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John Hughes Movies

John Hughes (1950-2009)
John Hughes (1950-2009)

Want to know the best John Hughes movies?  How about the worst John Hughes movies?  Curious about John Hughes’s box office grosses or which John Hughes movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which John Hughes movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences and which got the worst reviews? Well you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.

John Hughes (1950-2009) was an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He directed and scripted some of the most successful comedy films of the 1980s.  Highlights of his career would be the first three Vacation movies, 1984’s Sixteen Candles, 1985’s The Breakfast Club (1985),1986’s Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, 1986’s  Pretty in Pink, 1987’s Trains and Automobiles 1989’s Uncle Buck (and the monster box office hit Home Alone (1990).  His IMDb page shows 82 credits from 1979-2015. This page takes a statistical look at 33 John Hughes movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information.

Drivel part of the page:  So it was time to do a new page.  I went and checked our request hotline page….and nobody jumped off the page as the next subject.  Then I thought I could pick one of the last three AFI Top 50 Screen Legends that I had not written about yet.  So I checked out Buster Keaton‘s 1920s movies and found no box office grosses.  Then I started researching Lillian Gish.  After finding a couple of box office grosses on her movies…I struck out on 4 movies in a row….so I abandoned the Gish research.   So throwing my arms up in the arm I headed to Steve Lensman’s You Tube channel to check out his latest videos.  After watching his John Hughes video I realized I had found my newest movie page subject.

As a person that went to high school in the 1980s...Breakfast Club was one of my favorite movies....I tried to be like Judd Nelson's Bender...it didn't work.
As a person that went to high school in the 1980s…The Breakfast Club was one of my favorite movies….I tried to be like Judd Nelson’s Bender…it didn’t work.

John Hughes Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In This Table

The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.

  • Sort John Hughes movies by co-stars of his movies.
  • Sort John Hughes movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost
  • Sort John Hughes movies by domestic yearly box office rank
  • Sort John Hughes movies how they were received by critics and audiences.  60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie.
  • Sort by how many Oscar® nominations each John Hughes movie received and how many Oscar® wins each John Hughes movie won.
  • Sort John Hughes movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score.  UMR Score puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
CreditRank Movie (Year) UMR Co-Star Links Review % Oscar Nom / Win S UMR Score
CreditRank Movie (Year) UMR Co-Star Links Actual B.O. Domestic (mil) Adj. B.O. Domestic (mil) Adj. B.O. Worldwide (mil) B.O. Rank by Year Review % Oscar Nom / Win S UMR Score
1 National Lampoon's Vacation (1983) Chevy Chase &
Harold Ramis
61.40 229.0 229.0 12 79 00 / 00 97.0
2 Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986) Matthew Broderick &
Charlie Sheen
70.10 222.1 222.1 11 77 00 / 00 96.4
5 Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987) John Candy &
Steve Martin
49.50 148.8 148.8 22 85 00 / 00 94.3
6 National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989) Chevy Chase &
Randy Quiad
71.30 211.1 211.1 15 67 00 / 00 94.0
3 Home Alone (1990) Macaulay Culkin &
John Candy
285.80 793.8 1,482.7 1 66 00 / 00 93.8
8 The Breakfast Club (1985) Judd Nelson &
Emilio Estevez
45.90 151.8 170.5 16 82 00 / 00 93.8
7 Mr. Mom (1983)
Director
Michael Keaton &
Teri Garr
64.80 241.7 241.7 10 66 00 / 00 93.6
10 Uncle Buck (1989) John Candy 66.80 197.6 197.6 18 63 00 / 00 92.6
9 Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992) Macaulay Culkin &
Joe Pesci
173.60 491.5 1,016.4 2 55 00 / 00 90.1
9 101 Dalmatians (1996) Glenn Close &
Jeff Daniels
136.20 362.0 852.5 6 53 00 / 00 89.3
11 Pretty in Pink (1986) Molly Ringwald &
Jon Cryer
40.50 128.2 128.2 24 68 00 / 00 87.1
13 Maid in Manhattan (2002) Jennifer Lopez &
Ralph Fiennes
94.00 190.5 313.8 26 49 00 / 00 86.8
14 National Lampoon's European Vacation (1985) Chevy Chase &
Beverly D'Angelo
49.40 163.4 163.4 14 54 00 / 00 85.7
12 Flubber (1997) Robin Williams 93.00 238.0 455.6 17 37 00 / 00 83.0
16 Beethoven (1992) Charles Grodin 57.10 161.7 416.8 26 49 00 / 00 82.6
15 Sixteen Candles (1984) Molly Ringwald &
John Cusack
23.70 82.8 82.8 45 73 00 / 00 82.5
18 The Great Outdoors (1988) John Candy &
Dan Aykroyd
41.50 118.5 118.5 25 53 00 / 00 76.6
18 Some Kind of Wonderful (1987)
Director
Eric Stoltz &
Lea Thompson
18.60 55.8 55.8 59 69 00 / 00 73.8
21 Dennis the Menace (1993) Walter Matthau 51.30 145.5 332.8 24 38 00 / 00 70.9
20 Weird Science (1985) Anthony Michael Hall &
Robert Downey Jr.
23.80 78.9 78.9 37 57 00 / 00 68.3
20 Only the Lonely (1991) John Candy &
Maureen O'Hara
21.80 60.9 60.9 60 61 00 / 00 67.0
23 Curly Sue (1991)
Director
James Belushi &
Steve Carell
33.70 94.0 94.0 40 48 00 / 00 64.3
23 Miracle on 34th Street (1994)
Director
Richard Attenborough 17.30 49.9 133.2 82 60 00 / 00 60.2
25 She's Having a Baby (1988)
Director
Kevin Bacon &
Alec Baldwin
16.00 45.8 45.8 62 52 00 / 00 43.3
24 Nate and Hayes (1983) Tommy Lee Jones 2.00 7.3 7.3 115 64 00 / 00 43.2
26 Career Opportunities (1991) Frank Whaley &
Jennifer Connelly
11.30 31.6 31.6 89 53 00 / 00 37.0
28 Drillbit Taylor (2008) Owen Wilson 32.90 53.8 81.3 86 44 00 / 00 31.1
27 Reach the Rock (1998) Norman Reedus 0.00 0.0 0.0 378 60 00 / 00 29.2
29 Class Reunion (1982) Gerrit Graham 10.10 40.2 40.2 61 46 00 / 00 28.4
31 Home Alone 3 (1997) Scarlett Johansson 30.90 79.1 202.4 67 33 00 / 00 25.0
30 Dutch (1991) Ed O'Neill 4.60 12.8 12.8 125 51 00 / 00 21.1
32 Baby's Day Out (1994) Joe Mantegna &
Lara Flynn Boyle
16.80 48.5 48.5 84 40 00 / 00 19.7
33 Just Visiting (2001) Jean Reno &
Christina Applegate
4.80 9.9 33.6 153 49 00 / 00 15.6

