Twas the weekend before Christmas, and all through the multiplex, there were seemingly dozens of new movies opening, as studios tried to position their films to take advantage of the lucrative Christmas week, as well as to qualify for Oscars and other year-end awards.
*--4-day grosses
**--5-day grosses
One Year Ago--December 20, 2019:
New Wide Releases:
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker--1/$177.4 million/$515.2 million/3/51%/53--The third and final entry in the Sequel Trilogy and the ninth and final entry (for now) in the entire main series, this was taken back over by J.J. Abrams after the wildly mixed response to The Last Jedi, who pretty much rehashed the plot of The Force Awakens (the gang tracks down the MacGuffin with the map to the supersecret place) with a big dollop of Return of the Jedi, specifically the return of the Emperor (Ian McDiarmid), who survived his death in that movie thanks to cloning. Returning is seemingly everyone who had been in any of the new trilogy movies, including the central trio of Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, and Oscar Issac, villian Adam Driver, as well as Domnhall Gleason, Richard E. Grant, Lupita Nyong'o, and Kelly Marie Tran, with newcomers including Kerry Russell. Billy Dee Williams pops up for a cameo, and the Original Trio of Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, and Carrie Fisher also appear, even though the first two actors' characters were dead and Fisher herself was dead (her performance, for which she got top billing, was made up entirely of outtakes from The Force Awakens and CGI), plus a raftload of cameos, including voiceovers. Critics thought that the film was a most unsatisfying ending to arguably the biggest franchise in cinematic history, and like The Last Jedi and Solo before it, made a ton of money while still being a fairly large disappointment because when you're a Star Wars, making only a ton of money simply won't do. This is probably why Disney is giving the film series a rest for a few years and concentrating on TV (The Mandalorian sucking up all the Star Wars energy was probably also a factor, though we should be grateful that the powers that be didn't demand a last-second Baby Yoda cameo). The film was nominated for three Oscars, for Score, Visual Effects, and Sound Editing.
Director: J.J. Abrams
Cats--4/$6.6 million/$27.2 million/87/20%/32--Skywalker might have underperformed, but the real catastrophe of the holiday season was this adaption of the absurdly long running Broadway musical, for which Andrew Lloyd Webber combined a bunch of old T.S. Eliot poems with a plot point from Logan's Run. The 18-year run of the show ensured that, at some point, it would be adapted into a movie, but actors wearing cat suits wouldn't work for the more realistic medium of film, and Disney-style animation wouldn't fit the show's tone. The ultimate solution--motion capture with the actors being covered by CGI cat outfits--proved horrifying. Director Tom Hooper did recruit a fine (or at least famous) cast, including Judi Dench (who was supposed to star in the original London production, but had to withdraw due to an injury), Ian McKellen, Idris Elba, Jennifer Hudson, Ray Winstone, Rebel Wilson, James Cordon, and Taylor Swift, who co-wrote the movie's one original song. It was all for naught.
Director: Tom Hooper
Expanding:
Bombshell--6/$5.1 million
Five Years Ago--December 18, 2015:
New Wide Releases:
Star Wars: The Force Awakens--1/$248 million/$936.7 million/1/92%/80--Four years before the Sequel Trilogy ended with a shrug and an ocean of money, it started out with great excitement and a galaxy (far far away) of money. Picking up thirty years after the end of Return of the Jedi (and coming out ten and a half years after the release of the last live-action Star Wars movie, Revenge of the Sith), the Republic is fighting the First Order, which has regrouped from the remains of the Empire. Desert rat Daisy Ridley finds escaped Stormtrooper John Boyega and escape on the Millennium Falcon, where they eventually encounter Harrison Ford, returning to play Han Solo for the first time since Return of the Jedi. Meanwhile, they're pursued by Adam Driver, who has a very close connection to the Skywalker family. Also returning from the Original trilogy was Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia, Anthony Daniels as C-3PO, and Peter Meyhew, reprising Chewbacca for the final time. Newcomers included Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong'o, Andy Serkis, Max Von Sydow (in one of his final roles), and Domhnall Gleason. The film made money faster than any film before or since, making at least $20 million a day (and frequently much more) for 17 straight days, through the end of New Year's weekend, by which time it was only $18 million behind Avatar. It still reigns as the highest grossing movie ever in North America, a title it might not relinquish for years. It earned five Oscar nominations, for Editing, Score, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, and Visual Effects.
Director: J.J. Abrams
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip--2/$14.3 million/$85.9 million/35/15%/33--With the third sequel to arguably the least likely $200 million grosser of 2007, the steam finally ran out of the franchise, though it still made far more than a live action movie about talking, singing chipmunks opening against the biggest movie of all time should reasonably be expected to make. The Chipmunks' guardian (Jason Lee) wants to propose to his girlfriend (Kimberly Williams-Paisley), and for some reason, the Chipmunks (Justin Long, Matthew Gary Gruber, Jesse McCartney) race across the country to stop it, while being chased by a vengeful sky marshal (Tony Hale, replacing his Arrested Development co-star David Cross as the franchise's bumbling villain). Christina Applegate, Kaley Cuoco, and Anna Faris voiced the Chippettes. Critics reacted about as you would expect for the fourth Alvin and the Chipmunks film.
Director: Walt Becker
Sisters--3/$13.9 million/$87 million/34/60%/58--Amy Poheler has voiced one of the Chippettes in the second and third Alvin and the Chipmunks, but she dropped out of doing the fourth, meaning she didn't have to compete with herself with this comedy, where she and friend Tina Fey team up--at least in the movies--for the first time since 2008's Baby Mama (not counting their cameos in Anchorman 2) playing, as the title suggest, sisters, who decide to have one last party in their soon-to-be-sold childhood home. Dianne Wiest and James Brolin play their parents, John Leguizamo an old friend, John Cena a drug dealer, and cameos from current and former SNLers Maya Rudolph, Bobby Moynihan, Rachel Dratch, Kate McKinnon, and Chris Parnell. It got mixed reviews, but did decent business.
Director: Jason Moore
Dilwale--9/$1.9 million/$4.9 million/148/20%/NA--One of two Bollywood movies that opened in the Top 10 that weekend, this action comedy has the children of two rival gangs (Varun Dhawan and Kriti Sanon) who discover their their older siblings (Shah Rukh Khan and Kojol) used to date themselves, but now hate each other. Despite mostly bad reviews, this did well at specialty theaters.
Director: Rohit Shetty
Bajirao Mastani--10/$1.8 million/$6.6 million/143/65%/NA--This romantic historical epic stars Ranveer Singh as Bajirao, an Indian prime minister in the 18th century, who falls in love with Mistani (Deepika Padukone), even though he's already married to Priyanka Chopra. The weekend's other Bollywood movie opened slightly less than Dilwale, but got better reviews and ultimately outgrossed it in North America.
Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali
New Limited Releases:
Son of Saul--$1.8 million/192/96%/91--This highly acclaimed but bleak Holocaust drama, out of Hungary, starred Geza Rohrig as a prisoner who is determined that a young victim should have a proper Jewish burial, and goes to great lengths to keep the body secure and to find a rabbi willing to perform the rites. It wasn't a box office success in North America, but would win the Oscar for Foreign Language Film.
