A Look at The Biggest Box Office Stories from 1972-present (THABOS: The History of Amazing Box Office Stories) | IT'S FINALLY COMPLETE!!!!!!!

[baumer]

I want to apologize for the delay in this.  I will get 1989 done tonight and then keep at it regularly now.

 

Thanks again to all of you who have read and commented and enjoyed.

[Jonwo]

17 minutes ago, baumer said:

I want to apologize for the delay in this.  I will get 1989 done tonight and then keep at it regularly now.

 

Thanks again to all of you who have read and commented and enjoyed.

 

1989 should be a fun read, Batman, Last Crusade, Ghostbusters II!

[Kalo]

Can't wait! love reading the yearly write ups. will you being going all the way to 2017 @baumer? Wonder Woman's BO story is becoming quite legendary. also at this pace it will probably be 2018 by the time the write ups are completed anyways 

Edited June 20, 2017 by Kalo

[baumer]

I will be doing 2017.  I hope to get to it by August.

 

Working on 89 now.

[baumer]

 

1989

 

 

So here are in 1989.  I'm going to start this little recap off a little bit differently.  This is the first year I was introduced and learned about the power of Batman.  This story starts off in my grade 12 film class as we were put into groups of three and we had to make a short film.  I was with two really cool people.  Sara and Todd.  Sara tragically died in a motorcycle accident the next summer.  But that's not part of the story.  Todd was the biggest Batman loonie I knew of.  I knew nothing of Batman except what I knew of him from the BIFF..BAMM..WHACK tv show.  I had no idea how iconic he was and long people had been waiting for this movie to be made.  One day, while Sara was working on a mask for one of the scenes, and me in the chair with her working on me, Todd and myself began discussing the Batman prospects for the summer.  Todd went on to say that Batman would win the summer, and easily.  He explained that Batman was one of, if not the most iconic super hero of all time.....bigger, much bigger than Superman.  I of course was the biggest Indiana Jones loonie and disagreed with him vehemently.  I told him that the last instalment of the series would be bigger than Batman.  I mean, this is Spielberg and Lucas and Ford.  

 

Well, of course he was right and I was wrong.  Batman not only took the North America and the world by storm but it also set an opening weekend record of 40 million dollars, which surpassed Ghostbusters 2 at 29.4 which surpassed Last Crusade which came in at 29.3 million.  This opening weekend was 37% better than Ghostbusters 2.  To put that into perspective, here's a few of the films that took over the record:

 

The Force Awakens increased by 18.75% over Jurassic World

Avengers increased 22% over DH2

Harry Potter increased by 25% over Jurassic Park II

 

The only other biggest increase was when Return of the Jedi increased by 64% over Wrath of Khan.  

 

This is some incredibly select company.  As many of you know, Batman has proven to be one of the biggest box office phenoms in the history of cinema.  Four times it has set the opening weekend record.  No other franchise can claim that.  The closest you get to it Star Wars and Jurassic Park with three each.  So Batman is a true box office giant.  I had no idea at the time how big it was going to be but my friend Todd certainly did and taught me a lesson in humility.

 

Now on with the rest.

 

As mentioned, coming in at number one for the year was Batman.  Batman was directed by Tim Burton and produced by Jon Peters and Peter Guber, based on the DC Comics character of the same name. The film stars Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne/Batman, alongside Jack Nicholson, Kim Basinger, Robert Wuhl, Pat Hingle, Billy Dee Williams, Michael Gough and Jack Palance. The film takes place early in the title character's war on crime, and depicts a battle with his arch-nemesis the Joker.

 

After Burton was hired as director in 1986, Steve Englehart and Julie Hickson wrote film treatments before Sam Hamm wrote the first screenplay. Batman was not greenlit until after the success of Burton's Beetlejuice (1988). Numerous A-list actors were considered for the role of Batman before Keaton was cast. Keaton's casting caused a controversy since, by 1988, he had become typecast as a comedic actor and many observers doubted he could portray a serious role.  Nicholson accepted the role of the Joker under strict conditions that dictated a high salary, a portion of the box office profits and his shooting schedule.  In fact Jack's demands for the film were unheard of the time.  Not only did he get a 6 million dollar salary (less than his usual 10 million at the time) but he wanted profit sharing from the next three sequels.  He also got a percentage of all merchandise.  When all was said and done, Jack took in about 100 million dollars by playing the Joker.  

 

Batman's rocky pre-production is much too vast for me to cover in long form but if you want to learn more about it, google it or go to wikipedia or imdb.  Here are just a few points.

 

Burton was pressured to hire an action star to play Batman.  Everyone from Mel Gibson, Kevin Costner, Harrison Ford and Charlie Sheen (to name a few ) were considered.  Producer Jon Peters wanted Keaton because of his performance in Clean Sober

50,000 protest letters were sent to WB when Keaton was announced.  

