Super Bowl weekend, which over the last forty years, has migrated from mid-January to the first weekend of February, has almost always been a weekend studios have avoided releasing major films during, since much of Sunday is taken up by the game. Of course, since late January/early February has never been a major spot on the release calendar, its likely that, even if there was no Super Bowl, the movies released on this weekend would still mostly be less than impressive.
One Year Ago--January 31, 2020:
#1 Movie:
Bad Boys for Life--$17.7 million
New Wide Releases:
Gretel & Hansel--4/$6.2 million/$15.4 million/21/64%/64--The fourth horror movie of January, this retelling of the fairy tale starred Sophia Lillis as Gretel, who, after getting kicked out of their house by their mother (Fiona O'Shaughnessy), has to protect Hansel (Samuel J. Leakey) from the clutches of the witch (Alice Krige). Even though this easily got the best reviews of the quartet, it ended up being the lowest grosser.
Director: Osgood Perkins
The Rhythm Section--10/$2.7 million/$5.4 million/40/28%/45--Several years after her family dies in a plane crash, Blake Lively learns a terrorist was responsible, and trains with former spy Jude Law to bring down everyone involved. Sterling K. Brown played a former CIA agent. This thriller bounced all over the schedule before getting tossed out Super Bowl weekend, where it ended up as the lowest-grossing pre-pandemic wide release of 2020.
Director: Reed Morano
New Limited Releases:
2020 Oscar Nominated Short Films--$3.3 million/46/89%/NA--With the exception of the occasional nominated animated short that runs before a family film, the 15 short films annually nominated in the three short categories at the Oscars are almost inevitably the least seen of the year's nominees. The annual release of the shorts continues to do strong business, as plenty of cinephiles take advantage of the opportunity to see the collection of nominees. Even though there were three different programs--one each for the live action, animated, and documentary shorts--with separate admissions, it appears that the grosses for all three were combined into one entry on the chart. And yes, the animated Sister and live action A Sister are both nominees, along with Daughter and Brotherhood.
Director: Live Action--Bryan Buckley (Saria), Marshall Curry (The Neighbors' Window), Delphine Girard (A Sister), Meryam Joobeur (Brotherhood), Yves Piat (Nefta Football Club) Animation--Matthew A. Cherry, Everett Downing, Jr., Bruce W. Smith (Hair Love), Daria Kashcheeva (Daughter), Siqi Song (Sister), Bruno Collet (Memorable), Rosana Sullivan (Kitbull) Documentary--Carol Dysinger (Learning to Skateboard in a War Zone), John Haptas (Life Overtakes Me), Sami Khan (St. Louis Superman), Laura Nix (Walk Run Cha-Cha), Seung-jun Yi (In the Absence)
The Assistant--$1.1 million/65/92%/79--This well-received drama starred Julia Garner as a lowly assistant for a film production company who discovers that, MeToo movement or not, powerful men still call all the shots and can get away with some truly disgusting behavior. Matthew Macfadyen played the head of HR, and Patrick Wilson cameoed as a famous actor. Despite strong reviews, this didn't make much impact.
Director: Kitty Green
Five Years Ago--January 29, 2016:
New Wide Releases:
Kung Fu Panda 3--1/$41.3 million/$143.5 million/20/87%/66--The animated films that came out in January had been low budget, usually independent affairs, until DreamWorks decided to experiment by opening a major franchise piece in the month. Jack Black returned to voice the titular panda, who meets his biological dad (Bryan Cranston) just as a long-dead warrior yak (J.K. Simmons) returns to the mortal realm to challenge Black for his chi. Returning from previous films was Dustin Hoffman as Black's mentor, Angelina Jolie, Seth Rogan, Lucy Liu, David Cross, and Jackie Chan as the other animal kung fu masters, and James Hong as Black's adopted father, while new to this film was Kate Hudson as a female panda. Even though the film did well, it ended up with the lowest opening and final total of any of the three in the series, which may explain why no other major animated franchise has tried its luck in January since.
