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

[Chaz]

11 minutes ago, baumer said:

And to people like @Chaz, who I know are huge animation fans, sorry but I'm not so that's why it may seem that TLK write up isn't very informative.  I don't have a lot of personal energy invested in it.

It's all good. We already know the stuff about The Lion King. You give us stuff that we otherwise wouldn't research on our own.

[baumer]

3 hours ago, Fancyarcher said:

 

Chevy Chase in 1985 (Spies Like Us, Fletch, & European Vacation) comes to mind, also I believe Bing Crosby had three big hits back in the 1940's or 1930's in one particular year. 

 

Wow!  Good call!  I would assume all of those adjust to over 100 million today.  Chase was big in his day....didn't realize he was that big.

[Kalo]

13 minutes ago, baumer said:

And to people like @Chaz, who I know are huge animation fans, sorry but I'm not so that's why it may seem that TLK write up isn't very informative.  I don't have a lot of personal energy invested in it.

 

Don't tell me you don't like Toy Story either? you know the highest grossing film of 1995, one of the best animated films ever made, and what would launch what is now commonplace: CGI animation.  

[baumer]

Not taking anything away from Chase, but Fletch and EV both adjust to about 60 million in 1994.  Good hits, but not Carrey sized where Pet Detective did  72 and the other two did over 100.

[baumer]

3 hours ago, Kalo said:

 

Don't tell me you don't like Toy Story either? you know the highest grossing film of 1995, one of the best animated films ever made, and what would launch what is now commonplace: CGI animation.  

 

I liked the first but remember nothing about it.

The second is not my tempo and the third is FTSTS

[Fancyarcher]

1 minute ago, baumer said:

 

Wow!  Good call!  I would assume all of those adjust to over 100 million today.  Chase was big in his day....didn't realize he was that big.

 

Yeah, was surprised to learn that. Chase was in a number of successful comedies back in the day, like a lot of comedians his career burned out by the 1990's especially with a series mediocre / poorly received films, and because he was so difficult to work with. By 1994 he was still on producers want-list went it came to comedies though.

 

Another one that came to mind just as I was rereading your 1994 post was John Travolta. 3 of his films from 1996 (Phenomena, Michael, & Broken Arrow), wound up in the top twenty of the yearly box office in 1996. Wow, he really did have a comeback at the time. 

[Chaz]

1994 really was a beast of a year. 

[Kalo]

3 minutes ago, baumer said:

 

I liked the first but remember nothing about it.

The second is not my tempo and the third is FTSTS

 

I see strangely enough I find TS3 incredibly overrated dispite finding TS and TS 2 fantastic. 

[Chaz]

2 minutes ago, Fancyarcher said:

 

Yeah, was surprised to learn that. Chase was in a number of successful comedies back in the day, like a lot of comedians his career burned out by the 1990's especially with a series mediocre / poorly received films, and because he was so difficult to work with. By 1994 he was still on producers want-list went it came to comedies though.

 

Another one that came to mind just as I was rereading your 1994 post was John Travolta. 3 of his films from 1996 (Phenomena, Michael, & Broken Arrow), wound up in the top twenty of the yearly box office in 1996. Wow, he really did have a comeback at the time. 

Wasn't the Grease Anniversary also released in '96? It was huge for a re-release.

Edited July 19, 2017 by Chaz

[Fancyarcher]

4 minutes ago, baumer said:

Not taking anything away from Chase, but Fletch and EV both adjust to about 60 million in 1994.  Good hits, but not Carrey sized where Pet Detective did  72 and the other two did over 100.

 

Adjust? I think you're referring to their initial gross right, because those two films adjust to over 100m, if we're being technical here. 

 

Of course Carrey's 1994 was huge though. I don't think many actors at the time or today could accomplish that sort of thing, heck Carrey himself wouldn't do it, since like most major stars he's very script-specific, and prefers to only make one to two films a year. 

[Fancyarcher]

Just now, Chaz said:

Wasn't the Grease Anniversary also released in '96? It was huge for a re-release.

 

No it was 1998. It did open at #2 at the box office at 12m though, which was very good for a limited re-release at the time though.

[Chaz]

3 minutes ago, Fancyarcher said:

 

No it was 1998. It did open at #2 at the box office at 12m though, which was very good for a limited re-release at the time though.

Oh, duh. The movie came out in 1978.

 

The soundtrack had a huuuuge resurgence that year. It sold 4 million copies in 1998.

[Kalo]

36 minutes ago, cannastop said:

The Lion King was my first movie obsession. Got me interested in movies in general, too.

 

Mine too actually. It was my favorite film of all time when I first saw it. I watched it over and over again until my VHS broke, I would make my sister get up in the middle of the night when I couldn't sleep to watch it with me, I played the Super Nintendo game, had all the toys, puzzles. My sister even had a book made of the lion King story that incorporated my name into the story it may be the first film I remember seeing in theaters as well, not sure though cause I would have been 3 and I really don't remember much at all before age 5. it was the defining film of my childhood and I don't think I got that obsessed with a film until Star Wars. 

[baumer]

3 hours ago, Fancyarcher said:

 

Yeah, was surprised to learn that. Chase was in a number of successful comedies back in the day, like a lot of comedians his career burned out by the 1990's especially with a series mediocre / poorly received films, and because he was so difficult to work with. By 1994 he was still on producers want-list went it came to comedies though.

 

Another one that came to mind just as I was rereading your 1994 post was John Travolta. 3 of his films from 1996 (Phenomena, Michael, & Broken Arrow), wound up in the top twenty of the yearly box office in 1996. Wow, he really did have a comeback at the time. 

