Looking Back: 1995 in Cinema

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Buscemi
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Looking Back: 1995 in Cinema

Post by Buscemi »

Last year when I did the 1994 retrospective, it was looking like a doomsday scenario in 2014 with flop and underperformer after flop and underperformer. But since then, the outlook has greatly improved. 2015 could be the first year where three films hit $400 million (we have two right now, with Star Wars still waiting), we had the first $90 million second place opener, a film opened to $90 million in January, and some tired themes and sub-genres (the Southern-aimed movie, found footage horror) may finally go away. Is it perfect? No. But things are looking to improve after a period of stagnation of hicksploitation and 1980s cash-ins.

But that's not why I started this thread. I remembered that today is the 20th anniversary of Batman Forever. I was never a fan of the film (though I had some of the toys, such as the redesigned Batmobile, and still have the whole set of promotional glass mugs McDonald's sold) but it did seem to be the event of 1995. The movie was everywhere and back then, it seemed to be liked enough to the year's second biggest film and a nominee of three Academy Awards.

1995 was also the year of Toy Story. The first computer-animated feature (after a production from Ridley Scott and Moebius fell apart early in production), it introduced the world to the talent of Pixar and not only became the year's biggest film but began the CGI revolution in animation. I also had a number of the toys. 1995 was also the birth of the megaplex. The first one, a 24 screen theatre in Dallas, no longer exists in its original form (AMC sold the theatre and the new owners downsized it to 14 screens) but it gave birth to many others. Sadly, they never were used for their original purpose of running 20 or more different movies so these theatres also gave rise to having the same few movies on every screen. So if you don't want to see Jurassic World but rather Love and Mercy or I'll See You in My Dreams, you are probably out of luck.

And now the best part, the movies of 1995 adjusted for inflation and some selections I have included here. 1995 was a notable year in that no film hit $200 million in raw dollars. This was more than likely due to the large amount of movies that year. There wasn't one movie everyone just had to see. There was so much just good product you couldn't choose.

