Tom Holland and Zendaya are clearly taking the whole “for better or for worse” business seriously, at least at the multiplex.
The newlywed actors happen to be starring together in two of the summer’s biggest tentpoles — The Odyssey and Spider-Man: Brand New Day — which open just weeks apart. As far as Rambling can determine, that’s the first time that’s happened since, well, ever.
Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor managed something like it back in 1963, with The V.I.P.s and Cleopatra, although those films were released three months apart and only one of them was a history-making blockbuster. Also, they weren’t married at the time, at least not to each other — just scandalously cheating together on their spouses. Paul Newman andJoanne Woodward came close in 1958 — the year they were married — but The Long, Hot Summer and Rally Round the Flag, Boys! were released eight months apart and neither exactly set the box office on fire.
Before Newman and Woodward, you have to go all the way back to 1948 to find another married-couple double feature, when Fredric March and Florence Eldridge appeared together inAnother Part of the Forest and then four months later in An Act of Murder. Neither picture was much of a hit, but then again, neither had a $250 million budget or a man in spandex tights.
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Also in Rambling Reporter:
Patrick Demspey for Senate? Why he considered; The Late Show’s illuminated marquee was auctioned off after Stephen Colbert’s talk show was yanked off the air — and it has landed at a bistro on La Cienega.
This story appeared in the July 22 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