Kiefer Sutherland was considered to play Robin, before the character was scrapped from the movie

Danny Elfman composed the music for the film

Prince had a number one hit in Batdance

Sean Young was originally cast as Vicky Vale before Kim Basinger took over.  

 

Batman was a massive hit in the domestic market and earned 411 million WW, good enough for first in the US/Canada and second WW behind Indy.

 

Coming in second was the man with the hat.  Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was once again directed by Steven Spielberg, from a story co-written by executive producer George Lucas. It is the Harrison Ford reprises the title role and Sean Connery plays Indiana's father, Henry Jones, Sr. Other cast members featured include Alison Doody, Denholm Elliott, Julian Glover, River Phoenix, and John Rhys-Davies. In the film, set largely in 1938, Indiana searches for his father, a Holy Grail scholar, who has been kidnapped by Nazis.

After the mixed reaction to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Spielberg chose to compensate with a film that toned down the violence and gore. During the five years between Temple of Doom and Last Crusade, he and executive producer Lucas reviewed several scripts before accepting Jeffrey Boam's. Filming locations included Spain, Italy, the United Kingdom, Turkey and Jordan.

The film was released in North America on May 24, 1989, to mostly positive reviews. It was a financial success, earning $474,171,806 at the worldwide box office totals. It won an Academy Award for Best Sound Editing.

 

 

The interesting thing about the Indy series is that although it is Lucas' baby, just as Star Wars is, Spielberg never had a problem rejecting ideas.  The first idea Lucas had was kind of a haunted house theme in which Spielberg declined because he felt it was too much like Poltergeist.  Then Lucas has the idea for the Holy Grail in which SS rejected.  Finally, two years later, Spielberg liked the idea of Indy's father in the script and Lucas convinced him to have the Grail as part of the story.  It all worked and came together and Last Crusade is considered by many to be the best of the Indy films.  

 

As mentioned, Last Crusade set the opening weekend record with 29.3 million.  The budget was quite high at right around 50 million but with a WW take of 474 million, it became another smash hit for Paramount.  

 

Number three for the year was the sequel to the hit 1987 film, Lethal Weapon (2).  Lethal Weapon was one of the 80's films that did ok at the box office but gained a huge following on home video.  It opened well enough with 20 million but audiences were clearly in love with Riggs and Murtaugh as the legs on it were legendary, even for an 80's film.  The highest drop it experienced in it's first 11 weeks was 26%.  It was certainly one of the surprise hits of the year. 

 

Shane Black originally wrote the script and although everyone loved it, it was rejected by both Richard Donner and Joel Silver.  It was too dark and filled with violence and a lot of bloodshed.  They both wanted to go more in the light direction.  Black also had Riggs dying in the end and that was a no no of course.  Black has gone on record as saying he hated the way Riggs and Lethal 3 and 4 turned out.  But the bottom line is money and Lethal 2 made a pile of it.  So Black's apathy towards the film was thankfully ignored.

 

 

Lethal Weapon 2 went on the gross 141 million domestically and 228 million WW on a budget of 25 million.

 

Number four was Look Who's Talking.  Another big surprise.  This is a film that stars John Travolta and Kirstie Alley.  Bruce Willis provided the voice of the baby.  This was a film about a woman having an affair with a married man, under the presumption that he was going to leave his wife and marry her.  Not exactly a recipe for great comedy, but with the baby in the film having a voice over from Willis, it worked well and audiences responded well to it.  It took in a shocking 140 million domestically and almost 300 million WW on a Lilliputin budget of 7.5 million.

 

Honey I Shrunk the Kids came in at number 5.  Honey, I Shrunk the Kids is the directorial debut of Joe Johnston and produced by Walt Disney Pictures, it tells the story of an inventor who accidentally shrinks his and his neighbor's kids to a quarter of an inch with his electromagnetic shrinking machine and throws them out into the backyard with the trash, where they must venture into their backyard to return home while fending off insects and other obstacles.

Rick Moranis stars as Wayne Szalinski.

 

The film became an unexpected box office success, grossing in excess of $222 million worldwide, and became the highest-grossing live-action Disney film ever, a record it held for five years. It was met with positive reviews from both critics and audiences, who praised the story, visuals and innovation. Its success spawned two sequels Honey, I Blew Up the Kid in 1992 and the direct-to-video Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves in 1997, which both received mixed critical reception, as well as leading to the creation of a TV show that ran from 1997 to 2000.

 

Back to the Future part II came in at number 6.  Although it did disappointing numbers in North America, it was a massive hit globally, coming in at number three for the year.  Back to the Future Part II  was once again directed by Robert Zemeckis and written by Bob Gale.m The film stars Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Thomas F. Wilson, and Lea Thompson and continues immediately following the original film. After repairing the damage to history done by his previous time travel adventures, Marty McFly (Fox) and his friend Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown (Lloyd) travel to 2015 to prevent McFly's future son from ending up imprisoned. However, their presence allows Biff Tannen (Wilson) to steal Doc's DeLorean time machine and travel to 1955, where he alters history by making his younger self wealthy.

