Warner Bros. Pictures
January is typically a dead zone for new movie releases, with only one or two premieres each week. It’s usually referred to as the dumping ground for movies even the studios know are dogs and this appears to be the case over the last century. But they aren’t all bad with 1931 giving us a very well-regarded gangster movie that set a template for gangster films to come, and 1951 gave us a foreign documentary of an extraordinary voyage. Some films on the list have more notoriety for the wrong reasons, even with stars like Sally Field and Nicolas Cage. So let’s take a look at this week’s new releases through the years to see which ones you remember!
1921
January 9 – The Love Light
- Cast: Mary Pickford, Evelyn Dumo, Raymond Bloomer, Fred Thomson, Albert Prisco, George Regas, Eddie Phillips, Jean De Briac
- Director: Frances Marion
- Studio: United Artists
- Trivia: Pickford appeared in this film to play an adult role after a string of adolescent roles.
1931
January 9 – Little Caesar
- Cast: Edward G. Robinson, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Glenda Farrell, William Collier Jr., Sidney Blackmer, Ralph Ince, Thomas E. Jackson, Stanley Fields, Maurice Black, George E. Stone
- Director: Mervyn LeRoy
- Studio: First National Pictures, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
- Trivia: Adapted from the novel of the same name by William R. Burnett. The film was selected for preservation by the National Film Registry in 2000. The film has been interpreted by some to include gay subtext between Otero (Stone) and Rico (Robinson), including the novel’s author who wrote a letter of complaint to the film’s producers about the conversion of his explicitly heterosexual characters. The film received an Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay.
January 10 – The Bachelor Father
- Cast: Marion Davies, Ralph Forbes, C. Aubrey Smith, Ray Milland, Guinn Williams, David Torrence, Doris Lloyd, Edgar Norton, Nina Quartero, Halliwell Hobbes, James Gordon
- Director: Robert Z. Leonard
- Studio: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
- Trivia: MGM produced a French language version of the film released in 1931 titled Le père célibataire.
1941
- No new films were released this week in 1941.
1951
January 13 – Kon Tiki
- Cast: Thor Heyerdahl
- Director: Thor Heyerdahl
- Studio: Artfilm, distributed by Sandrew
- Trivia: The Norwegian-Swedish documentary was originally released in Sweden on January 13, 1959, followed by Norway on February 13, 1950, before opening in the US in 1951. The film won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature at the 24th Academy Awards. The film was preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2013.
1961
January 6 – The Marriage-Go-Round
- Cast: Susan Hayward, James Mason, Julie Newmar, Robert Paige, June Clayworth, Joe Kirkwood Jr., Mary Patton, Trax Colton
- Director: Walter Lang
- Studio: Daystar Productions, distributed by 20th Century Fox
- Trivia: Based on the 1958 play by Leslie Stevens, who also wrote the screenplay. Filmed on location at Florida Southern College and at the Twentieth Century-Fox lot.
1971
January 8 – The Ski Bum
- Cast: Zalman King, Charlotte Rampling, Joseph Mell, Dimitra Arliss, Tedd King, Dwight Marfield, Freddie James, Lori Shelle, Pierre Jalbert, Anna Karen Morrow, Paul Jabara, Michael Lerner, Don Campbell, Noah Keen, David Chow, Penelope Spheeris, Deborah Smaller
- Director: Bruce D. Clark
- Studio: Joseph E. Levine Productions, distributed by Embassy Pictures
- Trivia: Based on the 1965 novel The Ski Bum by Romain Gary. Peter O’Toole, Christopher Jones, Warren Beatty, Robert Redford and Jon Voight were reportedly considered for the starring role. After years spent struggling to get a suitable screenplay, producer Joseph E. Levine gave a trio of UCLA film students $750,000 to do what they wanted, resulting in a film that bore very little resemblance to the novel.
1981
- No new films were released this week in 1981.
1991
January 9 – Blue Desert
- Cast: Courteney Cox, D. B. Sweeney, Craig Sheffer, Sandy Ward, Philip Baker Hall
- Director: Bradley Battersby
- Studio: First Look Pictures
- Trivia: Filmed on location in Inyokern, California and Red Rock Canyon State Park, Cantil, California.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
January 11 – Not Without My Daughter
- Cast: Sally Field, Alfred Molina, Sheila Rosenthal, Roshan Seth, Sarah Badel, Mony Rey, Georges Corraface
- Director: Brian Gilbert
- Studio: Pathe Entertainment, Ufland Productions, distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
- Trivia: Based on the book by Betty Mahmoody and William Hoffer, and based on Betty’s version of events. Sally Field received a Golden Raspberry Award Worst Actress nomination but lost to Sean Young in A Kiss Before Dying. Alfred Molina confirmed in an interview that he had been punched by a man who hated his brutal portrayal of Dr. Mahmoody.
2001
January 12 – Antitrust
- Cast: Ryan Phillippe, Rachael Leigh Cook, Claire Forlani, Tim Robbins, Douglas McFerran, Richard Roundtree, Tygh Runyan, Yee Jee Tso, Nate Dushku, Ned Bellamy, Tyler Labine, Scott Bellis, David Lovgren, Zahf Hajee, Jonathon Young, Rick Worthy, Peter Howitt, Gregor Trpin
- Director: Peter Howitt
- Studio: Industry Entertainment, Hyde Park Entertainment, Metro–Goldwyn–Mayer, distributed by MGM Distribution Co.
- Trivia: Also titled Conspiracy.com and Startup. Stanley Park in Vancouver was used as the location of Gary Winston’s house. Only the walkway and body of water were real. The gates were faux and the exterior of the house was completely computer generated. While the film promoted open source software, the film’s promotion did not with the official website featuring interviews available only through Apple’s QuickTime format.
January 12 – Save the Last Dance
- Cast: Julia Stiles, Sean Patrick Thomas, Kerry Washington, Fredro Starr, Terry Kinney, Bianca Lawson, Elizabeth Oas, Vince Green, Garland Whitt
- Director: Thomas Carter
- Studio: MTV Productions, Cort/Madden Productions, distributed by Paramount Pictures
- Trivia: The film was Number 1 at the US box office for its first two weeks of release, and earned $131.7 million worldwide during its theatrical run against a $13 million budget. A direct-to-video sequel was released in 2006.
2011
Warner Bros. Pictures
January 7 – Season of the Witch
- Cast: Nicolas Cage, Ron Perlman, Robert Sheehan, Claire Foy, Stephen Campbell Moore, Ulrich Thomsen, Stephen Graham, Christopher Lee, Simone Kirby, Nick Sidi, Rory McCann, Brían F. O’Byrne
- Director: Dominic Sena
- Studio: Atlas Entertainment, distributed by Relativity Media, Rogue
- Trivia: The film began development at MGM, then moved to Columbia Pictures before landing at Relativity. Filming took place primarily in Austria, Hungary and Croatia. Cage was originally considered but was unavailable at the time of the scheduled location shooting. He eventually became available and was cast with filming commencing immediately after he completed Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans. This was Claire Foy’s first feature film, and she actively sought the role after meeting the director. Lionsgate was to distribute the film originally on March 19, 2010 but pulled it from the schedule five weeks before release. Relativity chose to release the film itself. The film was Relativity’s first in-house production.
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