ON THIS DAY (1/1/10) - STEVE McQUEEN + STUART LITTLE
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Dec 31 2009, 6:12 PM
While Geekweek will keep you in the loop on what's happening right now -- and give you the heads up on all the cool stuff coming down the pipeline -- On This Day is here to take a quick and hopefully entertaining and enlightening look at how we got where we are. I'll start with movies and move into other areas of geekery down the track. So, today, 30 years ago...
… 30 YEARS AGO
A UPI story about the salaries of the top stars, which riffs off a
Variety piece of few weeks earlier, declares that at the pinnacle, above Burt Reynolds and
Marlon Brando, who command $3-$4m a picture, is Steve McQueen, who now asks $5m
and 15 percent of gross profits. The article marvels that McQueen recently
turned down $4m to co-star with Sophia Loren in The Manhattan Project. What few know is that on December 22 a biopsy has revealed a
massive malignant tumor in McQueen’s right lung and that part of the reason
he’s asking such an astronomical fee is to give him a plausible-sounding reason
for not taking roles. But The Cooler King won’t ever cash a check that size, at least while he's alive,
making his great escape from this life on November 7 of 1980. Eerily, after the 2005 TV commerical below inspired a string of endorsements, McQueen would posthumously make that sorta bank, with his 2007 earnings clocked by Forbes at $6m.
… 20 YEARS AGO
Hollywood wakes up to
a massive year – with box office topping $5b for the first time and seven films
having grossed more than $100m. Two decades later - like, today! - the industry will for the
first time record takings of over $10b, with 21 movies pushing past $100m and seven
more with domestic revenues way in excess of $200m, including one surpassing
$300m and another $400m. Worth noting, the average ticket price then was $4.23,
now it’s $7.18. Also worth noting, back then 1989’s Batman’s total domestic
take was $251m, while overseas theaters totaled just $160m; this week Avatar’s
$212m was dwarfed by its $411m international revenues.
… 10 YEARS AGO
As it is today, the box office on the first day of Y2k is still
dominated by a December 17th-released CG and live-action blockbuster
that’s about an unlikely hero adopted into a new family of giant creatures.
Yes, Stuart Little was the Avatar of its day, and clocked up an impressive
$300m worldwide. The other big animation news was made by Fantasia 2000, whose
first showings were just after the clock had struck 12, making it the first
movie released in the new millennium. It was also the first feature-length
animation made for the IMAX format.
Michael Adams is the author Showgirls, Teen Wolves And Astro Zombies, which traces his year-long quest to watch the worst movie ever made. To read the first chapter for free, click here
More on Geekweek
While Geekweek will keep you in the loop on what's happening right now -- and give you the heads up on all the cool stuff coming down the pipeline -- On This Day is here to take a quick and hopefully entertaining and enlightening look at how we got where we are. I'll start with movies and move into other areas of geekery down the track. So, today, 30 years ago...
… 30 YEARS AGO
A UPI story about the salaries of the top stars, which riffs off a
Variety piece of few weeks earlier, declares that at the pinnacle, above Burt Reynolds and
Marlon Brando, who command $3-$4m a picture, is Steve McQueen, who now asks $5m
and 15 percent of gross profits. The article marvels that McQueen recently
turned down $4m to co-star with Sophia Loren in The Manhattan Project. What few know is that on December 22 a biopsy has revealed a
massive malignant tumor in McQueen’s right lung and that part of the reason
he’s asking such an astronomical fee is to give him a plausible-sounding reason
for not taking roles. But The Cooler King won’t ever cash a check that size, at least while he's alive,
making his great escape from this life on November 7 of 1980. Eerily, after the 2005 TV commerical below inspired a string of endorsements, McQueen would posthumously make that sorta bank, with his 2007 earnings clocked by Forbes at $6m.
… 20 YEARS AGO
Hollywood wakes up to a massive year – with box office topping $5b for the first time and seven films having grossed more than $100m. Two decades later - like, today! - the industry will for the first time record takings of over $10b, with 21 movies pushing past $100m and seven more with domestic revenues way in excess of $200m, including one surpassing $300m and another $400m. Worth noting, the average ticket price then was $4.23, now it’s $7.18. Also worth noting, back then 1989’s Batman’s total domestic take was $251m, while overseas theaters totaled just $160m; this week Avatar’s $212m was dwarfed by its $411m international revenues.
… 10 YEARS AGO
As it is today, the box office on the first day of Y2k is still dominated by a December 17th-released CG and live-action blockbuster that’s about an unlikely hero adopted into a new family of giant creatures. Yes, Stuart Little was the Avatar of its day, and clocked up an impressive $300m worldwide. The other big animation news was made by Fantasia 2000, whose first showings were just after the clock had struck 12, making it the first movie released in the new millennium. It was also the first feature-length animation made for the IMAX format.
Michael Adams is the author Showgirls, Teen Wolves And Astro Zombies, which traces his year-long quest to watch the worst movie ever made. To read the first chapter for free, click here
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