Director: Alessandro Carloni and Jennifer Yuh Nelson
The Finest Hours--4/$10.3 million/$27.6 million/93/63%/58--One of Disney's final "small" movies before the studio decided to concentrate almost exclusively on big-budget and franchise films, this told the true story of the rescue of 32 sailors from a sinking oil tanker off the coast of Cape Cod in 1952 by a small crew of Coast Guard crewmen. Chris Pine and Ben Foster played two of the Coast Guard rescuers, Casey Affleck played the senior surviving crew member of the oil tanker, and Eric Bana played the crewmen's commanding officer. Rachel Brosnahan had a small part as a townsperson. Despite good reviews, this was largely ignored by audiences, which rather explains why Disney doesn't make these types of movies anymore.
Director: Craig Gillespie
Fifty Shades of Black--10/$5.9 million/$11.7 million/130/7%/28--This spoof starred Marlon Wayans as kinky businessman Christian Black, who brings virginal college student Kali Hawk (as Hannah Steale, which somehow is a less ridiculous name than the original's Anastasia Steele) into his orbit. Why anyone felt this was necessary is one of those questions for the ages. Jane Seymour, Fred Willard, Mike Epps, and Florence Henderson (in her final film) hopefully got decent paychecks for appearing in this.
Director: Michael Tiddes
Jane Got a Gun--17/$0.8 million/$1.5 million/219/43%/49--This revisionist western, which underwent numerous cast, director, and script changes during pre-production, then sat on the shelf for over two years, starred Natalie Portman as a woman who is trying to protect her isolated farm from a raiding gang of outlaws that both she and her husband (Noah Emmerich) have a history with. Joel Edgerton played a neighbor who also had a history with Portman who agrees to help, and Ewan McGregor played the head of the outlaw gang. Despite the decent cast, almost no one went to see it.
Director: Gavin O'Connor
New Limited Releases:
The Oscar Nominated Shorts Films 2016: Live Action--$2.8 million/188/NA/NA--The five films in this collection included the German thriller Everything Will Be OK (Alles Wird Gut), the war drama Day One, another war drama, Shok, the religious comedy Ave Maria, and the winner, the romantic drama Stutterer.
Director: Patrick Vollrath (Everything Will Be OK (Alles Wird Gut)), Henry Hughes (Day One), Jamie Donoughue (Shok), Basil Khalil (Ave Maria), Benjamin Cleary (Stutterer)
Jim: The James Foley Story--NA/NA/91%/73--This documentary, which had a brief theatrical release before premiering on HBO in early February, chronicled the life of the titular war photographer, whose kidnapping and beheading by ISIS shocked the world. Despite its brief, January release, it would be remembered by the Oscars roughly a year later via a nomination for its Song "The Empty Chair", co-written and sung by Sting. It would also win an Emmy for Documentary.
Director: Brian Oakes
Ten Years Ago--February 4, 2011:
New Wide Releases:
The Roommate--1/$15 million/$37.3 million/84/3%/23--A throwback to the "Blank From Hell" movies so popular in the early 90s, and specially to 1992's Single White Female, this thriller starred Minka Kelly as a college freshman who befriends shy roommate Leighton Meester, only to gradually realize that Meester is both completely nuts and psychotically obsessed with her. Cam Gigandet showed up in his third major movie in six months playing the nice guy Kelly is interested in, with Billy Zane playing a professor and Francis Fisher playing Meester's mother. Critics found it awful, and after a decent opening, box office plunged, insuring that the revival of the "Blank From Hell" genre would be short lived.
Director: Christian E. Christiansen
Sanctum--2/$9.5 million/$23.2 million/112/30%/42--Executive producer James Cameron's name was all over the promotion of this thriller, in which a team of explorers (including Ricard Roxburgh and Ioan Gruffudd) have to figure out how to escape when the cave they're in floods. Critics were impressed with the 3D photography, but felt the script was utterly generic. Not even Cameron's name could get audiences interested.
