This is a thread that might have been created before..

But mark66 comment below made me think something.


If Genisys was released 25 years ago it probably would gross more than now...haha...that would be quite funny actually. Obviously the effects would be mind blowing for the time, and there were only positive connotations with a Terminator movie at that point.

Some movies who where successful in the past would still do well now, while other would totally not hold up. Would be interesting to discuss such examples.

Gladiator for example, how well would that do? Not sure if we have to consider the current reputation of any of the actors/ directors of the movie, or it's just taking the overall quality into account.

Edge of Tomorrow would have done 300 million in 1992.

Lots of star-power-related examples. Bullet to the Head could have earned 50, even 60 million in the mid-1990s.

Maybe even in the 2000-2005 range, right before Cruise's meltdown.

Damn that movie deserved better.

In a small branching off of the original post, I wonder what Spider-Man would've done if 9/11 hadn't happen.

T2 was a pop culture phenomenon at the level of Jurassic World right now, but I'd argue possibly even bigger. The lack of entertainment options (i.e. Internet) definitely makes a difference today.

They needed the third film in 1996, with Cameron instead of that 3D ride at Universal (which is awesome, but could have totally been expanded into a feature film) The Matrix was the sci fi sequel of 2003 everyone was anticipating. Luckily T3 was leagues better.

Yup, it would have been a major summer tent pole anywhere. Though MINORITY REPORT had SS and didn't blow up. Any time in the 1990s and it is huge though, I think.



It still would have been a huge hit. Probably not the #s it did, which today would be like $230m OW and 700mn total (I know the OW is off for inflation, just noting it broke a relatively new opening weekend record by a huge 35%).

Yup. T3 came a good 6 or 7 years too late. Arnie was past his prime and Matrix stole all of it's thunder.

Reloaded >>> Terminator 3

The first Star Wars would not be as big today because the tech breakthroughs would already have been achieved.

Releasing Rambo III just a year earlier would have gotten it to $100m. I am pretty sure about that.

Edge of Tomorrow is a good example of a ilm that would have cleared $200 million with ease had it been released ten years earlier.

You can't think like that. Without SW breakthroughs the movie industry would not be what it is today, and by result SW would be just the same experience.

I'm not sure if Edge of Tomorrow really would have cleared $200m in the 90s/00s. Or do you mean that's what it would be adjusted for inflation?

Yes, Tom Cruise was huge then, but still, the only comparable sci-fi film to have made a ton of money was Independence Day. (As mentioned before, even Minority Report only adjusts to $184m.)

(Complete tangent: This is the reason I can't understand the hand-wringing over the BO misfortunes of "original sci-fi"; that was never a big powerhouse at the BO. Original genre films were generally either lower-budget and made less than the top-tier blockbusters, or they flopped/disappointed. Very rarely, you would get something like Total Recall - based on a Philip K. Dick story, though admittedly very loosely, and most people weren't familiar with it - but that was sold largely off of Arnold Schwarzenegger. And once in a while you'd get a surprise like The Matrix. Yet people act as if films like Edge of Tomorrow and Jupiter Ascending used to be guaranteed moneymakers - does nobody remember The Fifth Element underperforming, or Starship Troopers flopping? The best-known of those kinds of films only really became popular on video.)

Edge of Tomorrow is a far more crowd-pleasing film that Minority Report was.

Well most of the sci fi films since have ripped it off. So cant really say that.

The OT would have been very popular at any time period.

Indeed - Sci-Fi was a tough sell even back then.

I think most people are saying that a Tom Cruise crowd pleaser would have made a lot more money back then. I agree - probably something that adjusts to $200m though.

Even Minority Report underwhelmed somewhat considering it was Spielberg/Cruise.

Wasn't general-audience word-of-mouth a bit mixed re: Minority Report? Because it is so grim and twisty. Not conventional escapist fare.