Summer blockbusters continue to roll out, but many of the big movies opening this weekend can be described as, at best, disappointments.
One Year Ago--July 24, 2020:
#1 Movie:
The Rental
New Theatrical Releases:
The Rental--$1.6 million/60/74%/62--A weekend getaway turns horrific for a pair of brothers (Dan Stevens and Jeremy Allen White) and their respective girlfriends (Alison Brie and Sheila Vand), after the discovery of a hidden camera and the appearance of a dead body at their vacation rental. Toby Huss co-stars. The directorial debut of Dave Franco (who co-wrote the screenplay with Joe Swanberg), this thriller got solid reviews and did decent pandemic business.
Director: Dave Franco
The Big Ugly--$0.5 million/101/41%/52--In this actioner, Vinnie Jones is a longtime gangster sent from London to rural West Virginia to set up a money laundering operation with local oilman Ron Perlman. When Jones's girlfriend (Lenora Crichlow) vanishes, he goes out for revenge. Malcolm McDowell, Nicolas Braun, and Bruce McGill co-star.
Director: Scott Wiper
Five Years Ago--July 22, 2016:
New Wide Releases:
Star Trek Beyond--1/$59.3 million/$158.9 million/16/86%/68--The third entry of the rebooted franchise and the thirteenth--and to date, final--entry in the theatrical series, this one has the Enterprise sent out on a rescue mission, only to discover that it was a trap engineered by an alien (Idris Elba) to capture a MacGuffin onboard the ship. Returning from previous films was Chris Pine as Kirk, Zachary Quinto as Spock, Karl Urban as McCoy, Zoe Saldana as Uhura, Simon Pegg (who co-wrote the script) as Scotty, John Cho as Sulu, and Anton Yelchin, who had passed away a month before the film's release, as Chekov (the film was dedicated to him and Leonard Nimoy, who had died in 2015). Deep Roy also returned from previous films, and newcomers include Joe Taslim, Greg Grunberg, and Shohreh Aghdashloo. It was received better than the previous Star Trek Into Darkness, but that film's reputation might have hurt the box office of this one, as it was the lowest grossing of the rebooted series. Since this came out, the powers that be behind the franchise have concentrated on producing TV shows, though a fourth film is tentatively scheduled for 2023. The Makeup would be Oscar-nominated.
Director: Justin Lin
Lights Out--3/$21.7 million/$67.3 million/45/76%/58--In this horror flick, a teenage girl (Teresa Palmer) realizes that her mother's (Maria Bello) imaginary friend (Alicia Vela-Bailey) is actually very real, and very homicidal, but can only attack in the dark. She has to figure out how to keep herself, her mother, her younger brother (Gabriel Bateman), and her boyfriend (Alexander DiPersia) alive, especially as defeating her isn't quite as simple as just keeping the lights on. Billy Burke co-stars. The modestly-budgeted film proved to be a solid--and very profitable--hit.
Director: David F. Sandberg
Ice Age: Collision Course--4/$21.4 million/$64.1 million/49/18%/34--The steam finally ran out of the long-running animated franchise with this fifth installment. With a giant asteroid heading toward Earth, the various prehistoric animals must figure out a way to divert it before it renders all of them extinct. Returning from previous installments was Ray Romano, John Leguizamo (also appearing in the flesh in The Infiltrator), Denis Leary, Queen Latifah, Seann William Scott, Josh Peck, Simon Pegg (having a busy weekend), Keke Palmer, Wanda Sykes, Jennifer Lopez, and franchise founder Chris Wedge. Newcomers included Adam DeVine (also in Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates), Max Greenfield, Nick Offerman, Stephanie Beatriz, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Jessie J, Michael Strahan, Melissa Rauch, and Neil deGrasse Tyson. Critics were utterly bored with the franchise, and with The Secret Life of Pets and Finding Dory out, family audiences had plenty of other options, causing this to be by far the lowest-grossing entry of the series. The next installment would be released in 2022 straight to Disney+, with only Pegg returning.
Director: Michael Thurmeier and Galen T. Chu
New Limited Releases:
Kabali--$3.9 million/166/58%/NA--This Indian gangster film stars Rajinikanth as the titular Kabali, a Malaysian crime boss who is released from prison after serving 25 years for a crime he didn't commit. Once out, he intends to track down and kill those he deems responsible for him being sent away. This would end up doing solid business on the Bollywood circuit.