Director: Alister Grierson
Fifteen Years Ago--February 3, 2006:
New Wide Releases:
When a Stranger Calls--1/$21.6 million/$47.9 million/66/9%/27--This loose remake of the 1979 thriller which was based on a classic urban legend starred Camilla Belle as a babysitter who starts getting menacing calls from a stranger (Lance Henriksen) just as weird things start happening around the house. Clark Gregg played her father. The film did pretty decent business but was panned critically.
Director: Simon West
Something New--7/$5 million/$11.5 million/152/61%/64--Buttoned-down workaholic Sanaa Lathan finds herself falling for her (white) landscaper (Simon Baker), much to the chagrin of her family and friends, in this romantic comedy-drama. Donald Faison played her brother, Mike Epps and Taraji P. Henson played two of her friends, Alfre Woodward played her mother, and Blair Underwood played the suiter they all approved of much more than Baker. Even with decent reviews, this failed to catch on.
Director: Sanaa Hamri
Expanding:
Capote--13/$2.5 milllion
Twenty Years Ago--February 2, 2001:
#1 Movie:
The Wedding Planner--$10.6 million
New Wide Releases:
Valentine--2/$10 million/$20.4 million/100/12%/18--An attempt to revive the holiday-themed slashers that had been popular two decades earlier, this thriller starred Denise Richards, Katherine Heigl, and Marly Shelton (in her second movie, after Sugar & Spice, in two weeks) as woman whose cruelty to an unpopular boy back in junior high might be coming back to haunt them, as they start turning up dead. David Boreanaz played Shelton's boyfriend. While opening decently, like many horror movies, it fell off almost immediately, and critics didn't find much fun about it, either.
Director: Jamie Blanks
Head Over Heels--7/$4.8 million/$10.4 million/128/10%/27--In this overly complicated romcom, Monica Potter falls for her neighbor Freddie Prinze, Jr., whose apartment she can see into from hers. He turns out to have a double life, and she and her supermodel roommates try to get to the bottom of just who he really is. Timothy Olyphant had a small role as Potter's ex-boyfriend. Critics were just as impressed with this as they were with Valentine (i.e., not at all), though this one ended up making only about half of what the horror film did.
Director: Mark Waters
New Limited Releases:
Left Behind: The Movie--$4.2 million/157/16%/22--The first, Nicolas Cageless adaption of the Christian apocalyptic novel, a huge bestseller among Evangelicals, starred Kirk Cameron as a TV reporter and Brad Johnson as a pilot who, post-Rapture, discover a fiendish plot by the Secretary-General of the UN (Gordon Currie), who just happens to be the Antichrist, to take over the world. Cameron's wife Chelsea Noble played a flight attendant. Oddly, the producers decided to release this on video four months before it made its theatrical debut, which may explain why the film, which had been hotly anticipated in Christian circles, ended up underperforming. It would be followed by two straight-to-video sequels and that 2014 remake with Nicolas Cage in the Johnson role.
Director: Vic Sarin
Twenty-Five Years Ago--February 2, 1996:
New Wide Releases:
Black Sheep--1/$10.6 million/$32.4 million/50/28%/NA--Less than a year after teaming up in Tommy Boy, Chris Farley and David Spade reunited in another broad comedy that made almost exactly as much money, but got much worse reviews (and unlike the fondly remembered 1995 film, has been largely forgotten today). Farley is the bumbling brother of gubernatorial candidate Tim Matheson and Spade is the campaign worker assigned to babysit Farley. Hijinks ensure. Christine Ebersole, also a Saturday Night Live vet, played the incumbent governor and Gary Busey played a crazy veteran who ends up befriending the duo.