Director: Nemes Laszlo
Ten Years Ago--December 17, 2010:
New Wide Releases:
Tron: Legacy--1/$44 million/$172.1 million/12/51%/49--Disney's decision to make a 28-years-later sequel to its 1982 cult hit paid off as this was one of the bigger hits of the holidays, despite dismissive reviews. Garrett Hedlund played the son of Jeff Bridges (in the first of two films opening within five days), who, twenty years after his father's disappearance, finds himself stuck in the mainframe, where he finds both his father and a renegade program (bearing the young Bridges's face) bent on making it to the real world. Olivia Wilde played a program that helps Hedlund and Bridges, Michael Sheen played a club owner in the system, and Bruce Boxletiner also reprised his role from the first movie as Bridges's friend. The film's Sound Editing would be Oscar-nominated.
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Yogi Bear--2/$16.4 million/$100.3 million/30/12%/35--We can probably thank the success of the first two Alvin and the Chipmunks movies for the decision to bring to CGI life another animated animal from 60s TV. Yogi (voiced by Dan Ackroyd) and his little friend Boo Boo (voiced by Justin Timberlake), who has most of the brains of the duo, try to stop an attempt by the evil mayor of the city (Andrew Daly) to shut the park down for nefarious reasons. Tom Cavanagh played Ranger Smith, Yogi's friend/nemesis, Anna Feris played a nature documentarian that Cavanagh takes a shine to, and T.J. Miller played another ranger. While not nearly as successful as the Alvin movies, it did decent business, despite savage reviews.
Director: Eric Brevig
How Do You Know--8/$7.5 million/$30.2 million/95/31%/46--Despite a cast consisting of Reese Witherspoon, Owen Wilson, Paul Rudd, and Jack Nicholson (in his final movie to date), this poorly received romcom (which somehow cost $120 million) was one of the biggest box office disasters of 2010, opening to less than half of what Yogi Bear did the same weekend. Pro softball player Witherspoon is torn between Wilson, an immature ballplayer, and Rudd, a young executive accused of committing financial chicanery and is facing jail time. Nicholson played Rudd's father, Kathryn Hahn played Rudd's loyal secretary, Tony Shaloub played a shrink, and Dean Norris played Witherspoon's coach. This doesn't top I'll Do Anything as the biggest flop of the career of director James L. Brooks (who has yet to direct a feature film since), but it comes close.
Director: James L. Brooks
New Limited Releases:
Rabbit Hole--$2.2 million/170/87%/76--Months after the death of their young son, grieving parents Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart are finding themselves going in different directions in this drama, based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play. Diane Wiest played Kidman's mother, Tammy Blanchard her sister, Sandra Oh played a member of Eckhart's support group, Giancarlo Esposito played Blanchard's boyfriend, and Miles Teller, in his film debut, played the teenage driver of the car that hit the boy. Despite Kidman's presence, the film didn't do too well at the box office, but she would be Oscar-nominated for Actress.
Director: John Cameron Mitchell
Casino Jack--$1 million/194/40%/51--The Abramoff scandal is largely forgotten today, but it was recent history in 2010, when this and the similarly-titled documentary Casino Jack and the United States of Money were both in theaters. Kevin Spacey played Abramoff, a lobbyist for Indian casinos who was embezzling millions from them even as he was forcefully advocating for them on Capital Hill. Berry Pepper played Abramoff's even more corrupt partner, Kelly Preston played his wife, Jon Lovitz played a businessman, Rachelle Lefevre played Pepper's suspicious finance Emily Miller (who is still active in Republican politics in D.C.), and Graham Greene played a tribal executive suspicious of Spacey. This would prove to be the final movie of director George Hickenlooper, who had died in October, and one of the final films of Maury Chaykin, who had died in July. Like many other movies based on recent news events, this got ignored in theaters. Hickenlooper's cousin, John, is currently the junior senator from Colorado.
Director: George Hickenlooper
Expanding:
The Fighter--4/$12.1 million
Fifteen Years Ago--December 23, 2005:
#1 Movie:
King Kong--$21.3 million
New Wide Releases:
Fun With Dick and Jane--3/$14.4 million/$110.3 million/18/28%/47--The meltdown of Enron, among other companies, inspired this remake of the 1977 George Segal/Jane Fonda comedy, which cast Jim Carrey as a rising executive at a large corporation run by Alec Baldwin who, along with all the other employees, loses his job when the company suddenly collapses. When attempts to secure another corporate job, and then any job, fail, Carry and wife Tea Leoni decide their best option is to turn to a life of crime, robbing the rich to give to themselves. Richard Jenkins played the company's CFO, Angie Harmon and John Michael Higgins played family friends, Laurie Metcalf played Leoni's boss, and Ralph Nader appeared as himself. Reviews were poor, but Carrey's popularity helped make it a hit, though this would be his final live-action film to make $100 million domestic until Sonic the Hedgehog in 2020.
Director: Dean Parisot
Cheaper by the Dozen 2--4/$9.3 million/$82.6 million/25/6%/34--The holiday season's other family comedy about a huge clan (after Thanksgiving's Yours, Mine, and Ours) is a sequel to the sleeper hit from 2003, with Steve Martin (in the midst of his string of making almost nothing but poorly reviewed family comedies) and Bonnie Hunt returning as the parents of the huge brood, this time around taking a lakeside vacation. Hijinks ensure. Among the family's various kids are Tom Welling, Piper Perabo, Hilary Duff, and Alyson Stoner. Eugene Levy played Martin's chief rival in this, with "only" eight kids, with Carman Electra as his wife and Jamie King and 13-year-old Taylor Lautner as some of his family. This one got just as bad of reviews as Yours, Mine, and Ours, but managed to outgross it by about $30 million, though it made over $50 million less than its predecessor.
Director: Adam Shankman
The Ringer--7/$5.2 million/$35.4 million/77/40%/46--This comedy starred Johnny Knoxville as a former high school track star who agrees to his uncle's plan to pretend to be developmentally disabled and enter the Special Olympics in order to both bail his uncle (Brian Cox) out of his gambling debt and to help his friend (Luis Avalos) get necessary surgery. Katherine Heigl, then nearly a year into her run on Grey's Anatomy, played a Special Olympics volunteer who Knoxville falls for. The Special Olympics themselves participated in the making of the film, and the film cast numerous developmentally disabled actors to play the other athletes. Critics were surprised at how well the film treated the subject matter (given his track record, it was understandable why they were wary of how a film starring Knoxville might have turned out), but were otherwise largely unimpressed with the film, which did OK business, but not enough to permanently rescue Knoxville from Jackass (Jackass Number Two would arrive the following September).