Director: Pa. Ranjith
Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie--$4.8 million/157/58%/59--The beloved British sitcom, which had run on and (mostly) off between 1992 and 2012, graduated to the big screen, in which the perpetually wasted Jennifer Saunders (who also wrote the screenplay) and Joanna Lumley are forced to go on the run after possibly causing the death of supermodel Kate Moss (playing herself). Series regulars Julia Sawalha, June Whitfield (in her final role), and Jane Horrocks co-star, along with a long list of cameos of both British and American actors, singers, and models. Critics were rather mixed on the film, and while the sitcom's American fans turned out, it failed to make much of an impact among those who didn't watch the series.
Director: Mandie Fletcher
Hooligan Sparrow--$0.01 million/654/97%/78--This documentary, consisting of footage smuggled out of China, chronicles the attempts of woman rights activists to hold a school principal, accused of raping several students, accountable, even as the government is eager to sweep the whole thing under the rug. The disturbing subject matter undoubtedly explains why it didn't find an audience, despite widespread critical acclaim.
Director: Nanfu Wang
Expanding:
Hillary's America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party--9/$4 million
Ten Years Ago--July 29, 2011:
New Wide Releases:
Cowboys & Aliens--1/$36.4 million/$100.2 million/30/44%/50--In this sci-fi western, an amnesic outlaw (Daniel Craig), a ruthless cattle baron (Harrison Ford), and a mysterious woman (Olivia Wilde) have to join forces when their town comes under attack by alien invaders. Sam Rockwell, Paul Dano, Clancy Brown, Keith Carradine, Noah Ringer, Adam Beach, Toby Huss, Wyatt Russell, and Walton Goggins co-star. Arriving on a wave of hype, this opened to mediocre reviews and fizzled quickly at the box office, going down as one of 2011's biggest flops.
Director: Jon Favraeu
The Smurfs--2/$35.6 million/$142.6 million/19/21%/30--A little over 50 years after they had first appeared in a Belgian comic book, nearly 30 years after their previous film appearance had been released in the United States, and a little over 20 years since the long-running Saturday morning cartoon had ended its run, The Smurfs, those tiny little blue humanoids who live in mushrooms, returned to screens in this live action/CGI hybrid. After accidently falling into a vortex, a group of Smurfs, including Papa Smurf (Jonathan Winters), Smurfette (Katy Perry), Clumsy (Anton Yelchin), Brainy (Fred Armisen), Gutsy (Alan Cumming), and Grouchy (George Lopez) find themselves in modern day New York, where they befriend a young couple (Neil Patrick Harris and Jayma Mays), while trying to figure out how to get home, as well as avoiding evil wizard Gargamel (Hank Azaria) who had also fallen into the vortex. Sofía Vergara, Timm Gunn, and Joan Rivers co-star, and providing the voices for other Smurfs were Jeff Foxworthy, Paul Reubens, John Oliver, Kenan Thompson, and B.J. Novak. Critics, unsurprisingly, were not fond of the film, but it became a surprise sleeper hit. A sequel would follow in 2013.
Director: Raja Gosnell
Crazy, Stupid, Love.--5/$19.1 million/$84.4 million/36/79%/68--After his wife (Julianne Moore) files for divorce, a middle-aged family guy (Steve Carrell) begins to get advice on how to pick up women from the much younger Ryan Gosling, who himself is inspired to give up his womanizing ways when he falls for law student Emma Stone (also in Friends With Benefits). Marisa Tomei, Kevin Bacon, John Carroll Lynch, Jonah Bobo, Joey King, and Josh Groban co-star in this romcom. Critics were fairly kind to the film, which got decent box office.
Director: Glenn Ficarra and John Requa
New Limited Releases:
Attack the Block--$1 million/211/90%/75--In this sci-fi action comedy, a nurse (future Doctor Jodie Whittiker) has to team up with the gangbanger (future former Stormtrooper John Boyega, in his film debut) who mugged her, along with the rest of his gang, when aliens attack their London neighborhood. Nick Frost and Luke Treadaway co-star. Despite excellent reviews, it failed to catch on in North America, but has since become a cult hit.
