Cineliteracy: What You Need to Know about 1985 as a Movie Year
My Oscar Book:
Research in progress, please add Best Actors, and Supporting categories
My Oscar Book:
Highest-grossing films (U.S.)
Rank Title Distributor Box-office gross
1 Back to the Future Universal $210,609,762
2 Rambo: First Blood Part II TriStar / Carolco $150,415,432
3 Rocky IV MGM $127,873,716
4 The Color Purple Warner Bros. $94,175,854
5 Out of Africa Universal $87,071,205
6 Cocoon 20th Century Fox $76,113,124
7 The Jewel of the Nile $75,973,200
8 Witness, Paramount $68,706,993
9 The Goonies Warner Bros. $61,389,680
10 Spies Like Us $60,088,980
Context
The year was considered an unsuccessful one, despite a record number of releases, many films failed at the box office, and ticket sales were down 17% compared with 1984. Industry executives believed the problem, in part, was a lack of original concepts. Films about fantasy and magic failed, as audiences leaned towards science-fiction.
Janet Maslin said the fault for this lay partly withSpielberg, who had created such a successful template with films like E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and Close Encounters of the Third Kind that many fantasy films had imitated them.
There was also a saturation of youth-oriented films targeted at those under 18, as the financial rewards were too significant to ignore.
The few films aimed at older audiences, like Cocoon, were surprise successes.
Only Back to the Future and Rambo: First Blood Part II were successful blockbusters, earning more than double the box office of Cocoon.
Films offering escapism and pro-America themes like Rambo: First Blood Part II and Rocky IV had also fared well.
The glut of youth-targeted films like Return to Oz and The Black Cauldron, and sci-fi comedies like Weird Science, Real Genius, and My Science Project resulted in a string of failures. The films were all very similar and marketed in the same way, offering no variety for audiences.
Events
April – Rupert Murdoch’s News Group officially acquires 50% of TCF Holdings, parent company of 20th Century Fox, for $250 million from Marvin Davis and his family.
June 5 – The Chicago Cubs play the Atlanta Braves in baseball game at Wrigley Field. Excerpts from the broadcast later pin this date as the day featured in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
December 3 – Roger Moore steps down as James Bond after 12 years and 7 films; he is replaced by Timothy Dalton.
Oscar Awards
March 16, 1986 58th Academy Awards
Best Foreign Language Film The Official Story
Palme d’Or (Cannes Film Festival): When Father Was Away on Business (Otac na službenom putu), directed by Emir Kusturica, Yugoslavia
Golden Lion (Venice Film Festival): Vagabond (Sans toit ni loi), Agnès Varda, France / U.K.
Golden Bear (Berlin Film Festival): Die Frau und der Fremde (The Woman and the Stranger), directed by Rainer Simon, East Germany
Wetherby, directed by David Hare, United Kingdom
Births
Deaths (incomplete)
January 5 Robert Surtees 78 US Cinematographer, The Graduate, Ben-Hur
5 John Paxton 73 US Screenwriter, Murder, My Sweet
Best Director (Oscar, Critics, Festivals)
Oscar: Sydney Pollack, Out of Africa
N.Y. Film Critics Circle: John Huston, Prizzi’s Honor
National Society: John Huston, Prizzi’s Honor
National Board: Akira Kurosawa, Ran
L.A. Film Critics, Terry Gilliam, Brazil
Cannes Fest: Andre Téchiné, Rendez-Vous
Best Actress (Oscar, Critics, Festivals)
My Oscar Book:
Oscar: Geraldine Page, The Trip to Bountiful
N.Y. Film Critics Circle:
L.A. Film Critics: Meryl Streep, Out of Africa
National Society: Vanessa Redgrave, Weatherby
National Board: Whoopi Goldberg, The Color Purple
Berlin:
Cannes: Tie–Cher, “Mask”; Norma Aleandro, “The Official Story” (Argentine)
Best Actor