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/yearly/cha ... 015&p=.htm

- 32 movies adjusted for inflation grossed over $100 million. In 2014, 33 did (Edge of Tomorrow just barely topped $100 million).
- Batman Forever had the biggest opening ($98.5 million adjusted). It's actually pretty funny how Batman compares with Guardians of the Galaxy 19 years later, with Batman doing slightly better (98.5/343.5 to 94/333). Could Chris Pratt be 2014's Val Kilmer?
- Die Hard with a Vengeance was the year's biggest R-rated movie at $187 million adjusted. At the time of release, the $100 million raw total was a bit of disappointment but today, that would seem pretty good when you realize the modern total.
- Seven made $186 million adjusted. Proof that 1995 was a different time.
- Dangerous Minds made $159 million adjusted. Indeed.
- Mr. Holland's Opus made $152 million adjusted. Today, a movie like that probably wouldn't make $15.2 million.
- Congo made $151 million adjusted. Most people seem to hate this movie but that didn't stop people from seeing it (and yes, I had toys from this movie).
- Braveheart made $141 million adjusted. The original total seemed to be a disappointment, especially seeing how it was one of those "everyone had to see it" type movies, but it probably killed on video after the Oscars.
- Mortal Kombat made $132 million adjusted. Other than Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, there probably hasn't been a video game adaptation that's been a hit since.
- Babe made $118 million adjusted. Never bet against cute animals.
- Species made $112 million adjusted. Back when sex did sell.
- The Brady Bunch Movie made $87 million adjusted. I wonder if this was the last TV adaptation to spawn a sequel until 21 Jump Street.
- Man of the House made $75 million adjusted. Remember when Jonathan Taylor Thomas was a big deal?
- Mighty Morphin Power Rangers made $71 million adjusted. If the new one's any good, it could make $71 million opening weekend.
- Friday made $51 million adjusted in just 883 theatres. I don't think this one played near me until a month after it opened. And it's surprising that New Line opened it that small. Maybe they didn't see it as the franchise-starting cult classic that it became.
- The Usual Suspects made $44 million adjusted. Today, who knows how this would have done.
- Il Postino made $40 million adjusted in just 430 theatres (and played for nearly a year and a half). Today, that would have been lucky to make $5 million.
- The Brothers McMullen made $19 million adjusted in just 367 theatres. This would have definitely been a day-and-date movie today.
- Cutthroat Island made $19 million adjusted. We all know it was a huge flop back then but if released today, it would got at least gotten a chance to return its cost (through a 3-D post-conversion or IMAX showings).
- The Baby-Sitters Club made $18 million adjusted. I bet if you adapted these books now, it could be a Pitch Perfect-type hit (probably not Pitch Perfect 2: The Aca-Pitchening though).
- Smoke made $15 million adjusted in just 128 theatres. Remember back when Harvey Keitel and William Hurt could sell a movie?
- Strange Days made $15 million adjusted. Looks like even then James Cameron couldn't sell a movie he didn't direct.
- Kids made $14 million adjusted in just 187 theatres. This would have probably been day-and-date too (especially with the NC-17 rating that was later surrendered).
- Mighty Aphrodite made $12 million adjusted in just 278 theatres. That would have gone wide today (and perhaps doubled the final take, as Woody Allen's pretty much guaranteed a wide release after a few weeks).
- Persuasion made $10 million adjusted in just 99 theatres. Remember when people didn't mind seeing TV movies in the theatre?
- Exotica made $8 million adjusted in 439 theatres. Yes, an Atom Egoyan film played in 439 theatres (and it wasn't one of his "attempting to be mainstream" movies).
- Crumb made $6 million adjusted in just 56 theatres. I'm guessing people came for the weirdness over the appreciation of R. Crumb.
- The Basketball Diaries made $4 million adjusted in 318 theatres. Before DiCaprio became a big deal (I remember it being huge on video though).
- The year's lowest grossing wide release was Destiny Turns on the Radio at $2 million adjusted. Probably for good reason as it was a terrible movie (worst of the Pulp Fiction clones probably).
- And the year's lowest grossing movie was a 1986 Liam Neeson film called Lamb, released nine years later to capitalize on his success at $9,500 adjusted. A lot of movies today would be happy to make that much in the theatre.

I could have gone on for much longer but nostalgia can only go so long. Any comments?
Everything on this post is strictly the opinion and only the opinion of Buscemi.

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Chienfantome
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Re: Looking Back: 1995 in Cinema

Post by Chienfantome »

Funny how half of the films you mention I've never heard of. Well, i'm not that surprised, those probably weren't released in France back then, and I didn't see as many films as I do now. And then there was no Internet to be aware of films that were not released in your country. In 1995, if a film wasn't released in France, or mentionned in French papers, well, you just couldn't be aware of its existence here, basically.

I really thought "The Usual Suspects" or "Strange Days" had made more at the BO back then, I'm surprised it made such low numbers, compared to a Congo or Mortal Kombat.
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numbersix
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Re: Looking Back: 1995 in Cinema

Post by numbersix »

Funnily enough, I've seen most of those movies. The only ones I haven't seen are the Power Rangers movie, Man of the House, and Persuasion.

Different times back then. Less films meant more opportunities for the ones that were released.

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JohnErle
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Re: Looking Back: 1995 in Cinema

Post by JohnErle »

I tend to think of that era as a golden age of cinema, but looking at that BO list it seems more like a lot of forgettable films were making a lot of money.

Still, there were some definite classics in 1995. Rob Roy, Shallow Grave, and To Die For are all firmly entrenched in my top 100; Se7en, Toy Story, and Sense And Sensibility are not far off; Double Happiness and Exotica are unusually high profile Canadian films that are actually worth watching; and In The Mouth Of Madness, Devil In A Blue Dress, and Goldeneye are all solid genre films I could pop in and enjoy at almost any time.

Words can not express how much I hated Braveheart, though, especially when an infinitely superior film like Rob Roy was in theatres at almost the same time and was completely overshadowed by Braveheart, both at the box office and at the Oscars.

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