Director: Joe Cornish
The Guard--$5.4 million/153/94%/78--In this Irish action comedy, Brendan Gleeson played a disagreeable but honest cop who reluctantly teams up with a visiting FBI agent (Don Cheadle) to investigate a drug ring headed by Liam Cunningham, who were responsible for the death of Gleeson's young partner (Rory Keenan). Mark Strong and Fionnula Flanagan co-star. Reviews were very good for the film, and it did decent business in North America.
Director: John Michael McDonagh
The Interrupters--$0.3 million/276/99%/86--This highly acclaimed documentary, from Hoop Dreams director Steve James, follows the titular interrupters, former gang members who go into the tough inner-city neighborhoods of Chicago to try halt the cycle of violence that consumes the area's young people. Despite the strong reviews, it was only a marginal performer in art houses.
Director: Steve James
Fifteen Years Ago--July 28, 2006:
New Wide Releases:
Miami Vice--1/$25.7 million/$63.5 million/43/47%/66--Based on arguably the coolest TV series of the mid-80s, this crime drama stars Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx and Crockett and Tubbs, the characters played on the series by Don Johnson and Phillip Michael Thomas. In the adaption, they're recruited by FBI agent Ciarán Hinds to go undercover to help stop a Columbian drug cartel. Gong Li, Naomie Harris, Justin Theroux, Isaach De Bankolé, Eddie Marsan, and John Hawkes co-star. Despite stylish direction by Michael Mann, who had executive produced the TV series, critics were mixed-to-negative on the film, and it ended up underperforming, though its reputation has improved since its release.
Director: Michael Mann
John Tucker Must Die--3/$14.3 million/$41 million/75/27%/41--Jesse Metcalf, who had rocketed to fame from his role as a sexy lawnboy on the hit primetime soap Desperate Housewives, got his first lead role in a wide-release movie, playing the title character, a high school basketball player whose three ex-girlfriends (Arielle Kebbel, Ashanti, Sophia Bush) vow revenge on him, by recruiting new girl Brittany Snow to get him to fall in love with her, before breaking his heart. Hijinks ensue. Taylor Kitsch, Penn Badgley, and Jenny McCarthy co-star. While the comedy didn't exactly make Metcalf a superstar (his second and, to date, final wide-release lead role came a decade later in God's Not Dead 2), it did well enough to turn a profit, even if critical response was predictably awful.
Director: Betty Thomas
The Ant Bully--5/$8.4 million/$28.1 million/99/62%/59--In this animated film, a young boy (Zach Tyler Eisen) who takes out his frustrations on an ant hill in his yard, is shrunk down by the ant colony, and after some predictable strife, joins with them to defend the hill from a determined exterminator (Paul Giamatti). Thanks to producer Tom Hanks, this has one of the most absurdly stacked casts in animated history, including Julia Roberts, Meryl Streep, Nicolas Cage, Regina King, Bruce Campbell, Lily Tomlin, Cheri Oteri, Larry Miller, Jake T. Austin, and Ricardo Montalban, in his final film. It was all for naught, as the film was one of the biggest flops of the summer.
Director: John A. Davis
New Limited Releases:
Scoop--$10.5 million/155/41%/48--Like his previous film Match Point, Woody Allen's latest was a London-set story starring Scarlett Johansson revolving around murder. Only this time, it was a comedy. Johansson plays a young journalist who, at the urging of the ghost of a deceased reporter (Ian McShane), begins to investigate a local aristocrat (Hugh Jackman), who might be a notorious serial killer. Charles Dance, Julian Glover, Anthony Head, and Allen himself co-star. Unlike the well-received Match Point, this one was largely dismissed by critics, but box office-wise, it was a moderate success.
Director: Woody Allen
Little Miss Sunshine--$59.9 million/51/91%/80--After discovering that their young daughter (Abigail Breslin) has qualified for a beauty pageant in California in two days, a rather dysfunctional family, consisting of overworked mom Toni Collette, motivational speaker dad Greg Kinnear, hereon addicted grandfather Alan Arkin, suicidal gay uncle Steve Carrell, and angry, silent son Paul Dano, crowd into an ancient bright yellow VW minibus with numerous mechanical issues to make the trip from Albuquerque to Los Angeles. Bryan Cranston, his future Breaking Bad co-star Dean Norris (the two don't share any scenes), Beth Grant, Wallace Langham, and Mary Lynn Rajskub co-star. The comedy opened to strong reviews, and would become one of the biggest sleeper hits of the year. It would be nominated for four Oscars, including Picture and Supporting Actress for Breslin, and would win two, for Original Screenplay and Supporting Actor for Arkin.
