Club 50 Wrap-Up: 1990

Years Completed:
1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1995 | 1996 | 1998 | 1999
2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2005 | 2007 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013

Another day, another year to check off the list. Like a lot of the earlier years on the list, 1990 has a top 5 that I couldn't imagine happening today. There's a live-action kid's movie (Home Alone), a period Oscar winner (Dances with Wolves), a metaphysical romance (Ghost), a straight-up RomCom (Pretty Woman), and an off brand superhero movie (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles). It's especially hard to remember that the Turtles were that big. And look at what Home Alone did better than on the all time charts: Adjusted for inflation it made more than any Lord of the Rings or Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Not adjusted for inflation it made more than The Hangover, Shrek, and the 1989 Batman. That's insane.

1990 is an outlier year. Almost twice as many sequels were released that year (14) than any year until 2002. The next closest year from 1987 to 2002 was 1989 with 8 sequels released. To some extent, this is just wacky timing. Things don't change that quickly in Hollywood.
You do get the sense that the results scared the studios away from more sequels though. Of those 14 sequels, only three outperformed the previous installment. Another 48 hrs. and The Godfather Part III came out 8 and 16 years after their last movie (i.e. the benefit of inflation) and neither wildly outperformed the previous movie. Only Die Hard 2 had a legitimate big jump (over 40%).
 The other 11 movies underperformed. A few only took small dips but most dropped significantly. Gremlins 2 did 27% of what Gremlins did. Look Who's Talking Too did 34% of Look Who's Talking did. Rocky V did 32% as well as Rocky IV. Even with the benefit of over a decade of rising ticket costs, The Rescuers Down Under managed only 39% of what the original did. Just think, if the results of that year were the opposite, if these sequels improved on the original, the dominance of the sequel in the market might've happened a decade sooner.

This is another one of those years when the Oscar picks did well. All five Best Picture nominees were in the top 30 at the box office. Or, maybe it's better to say that the Oscars picked movies that did well. Only Dances with Wolves got any kind of "Oscar bump" and it was already a top 10 movie before the nominations were announced.

To wind down each year as I complete them, I'm going to hand out a few superlatives or anecdotal awards to highlight some of the highs and lows of the year's top 50 box office earners.

First Seen: Home Alone

It's gotta be. I doubt I saw it in theaters, but I definitely remember watching it very young.

Last Seen: The Exorcist III

The degree of difficulty I had finding this worried me greatly, especially after how bad The Heretic was. This really shouldn't be an Exorcist movie, but it's otherwise ok.

Happiest Surprise: Joe Versus the Volcano

There weren't a lot of contenders. This was a pretty weak year at the top. This is Tom Hanks at peak "likable Tom Hanks". It's after his Big and Splash days of maximizing the material he was given. After this, he turned into "back-to-back Oscar winner Tom Hanks". Joe also discovered that Meg Ryan + Tom Hanks = gold. Ryan was at her likable peak as well having just done When Harry Met Sally... Mostly though, this is just a delightful movie.

Biggest Disappointment: The Godfather Part III

Could it be anything else? Part I and II are all time classics of cinema. Part III isn't bad, but it's a big step down. In hindsight, it feels like they should've just left it alone.

Looked Better Then: Dances with Wolves

I was tempted to pick Pacific Heights because I wanted to use the phrase "yuppie horror story" one more time. I think it's safest to stick with Dances with Wolves which is one of those stereotypical "Oscar bait" movies that people make fun up. It's got the white man re-appropriating another culture. It's an overly long period piece. It doesn't hold up well. Also, I have a hard time remembering how this isn't Out of Africa.

Looks Better Now: Jacob's Ladder

Gremlins 2 has an anarchy that has only been more appreciated over time, and Goodfellas, despite being the lowest grossing of the Best Picture nominees that year, is the one that is now most remembered. I'm going with Jacob's Ladder though. It has a devoted cult following and people are still discovering it 25 years later. This might still be Tim Robbins' best role...no, that's still Shawshank. This isn't far off.

Favorite: Joe Versus the Volcano

I think this is the only year in which a movie that I only watched because of the Club 50 project ended up being my favorite. I can't fully explain why it is either. Meg Ryan is a hoot. The movie is all allegory. Tom Hanks completely gets what he's supposed to do in this role. This is just a good movie.

2nd Favorite: Goodfellas

Occasionally we forget when it's not a movie's fault that it's been borrowed from so much. This is one of the essential mobster movies. The reason why everything from Blow to Community has borrowed from it is because it did it right.

3rd Favorite: Kindergarten Cop

Sometimes, I've just seen a movie so many times that it's a classic. I had HBO growing up. They played this all the time. Arnold Schwazenegger and a bunch of kindergartners is the sight gag that keeps on giving. I don't even know if I can call it a good movie. That doesn't matter. If someone turned it on right now, I'd probably sit down and watch it.

Honorable Mention: 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

This franchise doesn't make sense. What makes even less sense is that they made it into a fairly dark, live-action movie and people came out in droves to see it.

Home Alone

Some movies are well received. Some are very popular. Few are iconic.

Gremlins 2: The New Batch

An insane movie. I don't understand how it was allowed to be made.

Misery

Kathy Bates sure is great in it.

Least Favorite: Stephen Seagal

I briefly considered Rocky V, street brawl et al, but at the end of the day, 1990 gifted me with not one, but two Stephen Seagal movies: Marked for Death and Hard to Kill. I know what you're thinking. No, those aren't a Kill Bill-esque dual release. His movies' titles are just really generic.