 

The film was produced on a $40-million budget and was filmed back-to-back with its sequel, Part III. Filming began in February 1989 after two years were spent building the sets and writing the scripts. Two actors from the first film, Crispin Glover and Claudia Wells, did not return for the final two. While Elisabeth Shue was recast in the role of Wells' character, Jennifer, Glover's character, George McFly, was not only minimized in the plot, but also was obscured and recreated with another actor. Glover successfully sued both Zemeckis and Gale, changing how producers can deal with the departure and replacement of actors in a role. Back to the Future Part II was also a ground-breaking project for effects studio Industrial Light & Magic (ILM): In addition to digital compositing, ILM used the VistaGlide motion control camera system, which allowed an actor to portray multiple characters simultaneously on-screen without sacrificing camera movement.

 

Coming in at a disappointing number seven was the sequel to the hugely popular Ghostbusters.  The original set records and entertained audiences. Ghostbusters II still did well but after setting the opening weekend record, it fizzled out and ended with 112 million.  The problem with the film is that it didn't have any of the charm of the original and as more than one reviewer noted, it didn't really try to expand on the universe.  Variety said the film had amusing visuals and a clever plot, while Nick Shager of Screengrab opined that it "Effectively slimed everyone's fond memories of the original". On their show, Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert gave the picture two thumbs down, disappointed that the film did not try anything new and like many sequels, merely re-treated the first film. Siskel stated "The film contains little comic invention. It looks as if the filmmakers, particularly the writers, simply didn't try to do anything special. As if they simply filmed the first draft." Ebert stated that he saw the movie in a theater in Michigan and out of a packed house, there was only one laugh.[10] Murray remarked how disappointed he was with it all as "Those special-effects guys took over. It was too much of the slime and not enough of us."

 

 

Number eight was the best picture winner, Driving Miss Daisy.  This also got Dan Aykroyd his first Oscar nomination for acting and Jessica Tandy won best actress that year for her role as Miss Daisy.  

Driving Miss Daisy is directed by Bruce Beresford and written by Alfred Uhry, based on Uhry's play of the same name. The film stars Jessica Tandy, Morgan Freeman, and Dan Aykroyd. Freeman reprised his role from the Original Off-Broadway production. 

At the 62nd Academy Awards in 1990, Driving Miss Daisy received nine nominations, and won the Academy Award for Best Picture, Best Actress (Jessica Tandy), Best Makeup, and Best Adapted Screenplay.

 

Parenthood came in at number 9 and was one of my favourite films from 1989.  It had a ridiculously terrific cast that feature Steve Martin, Keanu Reeves, Jason Robards Sr., Diane Wiest, a young Joaquin Phoenix and many others.  It was written by the super duo of Babaloo Mandel and Lowell Ganz.  You probably haven't heard of them but they were responsible for writing some of the funniest and poignant films of the 80's and 90's.  If you have never heard of them, look them up.  Parenthood was the 9th and final film to gross 100 million in 1989.  

 

 

Rounding out the top ten was many people's favourite Robin Williams film, which had some of the best quotes of the year, Dead Poets Society.  Dead Poets Society is directed by Peter Weir, written by Tom Schulman.  Set in 1959 at the fictional elite conservative Vermont boarding school Welton Academy, it tells the story of an English teacher who inspires his students through his teaching of poetry.  It took in 95.8 million and more than 235 million WW.

 

Coming in at number 11 is perhaps my favourite film of 1989 (I love Indy, but this one is just too good), When Harry Met Sally.  When Harry Met Sally… is a romantic comedy written by Nora Ephron and directed by Rob Reiner. It stars Billy Crystal as Harry and Meg Ryan as Sally. The story follows the title characters from the time they meet just before sharing a cross-country drive, through twelve years or so of chance encounters in New York City. The film raises the question "Can men and women ever just be friends?" 

The origins of the film were derived from Reiner's return to single life after a divorce. An interview Ephron conducted with Reiner provided the basis for Harry. Sally was based on Ephron and some of her friends. Crystal came on board and made his own contributions to the screenplay, making Harry funnier. Ephron supplied the structure of the film with much of the dialogue based on the real-life friendship between Reiner and Crystal.

Columbia Pictures released the film using the "platform" technique, which involved opening it in a few select cities, letting positive word of mouth generate interest, and then gradually expanding distribution over subsequent weeks. When Harry Met Sally... grossed a total of US$92.8 million in North America. It's also responsible for one of the greatest lines in film history, "I'll have what she's having" after Sally fakes an orgasm in a NY deli.  That line has shown up on AFI lists as well as made our top 100 list of movie lines.

x 

Coming at number 15 is Christmas Vacation, my all time favourite Christmas movie.  It took in 71 million dollars but has probably earned 10's of millions more as every year it plays on TV at Christmas.  IMHO, it's one of the funniest films ever made and it's also very accurate, in an exaggerated way.  