Director: Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris
Brothers of the Head--$0.1 million/431/69%/67--Real life identical twins Harry and Luke Treadaway made their film debuts in this mockumentary, playing conjoined twins who form a punk band in 1970s London which is a success, at least until a girl (Tania Emery) comes between them. Jonathan Pryce co-stars. The film got decent reviews but little business stateside.
Director: Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe
Twenty Years Ago--July 27, 2001:
New Wide Releases:
Planet of the Apes--1/$68.5 million/$180 million/10/44%/50--In Tim Burton's reboot of the 70s/80s franchise, an astronaut (Mark Wahlberg) finds himself thrust forward in time due to a electrical storm in space, crash landing on a planet where various simian species rule and humans are kept as slaves. Buried under monkey makeup are Tim Roth, Helena Bonham Carter (making her first film with Burton, who would become her partner), Michael Clarke Duncan, Kris Kristofferson, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Paul Giamatti, David Warner, Lisa Marie (in her final film with now ex-boyfriend Burton), Glenn Shadix, and cameos from Linda Harrison and Charlton Heston, who had starred in the original 1968 film. Critics were fairly negative toward the film (particularly the cliffhanger ending), but audiences turned it into a sizable hit, though it would have a steep drop-off after its opening weekend. No sequel was produced, but ten years later, the franchise would have a more critically approved reboot.
Director: Tim Burton
New Limited Releases:
Jackpot--NA/NA/29%/49--This little-seen comedy drama followed an aspiring country singer (Jon Gries) though a surrealistic odyssey as he vainly pursues his dream. Daryl Hannah, Garrett Morris, Adam Baldwin, Anthony Edwards, and Mac Davis co-star.
Director: Michael Polish
Twenty-Five Years Ago--July 26, 1996:
New Wide Releases:
A Time to Kill--1/$14.8 million/$108.8 million/10/68%/54--This all-star adaption of John Grisham's first novel stars Matthew McConaughey, in his first lead role, as a lawyer in small town Mississippi who takes the case of Samuel L. Jackson, who killed the two rednecks (Nicky Katt, Doug Hutchison) who raped his young daughter (Rae'Ven Larrymore Kelly), and accidently injured a deputy (Chris Cooper, who like McConaughey, was also in Lone Star). The high profile case brings the KKK to town, as well as counterprotesters, leading to an increasingly tense and violent situation for all involved. Sandra Bullock, Kevin Spacey, Oliver Platt, Charles S. Dutton, Brenda Fricker, Patrick McGoohan, Ashley Judd, Kurtwood Smith, Anthony Heald, M. Emmet Walsh, and Donald and Keifer Sutherland (in one of only three movies the two have made together, though the two have no shared scenes) co-star. Like previous Grisham adaptions The Firm, The Pelican Brief, and The Client (which was also directed by Joel Schumacher), this was a sizable hit, even if critics weren't crazy about it.
Director: Joel Schumacher
Kingpin--5/$5.6 million/$25 million/65/50%/43--In the Farrelly Brothers follow-up to Dumb and Dumber, Woody Harrelson plays a former pro bowler who lost his hand years earlier in a confrontation with some amateurs he had hustled. Now broke, he sees a chance at redemption through an Amish bowling prodigy (Randy Quaid) and a tournament in Las Vegas with a $1 million grand prize. Vanessa Angel, Lin Shaye, Chris Elliott, and Bill Murray co-star, with cameos from baseball player Roger Clements and musicians Jonathan Richmond and John Popper. Reviews were decidedly mixed (though notably both Siskel and Ebert absolutely loved it), and the film did only so-so business
Director: Bobby Farrelly and Peter Farrelly
Supercop--6/$5.5 million/$16.3 million/98/96%/NA--With the spring's Rumble in the Bronx finally giving Jackie Chan the American breakthrough he'd been seeking for roughly a decade and a half, distributers started scrambling to secure the American rights to his older films, which had largely been available in the US only on imported and bootleg videos. First up was this 1992 actioner, which was actually the third installment in the Police Story series. Chan played a Hong Kong cop sent undercover to infiltrate the gang of a drug lord (Ken Tsang), an assignment that sends him to various locations all over Southeast Asia. Michelle Yeoh, billed as Michelle Khan, was seen for the first time by American audiences as another cop who goes undercover with Chan. Reviewers were dazzled by the fight sequences, and even if the film wasn't a major success in North America, it didn't need to be, as it had long reached profitability by the time it opened here.