Director: Barry W. Blaustein
Munich--8/$4.2 million/$47.4 million/62/78%/74--For the third time in his career, Steven Spielberg made two major films in one year, a popcorn blockbuster in the summer and a Oscar drama for Christmas. It worked brilliantly in 1993, when he made Jurassic Park and Schindler's List, and not so well in 1997, with The Lost World and Amistad. His 2005 efforts finished somewhere between them, as he followed up War of the Worlds with this moody drama starring Eric Bana as a Mossad agent recruited to lead a team to track down the terrorists who murdered 11 members of the Israeli Olympic team at the 1972 Munich Games. Daniel Craig, a year before his first James Bond outing, and Ciaran Hinds played members of his team, future Bond villain Mathieu Amalric as the team's shady informer, former Bond villain Michael Lonsdale as his father, and Geoffrey Rush as Bana's handler. The film was well-received by critics, but didn't get quite the rapturous reviews expected. It also underperformed at the box office, but still earned five Oscar nominations, including Picture, Director for Spielberg, Adapted Screenplay, Editing, and Score.
Director: Steven Spielberg
Rumor Has It...--10/$3.5 million/$43 million/68/19%/35--After trying a change of pace earlier in the holidays with the thriller Derailed, Jennifer Aniston headed back to her romcom wheelhouse by playing a woman who discovers that her grandmother (Shirley MacLaine) might just be the inspiration for Mrs. Robinson from The Graduate. She then meets the man who might just be the inspiration for Benjamin (Kevin Costner) who might be her biological father. Mark Ruffalo played Aniston's finance, Richard Jenkins her father, Mena Suvari her sister, and Kathy Bates a family friend. Reviews weren't great, and despite the fine cast, it got lost in the holiday movie shuffle.
Director: Rob Reiner
Wolf Creek--12/$2.8 million/$16.2 million/129/53%/54--For a few years in the mid-aughts, studios would release horror movies on Christmas Day, trying to capture audiences who wanted an antidote to holiday cheer (they stopped when they realized that horror movies opening in early January usually greatly outgrossed the Christmas ones). 2005's entry was this Australian import about a trio of hapless travelers who are unfortunate enough to make the acquittance of a serial killer. Critics felt it was basically the Australia Chainsaw Massacre, and a lot of gorehounds decided to wait a couple of weeks until Hostel arrived.
Director: Greg Mclean
New Limited Releases:
Casanova--$11.3 million/139/43%/57--Heath Ledger, on his way to an Oscar nomination for Brokeback Mountain, played the title character in this heavily fictionalized biopic, as the legendary libertine finds himself falling for a feminist author (Sienna Miller), who of course hates him, and who is under pressure by her mother (Lena Olin) to marry a wealthy, much older man (Oliver Platt). Jeremy Irons played the local bishop, who desired to hang Casanova, and Helen McCrory played Casanova's mother. Directed by the busy Lasse Hallstrom (this opened only about three months after his last film, An Unfinished Life), this opened late in the season in the hopes of picking up at least some technical Oscar nominations, but was shut out.
Director: Lasse Hallstrom
The New World--$12.7 million/136/63%/69--After waiting 20 years after Days of Heaven in 1978 to make The Thin Red Line in 1998, Terrence Malick only waited 7 years before making his next film, which told the story of Pocahontas (15-year-old newcomer Q'orianka Kilcher) and John Smith (Colin Ferrell) slightly more realistically than Disney's version did a decade earlier (though the romance between the two that both Disney and Malick included in their films did not happen in real life). Christopher Plummer played the ship captain, Christian Bale played the Englishman that Pocahontas would eventually marry, August Schellenberg played Pocahontas's father, the tribal chief, Wes Studi played his brother, and various colonists were played by Ben Mendelsohn, John Savage, Noah Taylor, and Ben Chaplin, and Jonathan Pryce played King James. While critical reaction was rather muted in 2005, the film made numerous Best of the Aughts lists four years later. It would be Oscar nominated for its Cinematography.
Director: Terrence Malick
Expanding:
Memoirs of a Geisha--5/$6.8 million
Twenty Years Ago--December 22, 2000:
New Wide Releases:
Cast Away--1/$28.9 million/$233.6 million/2/89%/73--If there was any doubt about Tom Hanks's box office prowess in 2000, the fact that a movie that featured him talking to a volleyball for an hour was the second-biggest film of the year removed that. Hanks played a constantly busy FedEx exec who is the only survivor of a plane crash somewhere in the Pacific, where he washes up on the shore of an uninhabited island. For four years, he is able to survive, until he decides to try to return to civilization. Helen Hunt (in her fourth movie of the fall and second massive blockbuster in two weeks) played Hanks's longtime girlfriend, with Chris Noth also having a role. In addition to the huge box office, it was also highly acclaimed, but ended up only earning two Oscar nominations, Hanks for Best Actor and for Sound. Director Robert Zemeckis aped his friend Steven Spielberg, directing both a summer blockbuster and an holiday season Oscar contender the same year. This ended up outgrossing that blockbuster, What Lies Beneath, though.
Director: Robert Zemeckis
The Family Man--4/$10.6 million/$75.8 million/30/53%/42--After encountering a strange man (Don Cheadle) the night before, a wealthy and single executive (Nicholas Cage) wakes up in a suburban New Jersey home, apparently married to his long-ago ex-girlfriend (Tea Leoni), and has two kids. He tries to adjust to the situation and decide if he'd rather have the family, or the wealth from his old life. This fantasy also starred Jeremy Piven as Cage's friend in his new life, Saul Rubinek as one of his underlings in his old life, Josef Sommer as his boss in his old life, and Harve Presnell as his father-in-law in New Jersey. This is somewhat of an anomaly in the career of Brett Ratner.
Director: Brett Ratner
Miss Congeniality--5/$10.1 million/$106.8 million/21/41%/43--When the FBI realizes that a mad bomber's next target is a prominent beauty pageant (I mean scholarship program), a rough-and-tumble tomboy of an agent (Sandra Bullock) is chosen to go undercover as a contestant. Michael Caine played the pageant coach the FBI hires to turn Bullock into a credible contestant, Benjamin Britt played another FBI agent, Ernie Hudson played Bullock's boss, William Shatner the longtime pageant host, and Candice Bergan the head of the pageant. Despite a somewhat soft opening, the film became a big hit, and now may be even more fondly remembered than Cast Away. A sequel would follow in 2005.
Director: Donald Petrie
Dracula 2000--7/$10.8 million/$33 million/77/17%/26--Gerard Butler had his first leading role playing the title character in this update of Bram Stoker's novel and character. Dracula is in New Orleans, trying to chase down Justine Waddell, while being pursued in turn by Christopher Plummer and Jonny Lee Miller. Omar Epps played a thief, with Danny Masterson and Sean Patrick Thomas part of his gang, Jeri Ryan a TV reporter, Shane West her cameraman, and Nathan Fillion, in a small early role, as a priest. Critics were unimpressed.
Director: Patrick Lussier
New Limited Releases:
Finding Forrester--$51.8 million/50/74%/62--After his disastrous remake of Psycho, Gus Van Sant went back to something familiar with this film about a prep school kid from the Bronx (Rob Brown, in his film debut) who was recruited because of his basketball prowess, who meets and ends up befriending a reclusive Pulitzer Prize-winning author (Sean Connery). F. Murray Abraham played his underwhelmed English teacher at the prep school, Busta Rhymes played his brother, Anna Paquin and Michael Pitt played classmates, and Matt Damon had a cameo as a lawyer. This has developed a reputation over the years for being a critical and commercial bomb, not helped by the instant camp classic line "You're the man now, dog!", but it actually did respectable business, and while critics weren't overwhelmed by it, they did give it good reviews, though a lot did complain about it being awfully similar to Good Will Hunting.
