John Candy’s classic Uncle Buck turns 25 this week. The film opened in first place with 8.9M in 1989, and also helped to launch the careers of Macaulay Culkin and Gaby Hoffman. Uncle Buck went on to gross 66.7M and was the 18th highest grossing film of 1989. Critics give it a 64% on Rotten Tomatoes, and audiences give it a 6.9 on IMDB. Even People did a retrospective in honor of its 25th Anniversary.
This is the 20th anniversary of The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert, which opened in limited release with a fantastic 31K per screen average. Priscilla went on to gross 11.2M at the box office, and won an Oscar for Costume Design. It helped to launch the careers of Guy Pearce, Hugo Weaving, and Terence Stamp. Critics loved it, with a 93% on Rotten Tomatoes, and audiences liked it with 7.5 on IMDB. The film would later be adapted into a Broadway musical.
15 years ago, Eddie Murphy and Steve Martin teamed up for Bowfinger, which launched in second place with 18M. It went on to make 66.3M. Critics liked it, with an 80% on Rotten Tomatoes, and audiences didn’t quite get it, with a 6.4 on IMDB. Adjusted for inflation, this would be a 100M hit.
This is the 10th Anniversary of Alien Vs Predator, which topped the charts with 38.2M. AVP didn’t have legs, however, and left theatres with only 80M domestic, and 92M foreign. A sequel was made, but it didn’t come close to even the first one. It remains the highest grossing Predator entry, but only the 3rd highest Alien. Critics hated it, with 21% on Rotten Tomatoes, and audiences give it a 5.5 on IMDB.
This is the 5th Anniversary of District 9 (Already five years old. Shocking, right?). The sci-fi epic launched to 37.3M in 1st place, on its way to 115M domestic, and 210M worldwide. Even with that box office, it was only the 27th highest grossing film of 2009. District 9 managed a Best Picture nomination, as well as Adapted Screenplay, Editing, and Visual Effects. Critics give it a 90% on Rotten Tomatoes, and audiences give it an 8.0 on IMDB.
And for you anime fans, this is also the 5th Anniversary of the American release of Ponyo, which didn’t translate well here. It opened in 9th place with 3.5M, on its way to a disappointing gross of 15M domestic. However, it should be noted that Ponyo did extremely well overseas, and has a worldwide gross of 201M. Ponyo was adored by critics at 92%, and audiences enjoyed it to with a 7.7 on IMDB.