Director: Stanley Tong
The Adventures of Pinocchio--8/$3.8 million/$15.1 million/100/35%/NA--Martin Landau is Gepetto and the voice of Jonathan Taylor Thomas is Pinocchio in this version of the oft-film tale, which mixes live-action with puppets created by Jim Henson's Creature Shop. Geneviève Bujold, Udo Kier, Bebe Neuwirth, Rob Schneider, Corey Carrier, Dawn French, and the voice of David Doyle co-star. Reviews were largely negative, and with a number of other family films in theaters, audiences largely gave this a pass.
Director: Steve Barron
Joe's Apartment--15/$1.9 million/$4.6 million/153/19%/NA--Two weeks after Nickelodeon entered the movie business with Harriet the Spy, sister network MTV launched their own movie studio with this misbegotten adaption of a short film that got frequent play on the network about a newcomer to New York (Jerry O'Connell) who discovers his new, very cheap apartment comes with thousands of singing roaches, who Joe ends up befriending, while a senator (Robert Vaughn) plots to tear down the building. This one has a bizarre but impressive cast, including Megan Ward, Don Ho, David Huddleston, Vincent Pastore, Paul Bartel, and Moby, with voice work from Billy West, Reginald Hudlin, BD Wong, Dave Chappelle, and Tim Blake Nelson. The animated roaches were created by Chris Wedge and his fledgling Blue Sky Studio, 5 1/2 years before Ice Age. Despite all that, the film got awful reviews and even worse box office, as no one at MTV apparently realized that a comedy film centered on cockroaches would be a very tough sell.
Director: John Payson
New Limited Releases:
Manny & Lo--$0.5 million/231/62%/NA--11-year-old Scarlett Johansson gets her first lead role in this indie comedy-drama, playing a girl who runs away from a foster home with her older, pregnant sister (Aleksa Palladino). Desperate, they end up kidnapping a maternity store employee (Mary Kay Place), who finds herself bonding with the girls. Paul Guilfoyle co-stars. Critics, for the most part, liked the film, though it only did so-so business on the art-house circuit.
Director: Lisa Krueger
Thirty Years Ago--July 26, 1991:
#1 Movie:
Terminator 2: Judgment Day--$11.1 million
New Wide Releases:
Mobsters--2/$6 million/$20.3 million/64/6%/NA--In the second of three 1991 films to feature gangster Bugsy Siegel, this portrait of the gangsters as young men starred Christian Slater as Lucky Luciano, Patrick Dempsey as Meyer Lansky, Costas Mandylor as Frank Costello, and Richard Grieco as Siegel, as they set out to reform the mafia into a new, more profitable enterprise during the days of Prohibition. F. Murray Abraham, Michael Gambon, Anthony Quinn, Lara Flynn Boyle, Chris Penn, and Joe Viterelli co-star. Reviews were awful, and box office was only so-so. This would largely be forgotten by the end of the year, when the much superior Bugsy, starring Warren Beatty as Siegel and Ben Kingsley as Lansky, would be released.
Director: Michael Karbelnikoff
V.I. Warshawski--11/$3.6 million/$11.1 million/92/21%/NA--Kathleen Turner thought she had found a franchise when she starred in this vehicle about a tough Chicago P.I. who agrees to help a teenage girl (Angela Goethals) figure out who killed her father (Stephen Meadows). Jay O. Sanders, Charles Durning, Wayne Knight, Mike Hagerty, and Stephen Root co-star. The film was such a flop that not only did Turner not get the opportunity to star in any sequels, but there still hasn't been another adaption of Sara Paretsky's best-selling series.
Director: Jeff Kanew
Another You--13/$1.5 million/$2.9 million/137/5%/NA--The fourth and final pairing of Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor--in fact, the final theatrical starring role for both of them and Wilder's final theatrical film, period--was this woebegone comedy in which Wilder's mental patient is led to believe he's a millionaire, as part of a plot by Stephen Lang. Pryor played a con man who becomes friendly with Wilder and tries to expose Lang's scheming. Vanessa Williams, Vincent Schiavelli, Kevin Pollock, and Mercedes Ruehl co-star. Peter Bogdanovich was the original director, but he was fired five weeks into filming, and none of his footage made the final film.
