15 years ago today: ‘Atlantis: The Lost Empire’ and ‘Lara Croft: Tomb Raider’ premiered

15 years ago today, Disney and Angelina Jolie both gave us new movies. It was on June 15, 2001 that Atlantis: The Lost Empire and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider opened in theaters.

The two films topped the box office that weekend, with Lara Croft holding the top spot.

The Disney Renaissance had ended, and Atlantis didn”t live up to the quality of films the House of Mouse was putting out in the “90s like Lion King and Beauty and the Beast. Atlantis didn”t get much praise from critics upon its release, and it hasn”t amassed as strong a fandom as films in the pantheon of Disney greats have. Though it does have a cult favorite status among Disney movies, and some critics praised it for being a unique departure from typical Disney animated features, with its sci-fi influences and look based on the visual style of Hellboy creator Mike Mignola.

Lara Croft has remained a memorable item on Angelina Jolie”s resume – it”s the movie that really established her as a Hollywood star. At the time of its release, it was the highest-grossing video game adaptation. Another movie based on the Tomb Raider game series is set to star Ex Machina actress Alicia Vikander.

Other notable June 15 happenings in pop culture history:

• 1960: Billy Wilder”s The Apartment premiered.

• 1963: The Sound of Music closed on Broadway after 1,443 performances.

• 1966: Elvis Presley movie Paradise, Hawaiian Style opened in U.S. theaters.

• 1983: The fifth and final season finale of Taxi aired.

• 1988: Kevin Costner”s sports rom-com movie Bill Durham was released.

• 1990: Dick Tracy opened in theaters.

• 1994: The Lion King started playing in Los Angeles” El Capitan Theatre and New York”s Radio City Music Hall, ahead of a wide release later that month.

• 2005: Batman Begins opened in theaters.

• 2007: Bob Barker hosted The Price is Right for the final time, ending his 35-year tenure on the show.

• 2008: At the 62nd Tony Awards, In the Heights (from Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda) won Best Musical.

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