Director: Gus Van Sant
State and Main--$6.9 million/142/85%/75--David Mamet recruited an all-star cast for this Hollywood satire in which a film crew invades a small Vermont town. Philip Seymour Hoffman was first among equals in the ensemble playing the nice-guy screenwriter who is about the only person on the entire film crew whose a decent person. William H. Macy played the film's director, David Paymer the producer, and Alec Baldwin and Sarah Jessica Parker the film's stars. Playing town residents were Charles Durning as the mayor, Patti LuPone as his wife, Mamet's wife Rebecca Pidgeon as the local bookstore owner who Hoffman finds himself attracted to, Clark Gregg as Pidgeon's boyfriend, the local prosecutor, and Julia Styles as a local teenager who catches the eye of the much-older Baldwin. John Krasinski made his film debut in a tiny role. The film did well on the art house circuit, but despite the cast and good reviews, wasn't able to break out in mainstream theaters.
Director: David Mamet
O Brother, Where Art Thou?--$45.5 million/55/78%/69--The first of four (to date) collaborations between George Clooney and the Coen Brothers proved fruitful to both parties, as this 1930s-set comedy, a very loose retelling of The Odyssey, became the brother's biggest commercial hit to date. Clooney, John Turturro, and Tim Blake Nelson play escaped convicts in rural Mississippi trying to stay ahead of the law, while Clooney tries to reconcile with his estranged wife (Holly Hunter). Along the way, they happen to cut a bluegrass recording, "Man of Constant Sorrow", that becomes a smash hit. Coen regular John Goodman played an untrustworthy Bible salesman, Charles Durning played the governor of Mississippi, Michael Badalucco played George "Baby Face" Nelson (though don't you dare call him that), Stephen Root played a radio station/recording studio manager, and Daniel von Bargen played a sheriff who really wants to capture the trio. In addition to the film itself being a hit, the soundtrack album became as big of a hit in real life as the song did in the movie, hitting #1 on Billboard's album chart and winning Album of the Year at the Grammys. As for the film, it would be nominated at the Oscars for Adapted Screenplay and Cinematography.
Director: Joel Coen (Ethan Coen co-directed without credit)
Before Night Falls--$4.2 million/156/73%/85--Javier Bardem, at the time a big star in his native Spain but little known in the U.S., burst onto Hollywood's radar with this unconventional biopic of Cuban poet Reinaldo Arenas, who spent much of the 70s in and out of prison for constantly running afoul of the Castro regime. Sean Penn had a small role as a peasant, Argentinan-Brazilian director Hector Babenco played another Cuban writer who, like Arenas, was frequently harassed by the government, Olivier Martinez played Arenas's close friend, a young Diego Luna (a few months before breaking out in Y Tu Mama Tambien) had a small role as Arenas's childhood friend, and Johnny Depp had a duel role as an army officer and a cross-dressing prisoner. Bardem would receive his first career Oscar nomination for Best Actor.
Director: Julian Schnabel
The Gift--$12 million/128/57%/62--Sam Raimi attracted a fine cast for his supernatural thriller about a small town clairvoyant (Cate Blanchett) who assists the police in solving a murder--until she realizes that the scumbag she helped convict (Keanu Reeves) was actually innocent. J.K. Simmons played the town sheriff, Hilary Swank (in her first role since her Oscar win) played Reeves's abused wife, Giovanni Risibi played a mental patient, Gary Cole the local prosecutor, Rosemary Harris played Blanchett's grandmother, Michael Jeter played Reeves's attorney, Katie Holmes played the murder victim, and Greg Kinnear played her fiancée. Despite the cast, reviews were mixed, and the film underperformed.
Director: Sam Raimi
Expanding:
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon--8/$2.6 million
Twenty-Five Years Ago--December 22, 1995:
New Wide Releases:
Waiting to Exhale--1/$14.1 million*/$67.1 million/26/60%/NA--Hollywood got their occasional reminder that African-Americans went to the movies, too, with the success of this drama, based on Terry McMillan's best-seller, about four women (Angela Bassett, Whitney Houston, Loretta Devine, Lela Rochon) and the (mostly) awful men in their lives. Gregory Hines played one of the few decent men in the film, Devine's next-door neighbor, and Donald Faison, fresh off of Clueless, played her teenage son. Among the dogs were Dennis Haysbert, Mykelti Williamson, Michael Beach, Leon, and Wendell Pierce. Appearing uncredited was Wesley Snipes, as a man Bassett meets in a bar, Kelly Preston, as Bassett's husband's mistress, and Giancarlo Esposito as Devine's ex-husband. This marked the directorial debut of Forest Whitaker. In 1998, Bassett would star in another adaption of a McMillan best-seller, How Stella Got Her Groove Back.
Director: Forest Whitaker
Grumpier Old Men--4/$7.8 million*/$71.5 million/20/17%/46--This summer-set sequel to 1993's surprise smash Grumpy Old Men reteamed Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau (leading a film together for the sixth time) as feuding frenemies who team up when they discover that their favorite bait shop is being turned into an Italian restaurant--at least until Matthau falls for owner Sophia Loren. Returning from the first film was Ann-Margret as Lemmon's new wife, Daryl Hannah as Lemmon's daughter, Kevin Pollock as Matthau's son and Hannah's fiancée, and Burgess Meredith, in his final film, as Lemmon's father. Even though critics didn't like it much, it grossed almost as much as the original.
Director: Howard Deutch
Sudden Death--8/$4.8 million*/$20.4 million/81/50%/NA--A year after Jean-Claude Van Damme had his best box office year ever with Timecop and Street Fighter, he started plunging back toward irrelevance with this thriller that's essentially Die Hard in a hockey arena, as Van Damme is the only one who can save the Vice President of the United States from madman Powers Boothe, who plans to blow up the vice president and the entire arena at the conclusion of Game 7 of the Stanley Cup championships. Van Damme reteamed with his Timecop director Peter Hyams for this one.
Director: Peter Hyams
Tom and Huck--9/$3.2 million*/$23.9 million/71/25%/NA--Disney's second attempt to turn Jonathan Taylor Thomas into a (live-action) movie star was with this loose adaption of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer which emphasized the action elements of the book. Brad Renfro played Huck, who at least was a better fit for the role than Elijah Wood had been in Disney's adaption of The Advenutres of Huck Finn in 1993. Native American actor Eric Schweig played villain Injun Joe, with Charles Rocket as Judge Thatcher, Marian Seldes as the Widow Douglas, and Rachel Leigh Cook, in her second film, as Becky Thatcher. Critics clearly preferred one of the numerous other adaptions of the book, and Christmas family audiences much preferred Toy Story and Jumanji.