Director: Penelope Spheeris
The Juror--2/$8.4 million/$22.8 million/70/18%/NA--A year and a half after Trial By Jury, a melodrama in which a juror was menaced by a mobster's henchman to get his boss acquitted or else, comes this melodrama in which a juror is menaced by a mobster's henchman to get his boss acquitted or else. This time around, the juror is played by Demi Moore, and the henchman is played by Alec Baldwin, with 14-year-old Joseph Gorden-Levitt as her son and Anne Heche as her best friend. Tony Lo Bianco played the mobster on trial, and James Gandolfini played another henchman. Reviews and box office were a bit better for this than Trial By Jury, but the film was still a critical and financial flop.
Director: Brian Gibson
White Squall--5/$3.9 million/$10.3 million/123/58%/53--After Thelma & Louise in 1991, director Ridley Scott had several flops in a row before Gladiator in 2000 pulled him rather dramatically out of his slump. Alas, that film was still four years away when he made this drama, based on a true story, about a group of high-school aged boys (including Scott Wolf, Jeremy Sisto, Ryan Phillippe, Balthazar Getty, and Ethan Embry) whose educational trip around the world on an old-fashioned brigantine under the command of Jeff Bridges ends in disaster when the titular storm roars up. Caroline Goodall played Bridges's wife, and Zeljko Ivanek and James Rebhorn played captains of other ships. The film got mixed reviews and little business.
Director: Ridley Scott
New Limited Releases:
Antonia's Line--$4.2 million/158/68%/NA--Just in time for Oscar nominations came the American release of this Dutch film, telling the story across decades of four generations of one family, led by widowed matriarch Antonia (Willeke van Ammelrooy). The film would do well on the American art-house circuit, and would win the Oscar for Foreign Language Film.
Director: Marleen Gorris
Expanding:
Dead Man Walking--6/$3.6 million
Thirty Years Ago--February 1, 1991:
#1 Movie:
Home Alone--$8.2 million
New Wide Releases:
Popcorn--8/$2.6 million/$4.2 million/129/37%/51--This low-budget horror-comedy starred scream queen Jill Scholen as a college student organizing an all-night horror movie marathon at a closed-down theater who is haunted by recurring violent dreams. While she learns the truth of her background on the night of the show, someone is eliminating her friends. This one had a surprisingly decent supporting cast, including Ray Waltson, Tony Roberts, and Dee Wallace-Stone. Reviews were pretty typical of the genre, though, and box office receipts utterly collapsed after the first weekend.
Director: Mark Herrier (original director Alan Ormsby directed the films-within-the-film)
Run--11/$2.2 million/$4.4 million/127/0%/NA--In this generic thriller, Patrick Dempsey's night out at an illegal underground casino ends with the accidental death of the son (Alan C. Peterson) of the local mob boss (Ken Pogue) and Dempsey having to flee not just the mob but the corrupt police and local citizens who want the reward for his capture. Kelly Preston played a casino employee who agrees to help Dempsey try to escape. Critics were unanimous with their scorn for the film, and it ended up having just slightly more staying power than Popcorn.
Director: Geoff Burrowes
New Limited Releases:
Queens Logic--$0.6 million/189/38%/NA--This rather generic comedy-drama about a bunch of 30somethings having slightly-past-quarter-life crises had an impressive cast, including Kevin Bacon, Linda Fiorentino, John Malkovich, Joe Mantegna, Ken Olin, Tom Waits, Kelly Bishop, and Jamie Lee Curtis. What it didn't have was good reviews nor much of an audience.
Director: Steve Rash
Expanding:
Once Around--5/$4.1 million
Thirty-Five Years Ago--January 31, 1986:
New Wide Releases:
Down and Out in Beverly Hills--1/$5.7 million/$62.1 million/11/79%/82--Disney, which hadn't even released a PG-rated movie until The Black Hole in 1979, released its first R-rated film, an update of the 1932 French farce Boudu Saved From Drowning, in which a homeless man (Nick Nolte) attempts to drown himself in the pool of Richard Dreyfuss and Bette Midler. Invited to stay, he proceeds to turn the dysfunctional household around. Elizabeth Pena played the family's maid and musician Little Richard played a neighbor. The film was the first big hit of 1986, and would be followed a year later by a short-lived sitcom that has the distinction of being the first ever cancellation of the then-new Fox network.