Director: Maurice Phillips
New Limited Releases:
Life Stinks--$4.1 million/130/18%/54--Like his old friends Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder, Mel Brooks also had his last starring role with this comedy, in which he plays a millionaire who bets business rival Jeffrey Tambor that he can survive penniless on the streets of L.A. for a month. There, he meets and falls in love with homeless woman Leslie Ann Warren. Stuart Pankin, Howard Morris, Billy Barty, and Robert Ridgely co-star. Critics noted its similarities to the then-8-year-old Trading Places, and audiences generally steered clear, as they did for all of this weekend's movies (with one exception).
Director: Mel Brooks
The Doctor--$38.1 million/33/82%/NA--In July's second "Asshole Becomes Nice After Having Medical Trauma" movie, after the less well regarded Regarding Henry, William Hurt plays the title character, an arrogant and condescending surgeon who, after learning he has throat cancer, discovers what it's like to be on the other side, an experience that changes the way he himself practices medicine. Christine Lahti, Elizabeth Perkins, Mandy Patinkin, Adam Arkin, Charlie Korsmo, and Wendy Crewson co-star. This got excellent reviews and ended up becoming a sleeper hit.
Director: Randa Haines
Thirty-Five Years Ago--July 25, 1986:
#1 Movie:
Aliens--$8.6 million
New Wide Releases:
Heartburn--2/$5.8 million/$25.3 million/39/43%/49--Nora Ephron, who had made her screenwriting debut three years earlier with Silkwood, reunited with that film's director, Mike Nichols, and star, Meryl Streep, to adapt her own roman à clef about the breakup of her marriage to famed journalist Carl Bernstein. Streep played a journalist who falls for a womanizing political columnist (Jack Nicholson) and marries him, only to eventually learn that he is carrying on a long-term affair. Nichols was able to round up an impressive cast, including Stockard Channing, Jeff Daniels, Steven Hill, Catherine O'Hara, Joanna Gleason, Richard Mauser, Maureen Stapleton, Anna Maria Horsford, Mercedes Ruehl, Dana Ivey, Kenneth Welsh, and director Milos Forman, as well as the film debuts of Kevin Spacey and Streep's real-life daughter, 2-year-old Mamie Gummer (billed as Natalie Stern). Despite all that talent, critics were less than impressed, though it did decently at the box office.
Director: Mike Nichols
Maximum Overdrive--7/$3.2 million/$7.4 million/86/15%/24--Stephen King made his directorial debut and finale with this adaption of his own short story "Trucks". Every machine on Earth comes to life and starts exterminating humanity, and a group of survivors, including Emilio Estevez, Pat Hingle, and Yeardley Smith take refuge in a truck stop that is soon surrounded by sentient, homicidal 18-wheelers. Giancarlo Esposito co-stars, along with brief appearances from future ex-Trump wife Marla Maples and King himself. Critics panned the film, and audiences largely avoided it as well, though it has become somewhat of a cult hit. King, who readily admits he was abusing cocaine during most of the production, has disowned the film.
Director: Stephen King
Haunted Honeymoon--8/$2.8 million/$8 million/82/18%/NA--Real-life newlyweds Gene Wilder and Gilda Radner starred in this throwback horror-comedy, playing an engaged couple whose plans to have their wedding at his ancestral estate go haywire when actual supernatural events begin to happen. Jonathan Pryce and Don DeLuise co-star. Critics were not amused, and audiences failed to show up. This would be the film film appearance for Radner, who would die three years later, and the final film directed by Wilder.
Director: Gene Wilder
Out of Bounds--11/$2.1 million/$5.1 million/105/NA/47--Anthony Michael Hall, who had come to fame starring in several comedies from John Hughes, tried his hand at a more adult role, playing a farm boy whose trip to Los Angeles goes disastrously wrong when he picks up the wrong suitcase at the airport and has to go on the run from a drug kingpin (Jeff Kober) who really wants the hereon in the suitcase back. Jenny Wright, Glynn Turman, Raymond J. Berry, Pepe Serna, and Meat Loaf co-star. Given the reviews and box office, Hall would probably have been better served sticking with Hughes.