Director: Peter Hewitt
Dracula: Dead and Loving It--10/$2.7 million*/$10.8 million/114/11%/NA--Mel Brooks's directing career came to an ignoble end with this spoof of Bram Stoker's classic vampire novel and, more specifically, the various adaptions, especially the classic 1931 version with Bela Lugosi and the more recent 1992 adaption directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Leslie Nielson made for a most unlikely Dracula, with Brooks himself (in one of his final live action appearances) as Van Helsing. Rounding out the cast are Peter MacNicol as Renfeld, Steven Weber as Harker, his Wings co-star Amy Yasbeck as Mina, Harvey Korman as Seward, and Brooks's wife, Anne Bancroft, in a cameo as a gypsy. Critics were unanimous in thinking that, for people who wanted to see a Brooks horror spoof, they should just go and rent Young Frankenstein, and the film ended up making only about half of what October vampire comedy flop Vampire in Brooklyn made.
Director: Mel Brooks
Cutthroat Island--11/$2.4 million*/$10 million/117/38%/37--The bomb of the holiday season was this pirate adventure starring Geena Davis as a female buccaneer determined to reach the titular island, which has a buried treasure, before her villainous uncle (Frank Langella) can get there. Matthew Modine played a con man who reluctantly joins Davis's crew, and Maury Chaykin played an author of pirate tales who is secretly working for the government. Directed by Davis's then husband Renny Harlin, this cost roughly $100 million to make and ended up making less than Dracula: Dead and Loving It. It was such an enormous bomb that its production company, Carolco, went bankrupt.
Director: Renny Harlin
Balto--15/$1.5 million*/$11.3 million/111/54%/NA--The third and final film produced by Steven Spielberg's short-lived animation studio (which ended up becoming the foundation of the far more successful DreamWorks Animation), it told the story of the titular character, a half-wolf sled dog who sets out to deliver much-needed medicine to the town of Nome, Alaska during a brutal winter. Kevin Bacon voiced Balto, with Bob Hoskins voicing a goose, Bridget Fonda voicing a fellow dog, and Phil Collins voicing twin polar bears. Miriam Margolyes appeared in the live-action wrap-around segments. Like with Tom and Huck, family audiences largely ignored this.
Director: Simon Wells
New Limited Releases:
Nixon--$13.7 million/100/74%/66--The very British Anthony Hopkins seemed like an odd choice to play Richard Nixon, but he got terrific notices for his interpretation of the 37th president in Oliver Stone's sprawling biopic. Like with his JFK four years earlier, Stone recruited an all-star cast, including Joan Allen as Pat Nixon, Powers Boothe (in a much more respectable film than Sudden Death) as Chief of Staff Alexander Haig, Paul Sorvino as Henry Kissenger, and James Woods as H.R. Haldeman. Also showing up was Annabeth Gish, J.T. Walsh, E.G. Marshall, David Paymer, David Hyde Pierce, Mary Steenburgen, Tony Goldwyn, Ed Harris, Bob Hoskins, Madeline Kahn, Edward Hermann, Dan Hedaya, Bridgette Wilson, and Larry Hagman. Critics were respectful, though the general consensus was that he had lost a step from his Platoon/Born on the Fourth of July/JFK days. The film still received four Oscar nominations, Actor for Hopkins, Supporting Actress for Allen, Original Screenplay, and Dramatic Score.
Director: Oliver Stone
Shanghai Triad--$2.1 million/185/90%/77--Acclaimed Chinese director Zhang Yimou directed this 1930s-set gangster film, as a teenager from the sticks (Wang Xiaoxiao, who only made one other film) is recruited by his uncle to work for a mobster (Li Baotian) and is assigned to serve his mistress (Gong Li, in her final film for ex-boyfriend Zhang until 2006), who happens to be also carrying on with another member of the gang. Despite solid reviews and decent box office for a foreign-language film, it is not well remembered today, though it did get an Oscar nomination for Cinematography.
Director: Zhang Yimou
Thirty Years Ago--December 21, 1990:
#1 Movie:
Home Alone--$15.1 million**
New Wide Releases:
Kindergarten Cop--2/$7.9 million/$91.5 million/10/51%/61--After his first foray into straight comedy with Twins proved to be a big success, Arnold Schwarzenegger again joined forces with director Ivan Reitman for this film, which surrounded Schwarzenegger with a gaggle of cute 5-year-olds (all of whom, if you want to feel old, are now in their mid-30s). He played a tough L.A. cop reluctantly forced to go undercover as a kindergarten teacher in rural Oregon after they learn that the son of a vicious drug kingpin (Richard Tyson) is a student in the class, though he and partner Pamela Reed have no idea which kid it is. Linda Hunt played the school's principal, Penelope Ann Miller played a fellow teacher Schwarzenegger finds himself attracted to, Carroll Baker played Tyson's equally deranged mother, Cathy Moriatry played the mother of one of the kids, and Angela Bassett, a few months away from her breakthrough role in Boyz N the Hood, had a small part as a flight attendant. Among the kids who went onto bigger and better roles were Sarah Rose Karr, Miko Hughes, Ben Diskin, Adam Wylie, Ross Malinger, Odette Yustman, and Emily Ann Lloyd. Also, Reitman's kids Catherine and future director Jason had bit parts. Critics were mixed on the film, with some criticizing the surprisingly violent finale of a movie with a whole bunch of moppets on the poster. Schwarzenegger's popularity, though, helped the film, like summer hit Total Recall, finish in the year's Top Ten. A straight-to-DVD sequel starring Schwarzenegger's occasional co-star Dolph Lundgren came out in 2016.
Director: Ivan Reitman
The Russia House--6/$4.4 million**/$23 million/54/72%/67--Sean Connery started the year starring as a Russian submarine captain in The Hunt For Red October and ended it playing a British publisher recruited to spy on the late-period Soviet Union in this adaption of John LeCarre's best seller. He gets recruited because a young Russian woman (Michelle Pfeiffer) attempted to get him a top secret manuscript by a Soviet scientist (Klaus Maria Brandauer), and his MI6 handlers (James Fox and director Ken Russell) send him to Moscow to track her down and find out what the duo are willing to share. Roy Scheider, J.T. Walsh, and John Mahoney played CIA agents. After the huge success of October, Connery's return to Her Majesty's Secret Service was a box office letdown. This was one of the first western films to be shot on location in the soon-to-be former Soviet Union.
Director: Fred Schepisi
The Bonfire of the Vanities--7/$4.2 million**/$15.7 million/77/16%/27--1990's most notorious bomb was this adaption of Tom Wolfe's bestselling satire about a wealthy Wall Street bond trader (Tom Hanks) whose trip to pick up his mistress (Melanie Griffith) from the airport takes a literal wrong turn when they find themselves involved in a hit and run in a poor neighborhood in the Bronx that leaves a teenage boy in a coma, a case that becomes a media firestorm thanks to tabloid reporter Bruce Willis. Morgan Freeman played a judge, Kim Cattrall played Hanks's wife, Alan King played Griffith's husband, Donald Moffat played Hanks's father, Hanks's real life Rita Wilson played a PR flack, and F. Murray Abraham appeared uncredited as the Bronx D.A. On retrospect, Brian De Palma was probably not the best pick for director. The making of the movie was chronicled a year later in a tell-all book.
