Double Feature Friday: Cannonball Run II and Speed Zone

Cannonball Run turned 30 years old this week. So for Double Feature Friday, here are ads for the sequels.

Here's the first sequel to Cannonball Run from 1984. Nearly all the main characters returned plus tons of other new celebrity cameos were added.

Here's the unofficial second sequel to Cannonball Run, Speed Zone from 1989. The original title was Cannonball Run III, but it was changed at the last minute.  The only character to return in this movie from the first two is The Sheik played by Jamie Farr.

Here's the trailer for Cannonball Run II:


Here's the trailer for Speed Zone:

The Abyss - Aug 11, 1989

Continuing my look at underwater movies.

Here's an ad for James Cameron's The Abyss starring Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrontonio and Michael Biehn.  It's about a group of deep sea divers and oil drillers that discover they aren't the only thing inhabiting the bottom of the ocean.  The effects in this movie, particularly the water tentacle, were done by ILM and were what convinced George Lucas that the tech was there to start development of the Star Wars prequels.

See more underwater movies here.

See the Trailer:

Leviathan - Mar 17, 1989

I'm going to continue my theme from last week of underwater movies.

Here's an ad for 1989's Leviathan.  The story involves underwater divers who discover a wrecked Soviet ship and bring back some cargo to their base on the ocean floor. One by one, the diving team is hunted and killed by something they brought back.

The movie starred Peter Weller, Richard Crenna, Amanda Pays, Ernie Hudson and Hector Elizondo.

See more underwater movies here.

See the trailer:

The Wizard - Dec 16, 1989

Over on the Cavalcade of Awesome, I looked at 14 vintage ads for video games based on movies. So this week on Held Over, I'm looking at video game movies.

Here's an ad for the poster child of movies about video games, The Wizard. It features several popular Nintendo Games as well as the Nintendo Power Glove.

Other video game movies
- Joysticks (1983)
- War Games (1983)
- Cloak and Dagger (1984)

Watch The Wizard trailer:

The Punisher - 1989

Here's a magazine ad for The Punisher starring Dolph Lundgren.  It's from the back of a 1989 Marvel Year in Review magazine.

Despite a huge marketing push, this movie was never released theatrically in the USA.  It was released in Europe, but it wasn't released in the US until around 1992 when the VHS became available.

Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure - 1989

Ad for the hilarious Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure from early 1989. This ad is fun because all of the review blurbs are actually by characters in the movie like Napoleon and Joan of Arc.