Joe Dante speaks about Explorers at the New Beverly - Pt 1/2 

Oh, I totally agree. He's a great actor. I remember his performance in The Stone Boy was super powerful.

Thank you! Glad I'm not the only one. I guess it seems kind of fitting though, he pretty much ran away from the movie scene real fast come the 1990's. He saw Hollywood for what it was, and decided to get out while he could. Smart guy!

Hey ND, I was fortunate enough to meet Jason @ New Beverly theater after a separate screening of Explorers. He had been quietly minding his own business among some friends when I greeted him, and we talked for a few minutes. He was so much cooler than other "showier" brat actors, in that his performances were so natural and life-like that he never even seemed to be "acting" - he simply genuinely embodied the characters, respectfully treating these fictional personas as if they were real people, and that always came across in Presson's roles. That night we chatted, he seemed to appreciate recognition of his craft, even though he'd decided to walk away from that career decades ago. (IIRC he works in the healthcare industry)

@@baltimorespoon9530 Don't know how I missed this reply! I was happy to read that, he really does seem like a genuinely humble person. I've read secondhand stories about him being very reserved and intelligent, Corey Feldman even said Jason used to read the dictionary as a hobby when they were younger! I'm glad he's doing well, and still appreciates his childhood roles. Thanks for taking the time to write that out! Can I ask how long ago this meeting was?

@@baltimorespoon9530 yea plus he's cute too like all 3 are cute but he's overlooked. like in stand by me vern is overlooked and lost boys jamison is overlooked

a lot of culture is reflected in movies, tv, fashion, food, music etc but yes people are way deeper than that. the aliens could have gotten dark though and studied or harmed the boys but luckily they were friendly creatures.

anyone else remember Allen Strange? a 90s nick series about an alien living w/ a family on Earth learning about our culture

And The Goonies was released about a week or so before Explorers as well, so there was already a kids adventure movie out for family movie-goers to see. Explorers was doomed.

Goonies debuted June 6 (over a month prior to Explorers), and performed far smaller than Warner Bros. had hoped and anticipated (Goonies cost nearly twice as much as E.T. and Gremlins, so WB executives had wanted a bigger result. Keep in mind that theaters take about half of ticket sales, so once you factor in the costs of advertising etc. Goonies $61m tally was about break-even, nothing comparable to Indy/Raiders, etc. so WB didn't get the desired financial target until years later as TV and video gradually enabled Goonies' cult following to emerge; its biggest success has been video sales.). More importantly to Explorers' fate was Back to the Future which arrived July 3. BTTF had the same budget as Goonies, but BTTF was immediately embraced by crowds, becoming the #1 box office champ for the next 11 weeks, soon to be 1985's biggest blockbuster. Explorers was one of many competing "kids' science project" movies that Hollywood lost money on that year (it was such a fad that every major studio and many minor indies all tried variations - Paramount had already flopped with D.A.R.Y.L. a month before they flopped again even harder w/ Explorers. By August, Weird Science, Real Genius and My Science Project all came out within a 1 week period as studios dumped their leftovers, aware that none of them was going to come anywhere close to BTTF level profits.) BTW, while Goonies technically did manage to squeak into the #9 slot that year (beating out Spies Like Us and Police Academy 2), much of its financial perks went to the major behind-the-scenes talent who had lucrative deals which resulted in big payouts, while the actors themselves got screwed in bare-minimum contract deals - this is partially why Jeff "Chunk" Cohen became a real-life entertainment attorney. (The Goonies cast doesn't receive a penny of modern video sales!!! That's just how their mid-80s contracts were written, and thousands of other kids would have taken those same roles otherwise, so their 1985 starring opportunity was a mixed/bittersweet blessing.)

Feel exactly the same