Director: Brian De Palma
Almost an Angel--13/$1.6 million**/$6.9 million/111/25%/NA--Paul Hogan, whose two "Crocodile" Dundee movies had been huge smashes, tried his luck outside the franchise for the first time and fell flat on his face. He played a bank robber who, after getting hit by a speeding van after pushing a kid out of the way first, meets God (Charleston Heston) who informs him he's now an angel in training. he eventually finds himself helping the manager of a youth center (Hogan's then-wife and Dundee co-star Linda Kozlowski) and her terminally ill brother (Elias Koteas, finishing a busy year). David Alan Grier and Larry Miller had small parts. Hogan wouldn't be in another movie until 1994.
Director: John Cornell
New Limited Releases:
Awakenings--$52.1 million/23/88%/74--In the late 60s, a doctor (Robin Williams) discovers that a new drug might bring back patients who had been left cationic by a disease nearly half a century before, including Robert De Niro, who becomes the first to wake up from his coma, where he has to adjust to life both in a hospital, as a grown man, and amid all the changes in the world since he got sick. After two comedies, Penny Marshall proved she could also direct dramas, as this became a large critical hit. Julie Kavner (whose new animated show The Simpsons was just completing its first year) played a nurse, John Heard played Williams's boss, Penelope Ann Miller played a hospital visitor who De Niro takes a shine to, Max Von Sydow played the expert in the disease, Ruth Nelson played De Niro's mother, Anne Miera played another patient, Bradley Whitford played a doctor, Dexter Gordon (who died several months before the film opened) had a small part as a musician, and Vin Diesel made his film debut in a tiny part as an orderly. The film would be nominated for three Oscars, for Picture, Actor for De Niro, and Adapted Screenplay.
Director: Penny Marshall
Hamlet--$20.7 million/61/76%/53--Getting movie stars is a decent way to ensure that your Shakespeare adaption becomes a moderate hit, as Franco Zeffirelli, whose adaption of Romeo & Juliet had been a surprise smash two decades earlier, got Mel Gibson to play the titular Prince of Denmark, who thinks something is rotten between the quickie marriage of his recently widowed mother (Glenn Close, only nine years older than Gibson) and his late father's brother (Alan Bates). The play was condensed down (the movie ran only 2 hours and 15 minutes), but reviewers, in general, liked it. Among the cast members who would end up dead by the end (or were dead at the beginning) were Paul Scofield, Ian Holm, and Helena Bonham Carter. Pete Postlethwaite did not end up dead as the leading player of the traveling acting troupe. The film would receive two Oscar nominations, for Art Direction and Costume Design.
Director: Franco Zeffirelli
Green Card--$29.9 million/39/60%/58--Gerard Depardieu, on his way to an Oscar nomination for Cyrano de Bergerac, made his American movie debut with this romcom about a French waiter (Depardieu) who marries an American woman he doesn't know (Andie MacDowell) so he can get his green card and she can get her dream apartment. When the INS starts snooping around, the two of them have to pretend to be really married so he doesn't get deported and she doesn't go to jail. Bebe Neuworth played MacDowell's friend, Robert Prosky her lawyer, Lois Smith her mother, and John Spencer and Ann Dowd in smaller roles. The film was a minor success, and Depardieu would appear in the occasional American film, though he still mostly worked in French cinema. The Original Screenplay would be Oscar-nominated.
Director: Peter Weir
The Field--$1.5 million/170/43%/NA--Jim Sheridan followed up My Left Foot with this grim drama about an Irish farmer (Richard Harris) who learns that the field that his family has rented for generations is about to be sold out from under him. Sean Bean played his delinquent son, Brenda Fricker Harris's wife, John Hurt a family friend, Brendan Gleeson made his film debut as a quarryman, and Tom Berenger as the American who wants to buy the property for his own reasons. Despite the mixed reviews and the poor box office, Harris was Oscar nominated for Actor.
Director: Jim Sheridan
The Long Walk Home--$4.9 million/124/88%/73--Whoopi Goldberg's renewed popularity in the wake of Ghost didn't do much to help this failed Oscar bait drama, which is set during the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955. Goldberg played the maid to a wealthy white woman (Sissy Spacek) who finds herself torn between wanting to keep Goldberg from having to make the long trip between houses on foot, and pressure from the white members of the community who want the boycott to end. Ving Rhames played Goldberg's husband, and Dylan Baker played Spacek's racist brother-in-law.
Director: Richard Pierce
Thirty-Five Years Ago--December 20, 1985:
#1 Movie:
Rocky IV--$8.5 million
New Wide Releases:
Out of Africa--4/$3.6 million/$87.1 million/5/62%/69--An old-fashioned sweeping romantic epic, one that can be seen as rather problematic in 2021, it starred Meryl Streep as Danish writer Karen Blixen, covering the two decades before World War II that she spent in what is now Kenya, running a coffee plantation and developing romantic relationships with both her husband (Klaus Maria Brandauer), whom she initially married out of convenience, and a British pilot and hunter (Robert Redford, in the sixth movie he made with director Sydney Pollock, and not employing a trace of a British accent). While its reputation has faded in recent years, critics at the time were largely complementary, though even then, some complained about the length. At the box office, it would be a surprise huge hit. The film would be nominated for 11 Oscars, including Actress for Streep, Supporting Actor for Brandauer, Costumes, and Editing, and would win seven, including Sound, Score, Cinematography, Art Direction, Adapted Screenplay, Director for Pollock, and Picture.
Director: Sydney Pollock
One Hundred and One Dalmatians--7/$2.4 million/$33.1 million/27/98%/83--1985 couldn't end soon enough for Disney, though at least the studio was able to go out on a high note, as this re-release of its 1961 classic became their highest grosser of the year (though that fact is a sign of just how dire a year it was at the Mouse House), as well as the highest-grossing holiday film specifically targeted to kids and families The film, which introduced one of the studio's most iconic villains in Cruella De Vil (voiced by Betty Lou Gerson) as she attempted to steal a bunch of Dalmatian puppies to turn into a coat, was unusual for the studio at the time it was made, as it is not a musical. 11 years later, a live-action remake starring Glenn Close as De Vil would come out, which would launch an extensive franchise surrounding the property.
Director: Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton S. Luske, and Wolfgang Reitherman
The Color Purple--8/$1.7 million/$94.2 million/4/81%/78--Admittedly in 2021, a white male director--even one as accomplished as Steven Spielberg--would probably not be the first choice to helm an adaption of Alice Walker's beloved Pulitzer Prize winning novel about the lives of African-American women in the rural South in the pre-World War II era, but most critics and audiences conceded that Spielberg, making his first straight drama since his theatrical debut film The Sugarland Express 11 years earlier, did about as good of a job as he could have. Whoopi Goldberg, who had only appeared in one previous, barely released film, played the lead role, a woman who endures horrible abuse first at the hands of her father (Leonard Jackson) and then her husband (Danny Glover), but over the years, learns to stand up for herself. Oprah Winfrey made her film debut as Goldberg's strong-willed daughter-in-law, Margaret Avery played Glover's mistress, who befriends Goldberg, Adolph Caesar played Glover's father, Rae Dawn Chong played another of Goldberg's daughters-in-law, Lawrence Fishburne (still being billed as Larry) played a musician, and Dana Ivey played the wife of the town's mayor. The film would become a huge hit and launch both Goldberg and Winfrey (whose talk show went national 8 months after the film came out) toward superstardom. It would earn 11 Oscar nominations, but wouldn't win any, tying it with 1977's The Turning Point as the biggest Oscar loser of all time. Those nominations were for Picture, Actress for Goldberg, Supporting Actress for both Winfrey and Avery, Adapted Screenplay, Art Direction, Cinematography, Costumes, Makeup, Score, and Song for "Miss Celie's Blues" (Spielberg, notably, was snubbed).
