Celebrating 40 Years of the Weirdest, Nerdiest Week in Movie History
“Don’t cannibalize the audience” is an unwritten mantra in Hollywood. If a movie that is coming out has a similar subject matter or serves a similar viewership as one you are releasing, you try and put some distance between them so as not to ruin your chances of success. If two movies come out that are too similar, it’s likely to split the audience and hurt both of them. That seems like a no-brainer point of view. And yet, 40 years ago this week, three movies were released in a seven-day span that are so similar, it’s almost unfathomable. But it happened. Those movies are Weird Science, starring Anthony Michael Hall; Real Genius, starring Val Kilmer; and My Science Project, starring Fisher Stevens. They were released on August 2, August 7, and August 9, 1985, respectively. Which I was completely unaware of until I was looking for films to cover for milestone anniversaries and the dates jumped out at me. How the heck did not two, but three movies about nerdy people using science to do off-the-wall things all get released in the same week? That question, unfortunately, I don’t have the answer to. What I do have is history to look back on and try and dig into it. When you think of nerdy 1980s movies, the first one most of us think of is Revenge of the Nerds. Released in July 1984, the film grossed over $40 million worldwide and was largely considered a hit. We can only assume what happened next, but the fact these three movies all came out just about a year after Nerds sure seems like Hollywood was thinking, “We need more movies with nerds as heroes.” A year later, these came out.
The first one out of the gate was Weird Science on August 2. Weird Science is the story of two outcasts (Hall and Ilan Mitchell-Smith) who hack a computer to make a virtual woman (Kelly LeBrock) with whom they can do whatever they want. This one is notable for a few reasons. It was written and directed by the legendary John Hughes, starred one of Hughes’ Brat Pack members in Anthony Michael Hall, introduced the world to the model LeBrock (in one of the most widely objectifying roles of all time), and features supporting roles by the likes of Bill Paxton and Robert Downey Jr. Of the three films, it was by far the biggest hit, grossing almost $40 million worldwide despite mixed reviews (Rotten Tomatoes has it at 60%, which is literally the line between rotten and fresh). But with the biggest stars of the bunch, and Hughes at the helm, that makes sense. A few days later, on August 7, Real Genius was released. It follows a young prodigy (Gabriel Jarret) who creates an incredible laser and is recruited by a college professor (William Atherton) to explore it further. But, we learn, the professor is actually working for the Department of Defense making weapons, so the student and his friends rebel. Most people remember two things about Real Genius. One, it stars a young Val Kilmer in an unforgettable comedic role as an eccentric college student, Chris. Two, that it ends with a house filled with popcorn while the song “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” by Tears for Fears plays. However, despite generally positive reviews (77% on Rotten Tomatoes), it was mostly a financial disappointment, grossing less than $13 million. It did, however, find life on video and TV, where it became something of a cult classic. That’s in large part due to the work of director Martha Coolidge, who previously made Valley Girl. Two days after that, and one week after the release of Weird Science, came My Science Project. This is one most people don’t remember, and maybe for good reason. It’s the least directly geeky of the three, as it follows a gearhead (John Stockwell) who steals something to pass off as his science project, which turns out to be an alien device that can let him travel through space and time. It’s very dumb, was hammered critically (11% on Rotten Tomatoes) and grossed just over $4 million. I had an odd fascination with the film growing up, which I wrote about here if you care to read. But, in this story, it was the third film of three, by far the worst, and took the beating it probably deserved.
Oh, it’s also very crucial to remember that a little film called Back to the Future had opened in theaters about a month before any of these. It’s less about “nerds” per se but certainly centers on science, is infinitely better, and surely cannibalized some of this audience too. So why am I writing about this? Well, because, as someone who was five years old when these films came out, by the time I was able to watch and digest movies a few years later, these were all TV mainstays. I watched Weird Science, Real Genius, and My Science Project all the time on VHS and TV. And while they all felt like they scratched a similar itch, I never in a million years would’ve guessed they were all released in the same week as each other. It just felt like too wild of a coincidence to not explore a bit.
The most important thing to note here, though, is that releasing movies in 1985 was incredibly different than it is today or even was a decade or two later. In 1985 there were fewer choices, fewer screens, and more time for movies to get discovered. So, there probably weren’t many theaters, if any, that had all three of these movies playing at the same time. In fact, most people probably wouldn’t have known about all three of them, as clearly more marketing dollars went into some over the others. More than anything, these films are a realization of a copycat nature in Hollywood that still happens today, just at a time when it was less obvious or discussed outside of the movie business. People just wanted to see movies. And people liked it if those movies were smart, funny, and starred people they related to. In 1985, we related to progress, we related to science, and we related to innovation. People who liked those things were starting to become cool again, and these movies, while maybe not directly impacting that, certainly were part of the narrative. Do you have any memories of these films? Let us know below. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