Stats and Possibly Interesting Things From The Above John Hughesl Table

  1. Fifteen John Hughes movies crossed the magical $100 million domestic gross mark.  That is a percentage of 45.45% of his movies listed. Home Alone (1990) was his biggest box office hit.
  2. An average John Hughes movie grossed $107.50 million in adjusted box office gross.
  3. Using RottenTomatoes.com’s 60% fresh meter.  14 John Hughes movies are rated as good movies…or 42.42% of his movies.  The Breakfast Club (1985) is his highest rated movie while Home Alone 3 (1997) is his lowest rated movie.
  4. Zero John Hughes movies received at least one Oscar® nomination in any category…..or 0.00% of his movies.
  5. Zero John Hughes movies won at least one Oscar® in any category…..or 0.00% of his movies.
  6. An average Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score is 40.00.  16 John Hughes movies scored higher that average….or 48.48 of his movies.   National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983) got the the highest UMR Score while Dutch (1991) got the lowest UMR Score.

 

As I got older...Planes, Trains and Automobiles replaced The Breakfast Club as my favorite John Hughes movie.
As I got older…Planes, Trains and Automobiles replaced The Breakfast Club as my favorite John Hughes movie.

Possibly Interesting Facts About John Hughes

1.  John Hughes was born in Lansing, Michigan in 1950.

2.  One of John Hughes first jobs was as a writer for National Lampoon.  He would later write four National Lampoon movies:  Class Reunion, Vacation, European Vacation and Christmas Vacation.

3.  Eleven John Hughes movies opened as the number one movie in North America.  One the biggest surprises was when Macaulay Culkin and Home Alone out grossed Sylvester Stallone’s Rambo 3 on their opening weekend all the back in 1990.

4. John Candy appeared in more John Hughes movies than any other actor, starring or doing cameos in seven of them: National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983), Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987), The Great Outdoors (1988), Uncle Buck (1989), Home Alone (1990) She’s Having a Baby (1988) and Career Opportunities (1991).

