Warner Bros.
Jim Carrey’s first movie is a little classic called Copper Mountain. It’s about two friends who go to a Colorado ski resort. Carrey plays a womanizer, while Alan Thicke just wants to hit the doggone slopes. It came out in 1983; 11 years later, Carrey would supplant Mr. Seaver as the world’s most famous Canadian comedian (SORRY, Tom Green). In 1994 alone, Carrey starred in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The Mask, and Dumb and Dumber, three comedies that children of a certain generation will hail as all-time classics. Carrey would have other super-successful years (1995, Batman Forever and Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls; 2000, Me, Myself, & Irene and Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas; 2004, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events; 2013, The Incredible Burt Wonderstone and Kick-Ass 2, I guess), but it’s hard to top this.
A film-by-film breakdown of his 1994:
-Ace Ventura: Pet Detective first hit #1 on February 6th, then repeated the feat in three non-consecutive weekends (Steven Seagal’s On Deadly Ground is what prevented the sweep). Not adjusted for inflation, it cost $15 million to film and made $107 million worldwide.
-The Mask topped the box office chart on July 31st, an impressive feat considering it was competing against The Lion King, Forrest Gump, and Black Beauty. It made its $23 million budget back many times over, with $351 million worth of people paying to go chick-chicky-boom wit Cuban Pete.
-Meanwhile, Dumb and Dumber, which Box Office Mojo tells me is the fifth highest “slacker/stoner” movie of all-time, closed out the year as the number-one film for three straight weeks, collecting $247 million on a $17 million budget, or less than Jim Carrey’s salary for The Cable Guy alone.
Here are some other very famous actors and actresses who, since 1990, have had at least two top grossing films in the same 12 months (not including voiceover roles).
Catherine O’Hara, 1990
-Dick Tracy and Home Alone
Joe Pesci, 1990
-Goodfellas and Home Alone
Robin Williams, 1991
-Dead Again, The Fisher King, and Hook
Robert De Niro, 1991
-Backdraft and Cape Fear
Joe Pesci, 1992
-Lethal Weapon 3 and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York
Wesley Snipes, 1992
-White Men Can’t Jump and Passenger 57
Sylvester Stallone, 1993
-Cliffhanger and Demolition Man
Chris Farley, 1995
-Billy Madison and Tommy Boy
Dan Aykroyd, 1995
-Casper and Tommy Boy
Tom Cruise, 1996
-Mission: Impossible and Jerry Maguire
Nicolas Cage, 1997
-Con Air and Face/Off
Gary Oldman, 1997
-The Fifth Element and Air Force One
Tom Hanks, 1998
-Saving Private Ryan and You’ve Got Mail
Liam Neeson, 1999
-The Haunting and Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
Julia Roberts, 2001
-The Mexican and Ocean’s Eleven
Gene Hackman, 2001
-Heartbreakers and The Mexican
Mel Gibson, 2002
-Signs and We Were Soldiers
Keanu Reeves, 2003
-The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions
Johnny Depp, 2003
-Once Upon a Time In Mexico and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
Dustin Hoffman, 2004
-Meet the Fockers and Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events
Gary Oldman, 2005
-Batman Begins and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Hugh Jackman, 2006
-The Prestige and X-Men: The Last Stand
Nicolas Cage, 2007
-Ghost Rider and National Treasure: Book of Secrets
Matt Damon, 2007
-The Bourne Ultimatum and Ocean’s Thirteen
Robert Downey, Jr., 2008
-Iron Man and Tropic Thunder
Sandra Bullock, 2009
-The Proposal and The Blind Side
Woody Harrelson, 2009
-2012 and Zombieland
Leonardo DiCaprio, 2010
-Shutter Island and Inception
Robert De Niro, 2011
-Limitless and New Year’s Eve
Kristen Stewart, 2012
-Snow White and the Huntsman and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2
Channing Tatum, 2012
-The Vow and 21 Jump Street
Jeremy Renner, 2012
-The Avengers and The Bourne Legacy
Mark Wahlberg, 2012
-Contraband and Ted
Liam Neeson, 2012
-The Grey, The Dark Knight Rises, and Taken 2
Jessica Chastain, 2013
-Zero Dark Thirty and Mama
Harrison Ford, 2013
-42 and Ender’s Game
Dwayne Johnson, 2013
-G.I. Joe: Retaliation, Pain and Gain, and Fast & Furious 6
Kevin Hart, 2014
-Ride Along and Think Like a Man Too
Shailene Woodley, 2014
-Divergent and The Fault in Our Stars
Scarlett Johansson, 2014
-Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Lucy
Mark Wahlberg, 2014
-Lone Survivor and Transformers: Age of Extinction
That list is in no way definitive, and I’m sure there’s some character actor who was in Transformers, Harry Potter, Twilight, and Fast Five, but you get the idea: of the many famous faces above, only three have had a trio of number one movies in the same year. That would be Robin Williams, Liam Neeson, and Dwayne Johnson. What they achieved is remarkable, no question, BUT Neeson and Johnson were aided by starring in established franchises and sequels, while Williams’ part in Dead Again is fairly small; no one went to see that movie because of him. Unlike Ace, The Mask (which was based on a comic, but I doubt most people knew that; plus, comic movies weren’t a sure thing then like they are now), and Dumb and Dumber, all of which raked in millions because audiences couldn’t get enough Jim Carrey.
Movie theaters today are dominated by superhero movies and sequels. It’s unlikely, though not impossible (Kevin Hart’s 2014 came close), that we’ll see three comedies starring the same actor top the box office charts in a year. At least until Carrey makes Dumb and Dumber Tres, Ace 3, and The Mask 2.