New Custom Card Set: 1980s Film Trios

It's summertime.

 

School is out, blockbuster movies are in. And during the 1980s, the decade of my childhood, there sure were some absolute classics, starring some legendary actors. 

 

Well, at some point this past year my nostalgia for these films began to mix with my creative itch to design. I started thinking about the best way to capture some of these folks—and some of the films they starred in—on custom cards. As I was going over a big list in my mind, I discovered that there were quite a few films that specifically featured a trio of big actors, all sharing the starring roles to some degree. Those film trios, as you might be thinking already, make a perfect match with a three-player rookie card. (And there are plenty of card designs to choose from there.) So with a little more thought and analysis, I narrowed down the pool to six great options, and one great card design. 

Here's a look at all six cards in the set.

 

 

(1) I thought for sure that The Karate Kid would have hit the #1 weekly rank at the box office at some point during its theater run in 1984. However, it only made it as high as #3. If you're wondering how that's possible, just look at this list of other films that were in theaters that year: Ghostbusters, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Gremlins, Beverly Hills Cop, and The Terminator. That's a heck of a lot of star power to contend with. But that year of big films aside, The Karate Kid did have the highest total box office gross of the 6 cards featured in this set. Crane kick for the win.

 

 

 

(2) Trading Places finished as high as #2 in the weekly film rankings for 1983, outdone only by Return of the Jedi. Akroyd, Curtis, and Murphy were all fantastic in this film, as were most of the other characters. If you haven't seen this one yet, I highly recommend adding it to your watch list.

 

 

 

(3) This was the first card I thought about when getting ideas together for the set. Talk about legendary trios. Ferris, Cameron, and Sloane are hard to beat. I'm surprised the film didn't earn a little more at the box office in 1986, but all the thrills and depth from James Cameron's Aliens, Oliver Stone's Platoon, and Stand by Me—an adaptation of a Stephen King novella—probably stole some of Bueller's comedy thunder that year. Still, this 6-card set just wouldn't be a set without Bueller and company.

 

 

 

 

(4) For a card set that features great film trios of the 1980s, Ned, Dusty, and Lucky were a natural fit. This is the one movie in the set that was released for the Christmas season instead of the summer. Must have been an absolute hoot to see this in theaters back then.

 

 

 

 

(5) Weird Science isn't one of my all-time favorite films from the '80s, but it's a total classic, featuring huge 1980s starlet Kelly LeBrock, plus Anthony Michael Hall, who was on an incredible run of films like National Lampoon's Vacation, Sixteen Candles, and The Breakfast Club.

 

 

 

(6) To round out the 6-card set, we've got a trio starring in what I consider a vastly underrated film of the decade. Before his more serious roles in films like Top Gun, The Doors, Tombstone, and The Saint, Mr. Kilmer showed off his comedy chops in Real Genius, and even earlier than that, in another wacky film called Top Secret! Just as with Trading Places, I highly recommend you add this film to your watch list if you've never seen it. Or even if you have.

 

And there's your 6-card set.

 

As for the card design, although it's from the 1970s (1972 to be specific), which doesn't match up with the 1980s release dates of the films in this set, I think it does feel perfect for film cards. That font running across the top of each card is called "Broadway". And the whole look on the card front resembles a movie theater marquee, or even a movie poster that you'd see outside the main entrance of a theater. So I think it works just fine. The different colors from the original 1972 set really help this special 6-card set stand out, too.

For the backs, I wanted to capture the unique look of each movie title, as well as add some "back-of-the-card" stats of some type. I went with Release Date, Running Time, Box Office Gross, No. of Theaters, and High Weekly Rank. They help tell the story of each film, while simultaneously helping to fill out the space toward the bottom of each card.

 

I will also say that I thought about representing some other film trios of the '80s. For example, there's Rocky, Adrian, and Mick from the Rocky films. And then there's Indiana Jones, Short Round, and Willie Scott from Temple of Doom. But trading cards already exist for those films, and in both of those cases the entire franchise wouldn't have been represented. I didn't want to have the name on the front of a card be something like "Rocky III" or "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom". It just seemed incomplete. So I stuck with a 6-card total.

So now it's time for you to share something in the comment section. Do you have a favorite film of the bunch? Have you seen all six of them? Is there another 1980s film trio that you would have liked to see included in the set?

Let me know, and thanks for reading!