Saturday, May 8, 2010

35 years of Summer Blockbusters - May 8th



May 8 2009 - One year ago Paramount Pictures released Star Trek and a new summer franchise was born, or should I say rebooted. This film took us where no film had gone before, to the early days of the U.S.S. Enterprise, when Captain Kirk, Spock, Bones and the rest of the crew meat for the first time. Kind of like an origin story showing us how the crew from the original TV series came together.

The movie was highly anticipated, especially since Paramount had moved it's original release date from December 2008 to May 2009. The fans were not disappointed when the film finally opened. It opened in the #1 spot and took in $79 million in it's first three days. It ended it's run with $257 million in ticket sales, making it the seventh highest grossing film of 2009. The film also found critical success. It received almost unanimous praise from fans and critics alike. Expect a sequel on June 29, 2012. At The Movie House rating ***1/2 stars



May 8 2002 - Eight years ago 20th Century Fox released Unfaithful. the film was directed by Adrian Lynne who was revisiting subject matter from his film Fatal Attraction. The film explores the destruction of a marriage after the wife has an adulterous affair with a stranger. The film was seen as an attempt to offer something for adults in the wake of Spider-Man being released five days earlier. It opened a #2 and went on too make $50 million in U.S. ticket sales and double that overseas. This film has not been screened by At the Movie House critics.

May 8, 1998 - Twelve years ago the summer of 1998 brought us dueling asteroids collide with earth movies and Deep Impact was the first to be released. The film received mixed reviews but had strong opening weekend and went on to make $140 million at the box office. At The Movie House rating ***1/2 stars




May 8, 1987 - Twenty three years ago the studios released three films. The independent film River's Edge which premiered at the Toronto Film festival and starred Crispin Glover, Keanu Reeves and Dennis Hopper. Gardens Of Stone, a military drama directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring James Caan. And a teen comedy Hot Pursuit starring John Cusack and Ben Stiller. At this time in Hollywood history big budget films were still being held for the third and fourth weekends in May. At The Movie House has no ratings for these films.


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