 

If I recall correctly (and I haven't looked it up) I believe Travolta eventually commanded 20 million for at least one film.  I also remember reading that he became quite demanding during his renaissance. This is from his film BASIC: Actor John Travolta has demanded eight new Armani T-shirts a day to appear in his new movie - because he refuses to wear the same one twice. The Swordfish star objects to washing clothes for religious reasons, so he had it written into his contract for new film BASIC that he be supplied with the $350 (�250) black tops. Travolta is a devoted member of the Church of Scientology, which frowns on the chemicals used in dry cleaning. But movie bosses, desperate to sign Travolta up as leading man for the film about army basic training, had little choice but agree to the $2,800 (�2,000)-a-day demand.

[baumer]

3 hours ago, Fancyarcher said:

 

Adjust? I think you're referring to their initial gross right, because those two films adjust to over 100m, if we're being technical here. 

 

Of course Carrey's 1994 was huge though. I don't think many actors at the time or today could accomplish that sort of thing, heck Carrey himself wouldn't do it, since like most major stars he's very script-specific, and prefers to only make one to two films a year. 

 

I'm saying that Fletch and Euro Vacation adjust to 60 million in 1994, the year that Carrey had his big hits.

[baumer]

According to imdb, here are some of the outrageous sums Travolta got....not sure if I believe all of this:

 

Broken Arrow (1996)	$8,000,000
Phenomenon (1996)	$8,000,000
Michael (1996)	$12,000,000
Face/Off (1997)	$20,000,000
Mad City (1997)	$20,000,000
Primary Colors (1998)	$17,000,000
A Civil Action (1998)	$20,000,000
The General's Daughter (1999)	$20,000,000
Battlefield Earth (2000)	$10,000,000 + Profit Points
Lucky Numbers (2000)	$22,000,000 plus 20% of gross
Swordfish (2001)	$20,000,000
Basic (2003)	$15,000,000
Ladder 49 (2004)	$20,000,000
Be Cool (2005)	$20,000,000
Hairspray (2007)	US$14,000,000 including ca. US$3,000,000 prerequisites

[Fancyarcher]

Just now, baumer said:

 

If I recall correctly (and I haven't looked it up) I believe Travolta eventually commanded 20 million for at least one film.  I also remember reading that he became quite demanding during his renaissance. This is from his film BASIC: Actor John Travolta has demanded eight new Armani T-shirts a day to appear in his new movie - because he refuses to wear the same one twice. The Swordfish star objects to washing clothes for religious reasons, so he had it written into his contract for new film BASIC that he be supplied with the $350 (�250) black tops. Travolta is a devoted member of the Church of Scientology, which frowns on the chemicals used in dry cleaning. But movie bosses, desperate to sign Travolta up as leading man for the film about army basic training, had little choice but agree to the $2,800 (�2,000)-a-day demand.

 

Yeah, I read that he got too big again and started making demands. Heck he used a lot of his own money to try and Battlefield Earth made, and that basically shit all of his good will at the time away.

 

4 minutes ago, Chaz said:

Oh, duh. The movie came out in 1978.

 

The soundtrack had a huuuuge resurgence that year. It sold 4 million copies in 1998.

 

The soundtrack along with the film basically got a boost from the 20th anniversary.

[Fancyarcher]

2 minutes ago, baumer said:

 

I'm saying that Fletch and Euro Vacation adjust to 60 million in 1994, the year that Carrey had his big hits.

 

Oh okay that makes more sense.

 

1 minute ago, baumer said:

According to imdb, here are some of the outrageous sums Travolta got....not sure if I believe all of this:

 

Broken Arrow (1996)	$8,000,000
Phenomenon (1996)	$8,000,000
Michael (1996)	$12,000,000
Face/Off (1997)	$20,000,000
Mad City (1997)	$20,000,000
Primary Colors (1998)	$17,000,000
A Civil Action (1998)	$20,000,000
The General's Daughter (1999)	$20,000,000
Battlefield Earth (2000)	$10,000,000 + Profit Points
Lucky Numbers (2000)	$22,000,000 plus 20% of gross
Swordfish (2001)	$20,000,000
Basic (2003)	$15,000,000
Ladder 49 (2004)	$20,000,000
Be Cool (2005)	$20,000,000
Hairspray (2007)	US$14,000,000 including ca. US$3,000,000 prerequisites

 

Some of those later grosses seem a bit fishy to me, though I suppose that Travolta could live off / demand big paychecks based the success of his previous films, even if he was in a flop here or there. 

[baumer]

I just finished reading The Pelican Brief (terrific book btw)....so now I'm retiring for the evening so I can watch the film.

 

Thanks again for reading and commenting.  

 

Some that will be covered in 95 include:

 

To infinity and beyond

Houston we have a problem

Angry apes attack Pennywise

Leland Orser is part of the seven deadly sins

Stone, Pesci, DeNiro

And perhaps my favourite film of 1995 features Viggo as Satan and three actors from Pulp Fiction, one from Candyman and a guy who gets a knife through his chest in Saving Private Ryan

[Eric is Quiet]

Jim Carrey's explosion in popularity in 1994 is still one of the most incredible things to me. Carrey went from being on a cult hit sketch show to the biggest comedy star on the planet in just one year. Most actors have to go through years and years of work in order to become superstars, but Carrey did it after just three consecutive movies. I honestly can't think of any other actor that comes close to that popularity explosion.

 

Also, a Nicolas Cage-Gary Oldman Dumb and Dumber needs to happen. Why didn't we get a badass remake like that instead of that stupid prequel?