Director: Steven Spielberg
Enemy Mine--9/$1.6 million/$12.3 million/70/63%/59--This sci-fi drama starred Dennis Quaid as a human soldier stranded on a deserted planet with an alien (Louis Gossitt, Jr., under a lot of makeup) whose species humans are at war with. The two realize that they need each other to survive, and eventually become friends, which causes Quaid to question the justifications of the war. The film got decent reviews, but got lost in the holiday movie shuffle.
Director: Wolfgang Petersen
New Limited Releases:
Brazil--$9.9 million/85/98%/84--Terry Gilliam's dystopian fantasy, arguably the most acclaimed film of 1985, was almost not released in the United States--Gilliam had to take out a full-page ad in Variety, and Universal was shamed into releasing it when the Los Angeles Film Critics Association named it the Best Picture of the year. Jonathan Pryce starred as a low-level bureaucrat in a 1984-reminicent world who becomes involved with a woman (Kim Greist) who, thanks to a machine malfunction, is suspected of being a terrorist. Robert De Niro played an actual terrorist, Katherine Helmond played Pryce's plastic surgery-obsessed mother, Ian Holm and Ian Richardson played Pryce's bosses, Bob Hoskins played an air conditioner repairman, Jim Broadbent played a doctor, and Gilliam's Monty Python comrade Michael Palin played an amoral friend of Pryce. Despite the acclaim, the film was unable to break out of art house theaters, though it did earn two Oscar nominations, for Original Screenplay and Art Direction.
Director: Terry Gilliam
The Trip to Bountiful--$7.5 million/103/100%/81--Geraldine Page starred in this drama as an elderly but feisty woman who is determined to visit her hometown on the Texas Gulf Coast, unaware that it is now a ghost town. After escaping from her overprotective son (John Heard) and his wife (Carlin Glynn, who in real life was married to director Peter Masterson), with whom she doesn't get along, she is able to catch a bus where she befriended fellow traveler Rebecca De Mornay (in her second movie of the holidays, after Runaway Train). Page (who was also in White Nights) would earn her 8th and final Oscar nomination for the role, finally winning Best Actress. The Adapted Screenplay was also nominated.
Director: Peter Masterson
Ran--$3.6 million/124/97%/96--The final grand epic, and second acclaimed Shakespeare adaption by the legendary Akira Kurosawa, this drama (the other contender for 1985's most acclaimed film), derived from King Lear, starred Tatsuya Nakadai as an elderly warlord who banishes his youngest son (Daisuke Ryu) when he points out the flaws in his father's plans for dividing his lands, only to be betrayed by his other two sons (Akira Terao and Jinpachi Nezu). Critics were wowed by the film, and it ended up being the highest-grossing foreign language film of the year. It would earn four Oscar nominations, Director for Kurosawa, Cinematography, and Art Direction, and would win for Costumes.
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Expanding:
A Chorus Line--10/$1.5 million
Forty Years Ago--December 19, 1980:
New Wide Releases:
Any Which Way You Can--$70.7 million/5/20%/51--1978's Every Which Way But Loose, Clint Eastwood's first out-and-out comedy, had been a huge hit, even by Eastwood's standards, so two years later came this, his first non-Dirty Harry sequel. Orangutan owner Eastwood is ready to retire from bare-knuckles fighting, but gets coerced into one more big fight against a fighter who practices an early form of mixed martial arts. Eastwood's then-girlfriend Sondra Locke played his girlfriend, Ruth Gordon returned as his mother, and there were appearances from familiar character actors like Barry Corbin, James Gammon, and Anne Ramsey. Critics hated it about as much as the first film, but audiences happily turned out, though it wasn't as big of a hit as the first one.
Director: Buddy Van Horn
The Arstocats--$18 million/38/64%/66--The first animated film that Disney (the studio) produced entirely after the death of Disney (the man), this 1970 movie was the studio's Christmas re-release. One of the lesser regarded titles in the Disney canon, this is sort of a combination of Lady and the Tramp and One Hundred and One Dalmatians, with cats instead of dogs. Upon discovering that his employer (Hermione Baddeley) is planning to leave all her money to her pet cat (Eva Gabor) and her kittens, with him in line behind them, he plots to eliminate them, only to be foiled by an alley cat (Phil Harris), a mouse (Sterling Holloway) and a couple of dogs (Pat Buttram and George Lindsey). The voice cast represented something of a stock company for Disney at the time, as Harris had voiced Baloo in The Jungle Book and would voice Little John two years later in Robin Hood, which would also feature Buttram and Lindsey. Meanwhile, Gabor would go on to star in The Rescuers and its sequel, and Holloway was another Jungle Book vet who also voiced Winnie the Pooh for the studio.
Director: Wolfgang Reitherman
A Change of Seasons--NA/NA/NA/NA--Two months after Loving Couples, a comedy about adultery starring Shirley MacLaine, quickly came and went, here came another comedy about adultery starring Shirley MacLaine. It would fare no better. MacLaine's husband Anthony Hopkins takes up with the much younger Bo Derek (in her first film since her breakthrough in 10), so she takes up with the younger Michael Brandon. They all end up at a ski lodge together. Mary Beth Hurt played Hopkins and MacLaine's daughter, despite being only 9 and 12 years younger than Hopkins and MacLaine, respectively.
Director: Richard Lang (Noel Black directed part of the film before being fired)
The Formula--$8.9 million/66/30%/NA--George C. Scott and Marlon Brando, the only two actors to date to refuse their Academy Awards, teamed up for this thriller in which a cop (Scott) investigating the murder of an old colleague, discovers a conspiracy relating to the titular chemical formula, which might just lead to cheap, clean energy that would leave oil unnecessary. Brando played a wealthy industrialist, with Beatrice Straight playing the ex-wife of the victim, John Gielgud as the formula's inventor and a largely unknown Craig T. Nelson (who had bigger parts that year in Stir Crazy and Private Benjamin) in a small role as a geologist. Despite the heavyweight cast and direction from recent Oscar winner John G. Avildsen, critics mostly scoffed at the film, which underperformed at the box office. It would, however, earn an Oscar nomination for its Cinematography. Brando would largely retire after this, not appearing in another movie until 1989's A Dry White Season.