Director: Paul Mazursky
Youngblood--4/$4.2 million/$15.5 million/57/38%/51--This hockey drama starred Rob Lowe as a teenager who lands a spot on a Canadian junior team, where he has the raw talent, but needs to learn the skills if he hoped to make the NHL. Lowe's The Outsiders co-star Patrick Swazye played his team mentor, Cynthia Gibb played the daughter of the team's coach (Ed Lauter), who Lowe falls for, Fionnula Flanagan played the local woman Lowe stayed with, and Keanu Reeves made his film debut as the team's goalie. Critics thought it was pretty standard issue, and audiences largely skipped it.
The Best of Times--7/$2.4 million/$7.8 million/84/31%/57--The first of three high school football movies released in early 1986, this one starred Robin Williams as a former player who, embarrassed at having dropped a pass in a game over a decade before, coerces his old quarterback (Kurt Russell) into restaging the game. Pamela Reed played Russell's wife, Donald Moffat played Williams's father-in-law, and M. Emmet Walsh, Kathleen Freeman, and a young Kirk Cameron had supporting parts (Cameron's Growing Pains co-star Tracy Gold appeared uncredited). The film didn't have the box office of Wildcats (starring Russell's longtime partner Goldie Hawn), nor the reviews of Lucas, so of the three, it has most slipped into obscurity.
Director: Roger Spottiswoode
Eliminators--8/$2 million/$4.6 million/117/NA/NA--This largely forgotten, relatively family-friendly sci-fi flick had a rebellious cyborg (Patrick Reynolds) escape his evil creator (Roy Dotrice) and gather a team including a robotics scientist (Denise Crosby), to stop his plan, which involves time travel. Some of the plot points have surprising similarities to those of RoboCop, released a year and a half later.
Director: Peter Manoogian
Power--10/$1.9 million/$3.8 million/121/50%/50--Almost certainly intended to be an Oscar film before it was dumped into the wilds of January, this Sidney Lumet-directed drama starring Ricard Gere as a media consultant who comes in conflict with a potential Senate candidate (J.T. Walsh) and his ruthless PR flack (Denzel Washington, in only his third theatrical movie). Julie Christie played Gere's ex-wife, Gene Hackman played his mentor, Kate Capshaw played his assistant, E.G. Marshall played a retiring Senator, Beatrice Straight his wife, D.B. Sweeney as a college student, and Michael Learned as a governor. Reviews were mixed, but box office was abysmal.
Director: Sidney Lumet
Expanding:
Murphy's Romance--3/$4.2 million
Forty Years Ago--January 30, 1981:
New Wide Releases:
The Incredible Shrinking Woman--$20.3 million/37/22%/NA--The star of one of 1980's final films, Lily Tomlin, starred in 1981's first major release, playing an ordinary housewife whose exposure to chemicals causes her to start to shrink. Charles Grodin played her husband, Ned Beatty his boss, Tomlin's Laugh-In co-star Henry Gibson played a doctor, and Elizabeth Wilson, John Glover, and Sally Kirkland had small parts. Written by Tomlin's longtime partner Jane Wagner and directed by Joel Shumacher (in his theatrical directorial debut), critics generally liked Tomlin, but found the satire mostly unamusing.
Director: Joel Shumacher
New Limited Releases:
Falling In Love Again--NA/NA/NA/NA--In this romantic drama, a middle-aged couple (Elliot Gould and Susannah York) who have seen the passion go out of their marriage, go on a cross-country trip to their high school reunion, and reminisce about when they first met. Michelle Pfeiffer and Stuart Paul play the couple as teenagers. In addition to the early performance by Pfeiffer, in only her second theatrical film, and an equally early appearance by David Caruso in a tiny role, the other notable thing about this one is that writer-director Steven Paul (co-star Stuart Paul's brother) was only 21 years old when this opened.
Director: Steven Paul
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