 

Coming in at number 24 is James Cameron's only misfire in his career, The Abyss.  The reported budget for this was around 50 million.  I had a Premiere magazine in 1989 that discussed the summer films and The Abyss was one of them.  It only took in 90 million WW with 54 of that coming in NA.  It was a very ambitious movie but it just didn't strike a chord with audiences.  Over the years it has gotten more appreciated.  It was also the film that Cameron began to develop his reputation as a bit of a tyrant.  Ed Harris said he would never work with him again and that conditions on the set were unbearable.  

 

Number 36 was License to Kill, a Bond film starring Timothy Dalton.  It disappointed with 34 million domestically but still took in over 150 million WW.

 

Number 39 and 40 are two films that had a soft box office showing but have both gone on to become pretty big cult classics.  I'd recommend you find both of them if you have not seen them.  

 

Weekend at Bernies made 30 million.  It was about two young executives dragging their dead boss around the beach for the weekend.  It might sound strange, but it was one of the funnier films of the year, highlighted by Terry Kiser playing a dead guy to much hilarity.

 

Road House, the Patrick Swayze bounce film also took in 30 million and is highlighted by Swayze ripping a guys throat with his bare hands and one of the baddies telling him that "I used to fuck guys like you in prison."  It also stars Sam Elliot as the coolest bouncer in the business.  

 

 

This was 1989

[75Live]

love the write ups, especially all the 80s stuff of course but all have been really well done  

[baumer]

1989 was a fascinating year for movies.

[75Live]

2 minutes ago, baumer said:

1989 was a fascinating year for movies.

 

very much so.  For me, while Batman yes was the biggest story for me, but to see sequels to so many movies/franchises I like/love was such a great thing, as well.

 

But yes, the others we didn't see coming like Dead Poet's Society and Weekend at Bernie's help to round out a great year.

 

And Christmas Vacation is a staple in my must watch movies during that season  

[baumer]

I'm going to try to get up to 1993 done by Sunday.

[Kalo]

1989 was a great year, I know your not into animations and you covered a lot, But The Little Mermaids run was really impressive, it was the highest grossing fully animated film of all time when it came out, at a time when animated films were not thought of as blockbuster films. the film's producer cautioned the the staff and disney not expect it to gross as much as Oliver and Company which made $53m, becuase it was perceived as a "girls" movie. it went on to gross $84m at the domestic box office, gained critical acclaim, won two Oscars and ushered in what today is known as the Renaissance era for Disney animation that started with Mermaid in 1989 and lasted until Tarzan's release in 1999. 

 

Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins has been cited for saying that The Little Mermaid was one of her inspirations when making the film. it is to this day not only one of my favorite animated films of all time, but all time period. 

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXKlJuO07eM 

 

Edited June 20, 2017 by Kalo

[Chaz]

The Little Mermaid also became a phenomenon on home video. It sold over 20 million copies on VHS over the next couple of years.

 

The soundtrack went 4x platinum in the US too. That was absolutely unheard of at the time. It seems small potatoes compared to what Aladdin and The Lion King would sell, but this movie broke the mold.

Edited June 20, 2017 by Chaz

[Kalo]

10 minutes ago, Chaz said:

The Little Mermaid also became a phenomenon on home video. It sold over 20 million copies on VHS over the next couple of years.

 

The soundtrack went 4x platinum in the US too. That was absolutely unheard of at the time. It seems small potatoes compared to what Aladdin and The Lion King would sell, but this movie broke the mold.

 

My family owns both, we have the original, "penis" cover as well.  

[Plain Old Tele]

WEEKEND AT BERNIE'S is amazing. It's a laugh riot and it's one of the most 80s movies you can imagine. 

[baumer]

Thanks kalo and chaz. I always value your feedback

[baumer]

Tele, youre so right. Bernies is ridiculously funny.

[baumer]

@damnitgeorge08...thought you'd like this one

[Ethan Hunt]

Didn't realize that BTTF2 and Ghostbusters 2 both saw such big drops from their predecessors. Interesting. 

[baumer]

Both films, Ethan, imo, didn't have the same charm as the originals.  I think BTTF3 regained it but the original was just so much different than almost anything that had been done before.

[Ethan Hunt]

They're certainly not as good as their originals though I would probably consider myself an apologist for both films

[Jonwo]

I never realised how popular Honey I Shrunk the Kids was and also Look Who's Talking and Driving Miss Daisy 

 

When Harry met Sally is a classic and I think started the trend of successful rom coms

Edited June 20, 2017 by Jonwo