Director: Richard Tuggle
Forty Years Ago--July 24, 1981:
New Wide Releases:
Blow Out--$12 million/60/85%/86--In this highly acclaimed thriller, John Travolta played a sound engineer recording ambient noises for a movie when he captures the sound of a gunshot that seemingly caused a tire blow out that lead to the death of the state's governor. Teaming up with the escort who was also in the car (Nancy Allen, who, along with Travolta and director Brian DePalma, made this a mini-reunion of 1975's Carrie) and the film footage shot by a bystander (Dennis Franz), he attempts to prove it was an assassination, only to discover no one believes him. John Lithgow and John McMartin co-star. Despite the near-unanimous raves and the popularity of Travolta, this proved to be a big box office disappointment and would prove to be the beginning of the end of Travolta's first run of stardom.
Director: Brian De Palma
Eye of the Needle--$17.6 million/42/83%/61--In this World War II-set thriller, a German spy (Donald Sutherland), stranded on an island off the Scottish coast, romances a young married woman (Kate Nelligan) who soon realizes that the handsome stranger is not who he says he is. Ian Bannen co-stars, and there were early career appearances by Rik Mayall and Bill Nighy in minor roles. Reviews were solid, and the film did decent business. Apparently, this film impressed George Lucas, since he hired the director, Richard Marquand, to direct Return of the Jedi.
Director: Richard Marquand
Gas--$2.9 million/87/NA/NA--In this little-seen Canadian comedy, a ruthless oil tycoon (Sterling Hayden) decides to manufacture a fake gas shortage in order to increase profits, throwing a small town into chaos. Among the citizens affected are Susan Anspach, Howie Mandel (in his film debut), Helen Shaver, Peter Ackroyd, and Donald Sutherland, in his second film of the weekend. Critics were unanimous in panning it, and with the various 70s oil embargos still fresh in many moviegoers' minds, they weren't quite ready to laugh at the situation.
Director: Les Rose
Tarzan the Ape Man--$36.6 million/15/10%/24--Don't let the title fool you. This is a vehicle for Bo Derek, which is why she, and not Miles O'Keeffe, is the one swinging across the poster. Derek, in her first starring role since 10, plays Jane, who arrives in Africa with her father (Richard Harris, who hopefully got a nice paycheck out of this) in pursuit of the legendary white ape, who of course, turns out to be Tarzan (O'Keefe, in his film debut). There, the two of them run afoul of native tribes and find themselves in situations that seem to require Derek to be dressed as skimpily as possible, or perhaps not dressed at all. Critics howled, but audiences liked what Derek was selling, and made this a solid hit. Oddly, Derek failed to take advantage of her stardom, only making two more movies the rest of the decade. Both of them, 1984's Bolero and 1989's Ghosts Can't Do It, which, like this one, were directed by her husband John Derek, were critical and financial disasters.
Director: John Derek
Wolfen--$10.6 million/65/75%/64--Opening between the franchise-launching The Howling and the Oscar-winning An American Werewolf in London, this is the least seen and least remembered of 1981's werewolf trio, though it does have the most distinguished cast. Albert Finney played a NYPD detective investigating a series of brutal murders and come to realize that the killers may not be strictly human. Diane Venora, Edward James Olmos (in his first major film role), Gregory Hines (also in the still-playing The History of the World, Part I), Tom Noonan, Dick O'Neill, Reginald VelJohnson (in his film debut), James Tolkin, and an uncredited Tom Waits co-star. This one got solid reviews, but they didn't keep it from underperforming.
Director: Michael Wadleigh
New Limited Release:
Nobody's Perfekt--NA/NA/NA/NA--While John Travolta was appearing in theaters coast-to-coast in Blow Out, his former Welcome Back Kotter co-star Gabe Kaplin was appearing in only a handful of theaters in this comedy, about three friends (Kaplin, Alex Karras, Robert Klein), all with mental issues, who come up with an elaborate scheme to get back at the mayor (Arthur Rosenberg) after the city refuses to pay for the damages to Kaplin's car caused by a pothole. Susan Clark (who was married to Karras), Alex Rocco, James Cromwell, and director Peter Bonerz co-star. The few critics who did see it generally panned the film.
Director: Peter Bonerz
One final note--this column will be going on hiatus until August. I'm doing this for three reasons--to get the dates back aligned, to allow me to build a buffer, and to work out a way to streamline the writing process. We'll be picking up right where we left off. See you then!
No comments:
Post a Comment