up being failed Oscar bait.
Director: John Madden
Expanding:
An Unfinished Life--10/$2.1 million
Twenty Years Ago--September 15, 2000:
#1 Movie:
The Watcher--$5.8 million
New Wide Releases:
Bait--2/$5.5 million/$15.3 million/115/26%/39--After the success of Any Given Sunday, Jamie Foxx and Warner Bros. were convinced he could headline a big-budget action comedy. As it turned out, not quite yet. Foxx played a petty thief who was briefly in a cell with a criminal mastermind who had robbed the US Federal Reserve. Unfortunately, the mastermind is now dead, and no one knows where the loot is, so a federal agent (David Morse) decides to implant a tracking device into an unknowing Foxx and release him from prison, with the hope that he'll draw out the mastermind's partner. Despite a lot of hype, this opened to terrible reviews, and immediately crashed and burned. Foxx wouldn't get another chance to lead a major film until Collateral and Ray four years later.
Director: Antoine Fuqua
Almost Famous--8/$2.3 million/$32.5 million/80/89%/90--Cameron Crowe, who, at the age of 16, was a working journalist for Rolling Stone, covering the tours of several seminal bands of the 1970s, wrote and directed this drama about a teenage kid who is hired by Rolling Stone to cover the tour of a (fictitious) seminal band of the 1970s. Newcomer Patrick Fugit played the Crowe stand-in, who, after striking up a friendship with legendary Creem editor Lester Bangs (Phillip Seymour Hoffman), is hired by Rolling Stone to cover the band Stillwater, whose guitarist (Billy Crudup) had already taken a liking to him. On the road, Fugit meets and falls for groupie Kate Hudson, while back home, his worried, rock-hating mother (Frances McDormand) frets at what the rock stars are doing to him. Jason Lee played the band's jealous lead singer, Fairuza Balk, Anna Paquin, and Bijou Phillips as other groupies, Noah Taylor as the band's manager, Jimmy Fallon as the label's preferred new manager, cameos by comedians Marc Maron and Mitch Hedberg, as well as by musician Peter Frampton, and several Before They Were Stars appearances by Michael Angarano, Zooey Deschanel, Rainn Wilson, Eric Stonestreet, and Jay Baruchel. Critics raved about the film, but unfortunately, it did not really catch on with the general public, leading to a disappointing final gross. It still earned four Oscar nominations, including Supporting Actress nods for both Hudson and McDormand, and for Editing, and would win for Crowe's Original Screenplay.
Director: Cameron Crowe
Duets--10/$2 million/$4.7 million/153/21%/40--The weekend's other all-star film about music didn't get quite the acclaim that Almost Famous did, but does stand as perhaps the only major motion picture about karaoke. The film chronicles the journey of three groups of people toward a karaoke championship--karaoke hustler Huey Lewis and his estranged daughter (played by director Bruce Paltrow's real-life daughter Gwyneth), burned-out salesman Paul Giamiatti and petty thief Andre Braugher, and taxi driver Scott Speedman and drifter Mario Bello. Also appearing were Angie Dickinson and Broadway legend Marian Seldes in supporting roles, as well as brief appearances from up and coming crooner Michael Buble and new Saturday Night Live cast member Maya Rudolph, as well as maybe possibly a cameo from James Cameron (yes, that James Cameron). This would be the only time that Gwyneth and Bruce Paltrow would work together.
Director: Bruce Paltrow
New Limited Releases:
Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport--$0.4 million/244/91%/79--In the months leading up to the start of World War II, the British government waved visa requirements for Jewish children in Nazi-occupied Europe and ultimately took in over 10,000 of them--many of whom would end up being the only members of their families to survive the war. This documentary interviewed a number of the now elderly adults who had been rescued this way, as well as surviving foster parents and rescuers. Judi Dench provided the narration, and the film, which would win the Oscar for Documentary Feature, was produced with the assistance of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Director: Mark Jonathan Harris
Twenty-Five Years Ago--September 15, 1995:
#1 Movie:
To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar--$6.6 million
New Wide Releases:
Clockers--2/$4.5 million/$13.1 million/103/71%/71--Spike Lee, whose previous films had, except for biopic Malcolm X, been from his own original screenplays, adapted a novel (with original author Richard Price) for the first time. The drama starred Mekhi Phifer as a low-level Brooklyn drug dealer who is ordered by his boss (Delroy Lindo) to take out a rival dealer, which sets off a chain reaction that destroys numerous lives. Harvey Keitel and John Turturro play homicide detectives investigating the murder, Isaiah Washington played Phifer's brother, who takes the rap, Regina Taylor as the mother of a pre-teen who admires Phifer, and Keith David as a cop. Despite critical acclaim, Clockers didn't make an impact at the box office.
Director: Spike Lee
Hackers--4/$3.2 million/$7.6 million/130/33%/46--A couple of months after The Net presented a not-very-realistic look at what could be done on the then-burgeoning Internet, came an even less-realistic look at what could be done on the Internet, as a group of teenage hackers, including Johnny Lee Miller, Matthew Lillard, Jessie Bradford, and Angelina Jolie, in her film debut (other than a small role in one of her father's films when she was 8), try to take down an evil older hacker (Fisher Stevens) who is plotting to steal millions from the company he's supposedly doing security for. Lorraine Bracco played an executive at the company, Penn Jillette played another security person, singer Marc Anthony played a secret service agent, Wendell Pierce another agent who the hackers harassed, and Felicity Huffman an attorney. Even though the film was a critical and commercial flop, it has become somewhat of a cult classic today. Six months after the film opened, Jolie and Miller got married, though it would only last for three years.
