10 Years Ago From July 2-4, 2010 Weekend:
July 7-9, 2000
The Wayans brothers launched a franchise when Scary Movie scored big in its opening weekend with an impressive $42.4 million. It would go on to gross $157 million domestically and $278 million worldwide. With such a large gross going against a very small production budget the Wayans earned another shot with Scary Movie 2. The third and fourth in the franchise suffered from losing the brothers and losing the R rating, instead opting for PG-13, but this didn’t stop them from hitting triple digits in grosses. Not only have these films brought the laughs with their extremely raunchy comedy, but they also delivered Anna Faris into the lime light. And for that we thank you Keenen, Shawn and Marlon.
Disney’s The Kid flopped out as the weekend’s counter-programming with only a $12.9 million take; ending its run at $69 million. That’s only $4 million more than it cost to make. A strange family film starring Bruce Willis who is visited by his younger self. Together they discover the meaning of friendship and get their lives back on track. By the end they meet the man responsible for all of this, who is of course a seventy year old version of themselves. Disney was trying to recapture the magic of older films such as Big or Freaky Friday, but even with Willis they were unable to bring in the big bucks.
30 Years Ago From July 2-4, 2010 Weekend:
July 4-6, 1980
The Empire Strikes Back was in its 7th weekend grossing $8.3 million for a total of $81.9 million up to that point. It was the lowest total grossing Stars Wars film ending with $209 million domestic not counting rereleases. The original Star Wars earned $307 million and Return of the Jedi ended with $252 million. It was a much darker film than the first and introduced a little green character that everyone loves to mimic, no not Kermit the frog, but Yoda. We also learned that Darth Vader was Luke Skywalker’s father, something so horrible there’s only one word he could muster – “NOOO!”.
Darth Vader: If you only knew the power of the Dark Side. Obi-Wan never told you what happened to your father.
Luke: He told me enough! He told me *you* killed him!
Darth Vader: No. *I* am your father.
Luke: No. No. That’s not true. That’s impossible!
Darth Vader: Search your feelings, you *know* it to be true!
Luke: [anguished] No! No!