Director: John G. Avildsen
Inside Moves--NA/NA/NA/63--After surviving a suicide attempt that left him physically challenged, John Savage finds his way to a hole-in-the-wall bar where much of the clientele also has disabilities. There, he befriends bartender David Morse, whose bad leg curtailed his basketball dreams, but when an NBA player (Harold Sylvester) notices he has real talent, he arranges for the surgery that will repair his leg. Diana Scarwid played the bar's waitress, who Savage takes a shine to, and Harold Russell, who won two Oscars for The Best Years of Our Lives in 1946 and promptly retired from acting, made his first film since that one as a bar patron. Critics were somewhat mixed on the movie, which was co-written by Barry Levinson and directed by Richard Donner shortly after being fired from Superman II, but it did garner a Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for Scarwid.
Director: Richard Donner
The Jazz Singer--$27.1 million/22/19%/37--Like many musicians both before and since, Neil Diamond decided he wanted to be a movie star. And, like a good percentage of those musicians both before and since, he promptly landed flat on his face in this poorly received remake of the first talkie, whose plot was already creaky in 1927 and seemed downright ancient in 1980. Diamond played a cantor who dreams of pop (not jazz) superstardom, and finally succeeds, much to the chagrin of his father (Laurence Olivier), also a cantor, who thinks his son is disgracing the gifts God gave him. Catlin Adams played Diamond's first wife, who wants him to return to being a cantor, Lucie Arnez played the music agent who becomes Diamond's love interest, John Witherspoon played the MC of the Black club where Diamond performed in blackface (yes, really) and Ernie Hudson played the one audience member who realized that Diamond was in blackface (again, yes, really). Though the music was good (the film introduced three of Diamond's best-known songs, "Love on the Rocks", "Hello Again", and "America"), critics found the film ridiculous. Despite the awful reviews, the film was a moderate hit, though Diamond wouldn't appear in another movie until the 1999 David Spade vehicle Lost & Found, in which he played himself.
Director: Richard Fleischer (Sidney J. Furie directed some early scenes before being fired)
The Mirror Crack'd--$11 million/58/65%/NA--After having great success adapting the Agatha Christie novels Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile, both of which featured her persnickety Belgian detective Herclue Poirot, the producers decided to apply their all-star formula to an adaption featuring Christie's other major detective, Jane Marple, played by Nile victim Angela Lansbury (in what turned out to be a dry run for Murder, She Wrote). When a murder is committed at a party honoring glamourous, much-married movie star Elizabeth Taylor (not playing herself), the Scotland Yard inspector (Edward Fox) asks his aunt Jane for help. Among the suspects are Geraldine Chaplin, Charles Gray, Tony Curtis, Kim Novak, and Taylor's old Giant co-star Rock Hudson. Pierce Bronson has a bit part as an actor in the movie within the movie. While the cast was strong, they might have made a better impression 20 years earlier, as Hudson would only have one more theatrical film left to make, and Taylor and Novak would only have two more each. While Poirot would pop up in a few theatrical films during the 1980s (and again with the recent Kenneth Branagh adaptions), Marple has yet to be in another feature film.
Director: Guy Hamilton
Nine to Five--$103.3 million/2/82%/58--The year's second hit feminist comedy after Private Benjamin, this starred Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, and Dolly Parton (in her film debut, certainly more sucessful than Neil Diamond's) as three employees of sexist, credit-stealing middle manager Dabney Coleman. When a series of incidents results in the trio holding him hostage, they enact a series of reforms in his name. Elizabeth Wilson played Coleman's assistant/office spy, and Sterling Hayden and Henry Jones played Coleman's superiors. Critics were mixed when the film opened, but audiences weren't, as they made this the biggest hit of the holidays (and in the forty years since, the film's reputation among critics has greatly grown). Parton's title Song would earn an Oscar nomination. It would be followed by a TV spin-off, and much later, a Broadway musical version with music by Parton.
Director: Colin Higgins
Seems Like Old Times--$44 million/15/70%/58--Goldie Hawn had one of the year's biggest hits with the aforementioned Private Benjamin. Her Foul Play co-star Chevy Chase had one of the year's biggest flops with Oh! Heavenly Dog (he, of course, also had Caddyshack). The two would meet in the middle with this Neil Simon-written farce about a lawyer (Hawn) who agrees to hide her ex-husband (Chase) after he is wrongly implicated in a bank robbery, despite the fact that Hawn's current husband (Charles Grodin) just happens to be the DA. Robert Guillaume played Grodin's assistant), George Grizzard played the governor, and Harold Gould played a judge. Critics were mixed, but the comedy proved to be both Chase's and Hawn's second solid hit of the year.
Director: Jay Sandrich
New Limited Releases:
The Competition--$14.3 million/52/75%/NA--This romantic drama starred Richard Dreyfuss as a classical pianist who enters what could be his final international competition, where he finds himself falling for one of the other competitors (Amy Irving). The two must navigate their newfound feelings for each other, up against the fact that only one of them can emerge as a winner. Lee Remick played Irving's disapproving coach. The film did decent business, but was a bit of a letdown, given Dreyfuss's box office run a few years earlier. The Editing and Song "People Alone" would get Oscar nominations.
Director: Joel Oliansky
From the Life of the Marionettes--NA/NA/67%/NA--Not one of Ingmar Bergman's better-remembered films, this mostly black and white drama concerns the failing marriage of Robert Atzorn and Christine Buchegger, and the circumstances that led to him murdering a prostitute. This being a Bergman film, reviewers were respectful, but few were overly enthusiastic.
Director: Ingmar Bergman
Raging Bull--$23.3 million/27/93%/89--This biopic of boxer Jake LaMotta (Robert De Niro), who held the middleweight championship several times during the 40s and 50s, and led a turbulent, colorful life out of the ring, is today considered by many to be director Martin Scorsese's masterpiece. Filmed in black and white, it tells LaMotta's story during the prime of his career, when he was married to, and supremely jealous of his wife (Cathy Moriarty, making her film debut) and even his brother/manager (Joe Pesci, in his first major film). Scorsese regular Frank Vincent played Pesci's mob connection, and future Cheers co-star Nicholas Colasanto played a mob boss. Making their film debuts in bit parts were future O Brother, Where Art Thou? co-stars John Turturro and Michael Badalucco. The film was warmly received upon its release and would do decent box office business. It would earn eight Oscar nominations, including Picture, Director for Scorsese, Supporting Actor for Pesci, Supporting Actress for Moriarty, Cinematography, and Sound, and would win two, for Editing, and De Niro for Best Actor. In 2017, an unofficial sequel, featuring no one who worked on this one, would be released.
Director: Martin Scorsese
Tribute--$9 million/64/NA/NA--Jack Lemmon starred in this drama as a man who learns that he is dying, and has to figure out how to re-connect with his estranged, college-aged son (Robby Benson) before it is too late. Lee Remick, having a busy weekend, played Lemmon's ex-wife and Benson's mother, Colleen Dewhurst played Lemmon's doctor, and Kim Cattrall, in one of her first major film roles, played a model Lemmon tries to set Benson up with (Director Bob Clark would cast Cattrall in a supporting role in his next film, Porky's). Critics were kind to the film, even if they felt it was a bit too stage bound, and Lemmon would earn an Oscar nomination for Best Actor.
Director: Bob Clark
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