Hindsight: July 1990
By Daron Aldridge
July 20, 2009
Do you remember when Walt Disney Pictures would rerelease its classic cartoons, so parents could experience the fond animated memories of their childhood with their own kids? If not, then you are missing out. This weekend in 1990, Disney reissued its version of Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book, which effectively spoiled the Jetsons' chance for box office redemption. Since the films it rereleased had been long since been accounted for financially, these rereleases by Disney were just gravy. Not only did its fourth place finish bring in another $7.7 million ($13.1 million adjusted), it undoubtedly brought smiles to faces of the Mouse House with the $43.5 million ($74 million adjusted) this reissue would bank.
While the clean cut comedy styling of Mr. Bill Cosby in Ghost Dad didn't crack the top five, the raunchy Andrew Dice Clay did take the number five spot with his Adventures of Ford Fairlane. Dice was at the pinnacle of his stand-up career and like so many comedians before him, he attempted to parlay that popularity onto film. The results were telling as this film, his first star vehicle, grossed $6.4 million ($10.9 million adjusted) in its first weekend and quickly faded into cult status. To bring it back around to Ghost Dad (never thought I would write that phrase), Fairlane's adventures would earn $20.4 million ($34.7 million adjusted) or about $2.5 million less than Cosby's film. I extend my condolences to Dice for losing to Ghost Dad.
Finally, there just wasn't enough room for a more deserving movie to connect with audiences. The last new film of the weekend was the criminally underrated and unseen Quick Change with Bill Murray, Geena Davis and Randy Quaid. Despite opening on more screens than both Ghost and The Adventures of Ford Fairlane, Murray's bank heist comedy could only secure seventh place with $4.7 million ($8 million adjusted) and a final gross of $15.3 million. Quick Change deserved a better reception and in fact, I implore you to please place it at the top of your Netflix queue.
The reign of the Ghost was starting to become apparent as Demi Moore and Bruce Willis swap places on the chart for the third weekend of July. Sensing the potential of the film, Paramount added 300 screens showing Ghost, which had the desired effect. The ethereal tale saw an uptick of about 2% and that was good enough for $12.5 million ($21.3 million adjusted) and first place. Die Hard 2 dropped nearly 31% in its third weekend to $10 million ($17 million adjusted) in second place. Die Hard 2 could still claim the title of "number one action movie in America" even though the new Navy SEALs likely had designs on that title.
Third place went to a film that was the bane of existence for the poor schlub in charge of changing out the marquee at your local theater. Arachnophobia hit theaters boasting the pedigree of its executive producer Steven Spielberg. With its third place debut of $8 million ($13.6 million adjusted), Arachnophobia wasn't exactly the next Jaws but it was still had a strong showing. While there is not scientific data to support it, I would hypothesize that people weren't keen on sitting in a dark theater to watch a movie about tiny, deadly spiders that would easily be crawling on the back of their seat, unbeknownst to them. There wasn't a chance that a great white shark was lurking in the theater with you. In the end, the pest control porn film would earn a nice $53.2 million ($90.2 million adjusted) against a $31 million budget.
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