5.  Currently two John Hughes movies are in the Top 200 Adjusted Box Office Hits of All-Time.  1990’s Home Alone is in 40th place and 1992’s Home Alone 2 in 156th place.

6.  No John Hughes movie received an Oscar® nomination.  Of all the movie subjects we have written about only Hughes and Jennifer Aniston can make claim.  Aniston can still get off that list.

7.  John Hughes was married one time.  He had two children.

8.  John Hughes set many of his movies in the fictional Shermer, Illinois.  Hughes’ high school, Glenbrook North High School, is located on Shermer Road.in Northbrook, Illinois.

9.  John Hughes used the pen name Edmond Dantès for many of his later movie screenplays.  This was a homage to the lead character in The Count of Monte Cristo.

10. Check out John Hughes‘s career compared to current and classic actors.  Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.

Academy Award® and Oscar® are the registered trademarks of the Academy of Motion Arts and Sciences.  Golden Globe® is a registered trademark of the Hollywood Foreign Press.

Critics pretty much hated his movies….but the Oscar gave him this tribute in 2010.

 

For comments….all you need is a name and a comment….please ignore the rest.

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6 thoughts on “John Hughes Movies”

  1. Steve Lensman says:
    February 11, 2016 at 8:30 am

    I could only find 8 John Hughes films for my video and you’ve found 33 for your tribute page. I’m flabbergasted! How do you do it Bruce? What is your secret? [Bruce blushes] 🙂

    Thanks for the links btw, much appreciated. Won’t be long before you segue from classic actors to modern directors for your website, I’ve done 90 of them already on youtube.

    Okay John Hughes, I’ve seen… 22 of the 33 you’ve listed here, more than I expected considering I’m not a big fan of modern comedy. Most I’ve seen just once but favorites include – Planes, Trains & Automobiles, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Weird Science, National Lampoon’s Vacation and Uncle Buck.

    Surprised to see Vacation topping the UMR chart, I expected either Home Alone or preferably Ferris Bueller at the top, and Hughes wasn’t even director of Vacation. Which means Ferris Bueller is the top rated Hughes film on your page because he wrote and directed it. 🙂

    Nice tribute Bruce. Voted Up!

    Reply
    1. Cogerson says:
      February 13, 2016 at 12:23 am

      Hey Steve…well I included every movie he was associated with….versus just his directed movies. You are probably correct….seems lately I am having a hard time getting motivated to do a classic page….either due to lack of interest…..or they are just too hard to find information on. We are close in the tally count….me 25….you 22 and Flora with a surprising 12. Yeah I was surprised the original Vacation got the top spot too. Ferris would be the top rated movie he directed. Thanks for the visit.

      Reply
  2. Steve E. says:
    February 10, 2016 at 7:14 pm

    I love all his movies. .

    Reply
    1. Cogerson says:
      February 13, 2016 at 12:24 am

      Hey Steve E. Glad you found my Hughes page….thanks for stopping by.

      Reply
  3. Flora Breen Robison says:
    February 10, 2016 at 2:23 pm

    Hi, Bruce.

    I’ve seen several of his movies from the 1980s with some of his later movies too.

    I have seen 12 of his movies.

    Some favourite of mine are:
    Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
    Planes, Trains, and Automobiles
    The Breakfast Club
    Maid in Manhattan
    Sixteen Candles

    Cheers,

    Flora

    Reply
    1. Cogerson says:
      February 10, 2016 at 5:18 pm

      Hey Flora.
      1. First of all let me apologize for accidentally hitting the publish button instead of the save button…..I was heading out the door to go to work….and though I was almost finished with the page….I had not gone back and fixed any errors. Normally I catch most of the errors (but as you know not all the time)….but this page went out as soon as I typed the last word….so it had many mistakes. Now it is fixed…though I am sure there is at least another error out there.
      2. 12 is a pretty good tally count especially since all of these movies fall out the year range of the ones you usually watch.
      3. My tally is…..counting…..25….maybe 26….as I think I have seen Dutch…..it has faded so far in memory that I do not feel I should count it.
      4. I actually saw 8 of them in theaters…..including seeing The Breakfast Club about 30 or 40 times….had a friend that worked in a theater and we got in free that many times….that theater is now a parking lot for a grocery store…..so sad….because it was the theater I grew up in.
      5. I really like 4 of your Top 5. I would take out Maid in Manhattan and put She’s Having A Baby into my Top 5.
      As always….I appreciate you sharing your movie thoughts on my latest page.

      Reply

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