Today, we are going back 37 years, to look at the movies released into theatres on July 26th, 1985, and how the box office top eleven looked that week.
On this date in 80s movie history, two new moderate to wide releases (plus one new film opening the previous Wednesday) would join several New York City exclusives in opening in theatres:
This Italian-made sci-fi film from 1983 would finally make it to New York two years later. Twenty years after a nuclear war has rendered all survivors infertile, a one-time soldier is given the chance to rescue the last fertile woman from behind enemy lines in the one-time Big Apple, so he can head off-world to humanity’s new homeworld, or be executed.
Opening on 28 screens in New York City, After the Fall of New York would gross a measly $82,521 (compared to, say, Day of the Dead, which had opened four weeks earlier and still was able to gross $115k from 44 NYC theatres), and would be completely gone from New York theatres after one week. Fun fact: not two weeks after the end of its theatrical run, one could rent After the Fall of New York from the video stores inside the Federated Home Entertainment Electronics Superstores for just 49¢.
It would take four years for this 1981 Israeli drama to get any kind of theatrical release in America, and just barely would it get one. After one week at the Film Forum in New York City, the film would disappear from theatres, with no reported grosses.
Walt Disney Animation’s 25th full-length feature film was supposed to launch animated feature films into a whole other level. One where animated movies from Disney could be more for teenagers and adults than kids. One that could open a whole new world of storytelling possibilities.
That wouldn’t happen. In fact, the film would be such a bomb that its failure almost put the Disney Animation department out of business. It would be the last animated film to be made in the original Animation Building on the Disney lot in Burbank. But despite its lack of success at the box office, there are many things to admire about the film. It was the first animated Disney film to be specifically recorded in Dolby Stereo, the first to use computer-generated imagery, and it features some of the best animation to come out of the hand-drawn cel era.
But it would take decades for the film to finally find an audience. Between the end of the film’s theatrical run in September 1985 and its VHS release in August 1998, The Black Cauldron was not available in any format. Today’ one can watch it in 4K on the Disney+ streaming service, but the only way to buy it on physical media is a Blu-ray that is only available from the Disney Movie Club.
The Black Cauldron would open to $4.18m from 1276 theatres in its first weekend ($5.4m after five days), on its way to a final gross of $21.3m.
The Heavenly Kid was one of those movies that might have been able to work, if the casting was better. If the story was better. If the director were more experienced. The story is simple: wannabe John Travolta in Grease-type dies in a fiery car crash racing his rival a la Rebel Without a Cause. Twenty-plus years later, wannabe John Travolta in Grease-type must earn his wings to get into heaven by becoming a mentor and friend to a high school kid in need of some help, only to discover the young man is really his kid, and his girlfriend at the time of his death is now married to the guy he was racing when he died. Did I mention the young man he’s helping so he can get into heaven is his son, even though he died more than twenty years previous? This was writer/director Cary Medoway’s second movie of 1985, after another stinker, Paradise Motel, came out in January, and he would never write or direct a movie again.
The Heavenly Kid would gross $1.61m from 1019 theatres in its opening weekend, on its way to a final gross of $3.85m.
Eventually, the film would be nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay, and would win Best Actor for William Hurt, but this movie is a good example of how weird the 1980s were for movie distribution. An independently financed American/Brazilian co-production about two very different men who share a prison cell in Brazil during the Brazilian military dictatorship (one imprisoned and tortured for his activities on behalf of a leftist revolutionary group, the other an effeminate homosexual imprisoned for “corrupting an underage youth”), filmed in Brazil in four different languages (English, French, German and Portuguese) was released into theatres deep in the heart of the summer movie season, and would end up becoming one of the most successful non-studio theatrical releases of the year.
Now, I’m not going to get into what kind of person William Hurt was off-screen, but his performance here is mesmerizing. However, if I were a member of the Academy back in 1985, my vote for Best Actor would have gone to Raul Julia, who has the less flashy role but is the true heart and soul of the film.
In its first weekend of release at the Cinema I in New York City, Kiss of the Spider Woman would break the theatre’s house record for an opening weekend, with more than $90k worth of tickets sold, at a top ticket price of only $5. The film would continue to play in theatres for nearly a year and a half, and finish its theatrical run with $17m worth of tickets sold.
Fans of 1980s French cinema might have noticed this film is being touted as being from the comedy team behind Les Compères, even though Les Compères was actually made and released, at least in France, after La Chèvre. This film, which had been a success upon its December 1981 release in France, would not get an American theatrical release until Les Compères, which had been made and released in France in November 1983, became a surprise art-house hit in America in the spring of 1984.
Director Francis Veber and his movies would become a veritable goldmine for Hollywood remakes, as no less than nine Hollywood movies (The Birdcage, Buddy Buddy, Dinner for Schmucks, Father’s Day*, The Man with One Red Shoe, Pure Luck**, Three Fugitives, The Toy, The Valet) would be based off films Veber wrote, produced and/or directed during his fifty-plus year career. La Chèvre would gross $26k during its first three days playing at the 315-seat Embassy 72nd Street Twin in New York City, on its way to grossing just over $1m during its three-month America run.
*Remake of Les Compères.
**Remake of La Chèvre.
A not-very-good sequel to an okay film, one of the many screenplays John Hughes kinda wrote due to contractual and/or personal obligations while he was concentrating on growing his own directing career. After the misfire that was Johnny Dangerously in December 1984, Fast Times at Ridgemont High director Amy Heckerling needed a hit, and she got it, when the film became the #1 movie its opening weekend, with an astounding $12.33m gross. But it’s not a very good film. (Side trivia: during the early 90s, my roommate and I lived across the hall from Jason Lively and his girlfriend in a Hollywood apartment building. Nice guy.) The film would go on to gross $49.3m through its theatrical run.
And there was one additional movie in theatres on this day, albeit only for a sneak preview…
Fright Night would open in theatres the following Friday, August 2nd, and would become a surprise hit, grossing more than $24.9m during its three-month theatrical run. It would be the highest-grossing horror film during the 1985 calendar year, although November’s A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge would eventually become the highest grossing horror film released in 1985, when it hit $30m thanks to a run that extended until April 1986.
As for the national top ten that weekend:
1) National Lanpoon’s European Vacation (Warners)
$12,329,627 from 1546 theatres.
$12.33m after three days.
2) Back to the Future (Universal)
$9,489,297 from 1508 theatres.
$66.62m after three weeks.
3) E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial [re-release] (Universal)
$5,022,104 from 1701 theatres.
$19.2m after two weeks.
4) The Black Cauldron (Disney)
$4,180,110 from 1276 theatres.
$5.40m after five days.
5) Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (Warners)
$3,594,652 from 1412 theatres.
$25.7m after three weeks.
6) Silverado (Columbia)
$3,231,315 from 1179 theatres.
$15.09m after three weeks.
7) Cocoon (Fox)
$3,158,302 from 980 theatres.
$52.04m after six weeks.
8) Rambo: First Blood Part II (Tri-Star)
$2,883,075 from 1259 theatres.
$134.91m after nine weeks.
9) Pale Rider (Warners)
$1,755,325 from 1068 theatres.
$36.27m after five weeks.
10) St. Elmo’s Fire (Columbia)
$1,616,020 from 754 theatres.
$26.11m after five weeks.
11) The Heavenly Kid (Orion)
$1,614,225 from 1019 theatres.
$1.61m after three days.