Director: Iain Softley
Angus--8/$1.9 million/$4.8 million/149/67%/NA--This teen-aimed comedy-drama starred newcomer Charlie Talbert as Angus, an overweight, unpopular teen who wins an election to dance with his longtime crush (Ariana Richards) at an upcoming event, assuming it isn't spoiled by the school's bully (James Van Der Beek, in his film debut). Chris Owen played Angus's best friend, Rita Moreno a dance instructor, Kevin Connolly a friend of Van Der Beek's, Kathy Bates Angus's mother, and George C. Scott his grandfather, in what would be his next-to-last appearance in a theatrical release.
Director: Patrick Read Johnson
New Limited Releases:
Unstrung Heroes--$7.9 million/127/74%/70--Diane Keaton made her feature film directorial debut with this comedy-drama, based on a memoir by journalist Franz Lidz, about the time during his childhood when he moved in with his deeply eccentric uncles (Michael Richards and Maury Chaykin) while his mother (Andie MacDowell) was battling cancer. John Turturro, in his second movie of the weekend, played the boy's father, who wasn't quite as eccentric as his brothers, but was still plenty eccentric. The film would receive one Oscar nomination, for its Musical or Comedy Score.
Director: Diane Keaton
Thirty Years Ago--September 14, 1990:
New Wide Releases:
Postcards From the Edge--1/$7.9 million/$39.1 million/34/84%/71--Carrie Fisher, who had serious issues with drugs and had a famously loving-but-contentious relationship with her mother Debbie Reynolds, wrote the screenplay, based on her book, about a actress (Meryl Streep, making her third film with director Mike Nichols) who had serious issues with drugs and a loving-but-contentious relationship with her famous actress mother (Shirley MacLaine). How much was taken from real life is still up for debate, but the film was very well received and was a minor box office hit. Dennis Quaid played a producer who Steep takes a romantic interest in, Gene Hackman played a director, Richard Dreyfuss a doctor, CCH Pounder a drug counselor, Oliver Platt as a sound guy, Dana Ivey as a wardrobe person, Rob Reiner another producer, and Annette Bening as another actress. Streep was nominated for Best Actress at the Oscars, and the Original Song "I'm Checkin' Out", which had music and lyrics by cartoonist and poet Shel Silversteen, was also nominated.
Director: Mike Nichols
Death Warrant--3/$5 million/$16.9 million/70/NA/34--Jean-Claude Van Damme starred in this prison-set action movie, in which he played a Canadian Mountie who, for some reason, goes undercover in a California prison in order to solve a series of murders, and uncovers a gruesome conspiracy. Cynthia Gibb played a lawyer on the outside, and Robert Guillaume played a prison clerk who Van Damme befriends. Though it wasn't a huge grosser, it was Van Damme's biggest hit up to that point.
Director: Deran Sarafian
Hardware--7/$2.4 million/$5.7 million/120/50%/NA--In the post-apocalyptic future, a seemingly junked robot turns out to be very much active, very much able to repair itself, and very much eager to kill every human it encounters in this sci-fi actioner starring Dylan McDermott. The film was initially rated X (shortly before that rating was replaced by the NC-17) for its violence, but was edited down to an R. Iggy Pop has a vocal cameo as a radio host.
Director: Richard Stanley
Thirty-Five Years Ago--September 13, 1985:
#1 Movie:
Back to the Future--$4.1 million
New Limited Releases:
Agnes of God--$25.6 million/34/43%/52--A young nun (Meg Tilly) is found in her room with evidence of having recently given birth, with a dead newborn baby in a trashcan. However, she claims not to remember the pregnancy, the birth, or the death. A psychiatrist (Jane Fonda) is brought in to determine the sanity of the nun, which puts her in conflict with the convent's Mother Superior (Anne Bancroft), who seems to know more than she's willing to admit. This adaption of the play opened to largely mixed reviews, but with an impressive cast and direction by Norman Jewison, coming off the Best Picture-nominated A Solder's Story, the film still got three Oscar nominations, Best Actress for Bancroft, Supporting Actress for Tilly, and Score.
Director: Norman Jewison
After Hours--$10.6 million/80/89%/90--After achieving great success making dramas, Martin Scorsese tried something different with this offbeat black comedy about a office wonk (Griffin Dunne) who has a very bizarre night in the Soho district of New York. Roseanna Arquette, in her second quirky, NYC-based comedy of the year (after Desperately Seeking Susan) played a woman Dunne tried to go on a date with, Linda Fiorentino played her roommate, Teri Garr a waitress, Catherine O'Hara a ice cream truck driver, her future Home Alone husband John Heard a bartender, Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong a couple of thieves, Bronson Pinchot a co-worker, and Verna Bloom an artist with a unique idea of how to save Dunne from an angry mob. While the film wasn't a big financial success, it almost immediately became a cult classic.
Director: Martin Scorsese
Forty Years Ago--September 12, 1980:
Expanding:
The Big Red One
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