New York City 1996 Commercial Releases
(Reconstructed from my Skandies files for that year and New York Times archives; I didn't start noting week-to-week until 1998. Films seen by yours truly are in blue.)
Week of 27 Dec
The Evening Star (Robert Harling)
Evita (Alan Parker)
Hamlet (Kenneth Branagh)
I'm Not Rappaport (Herb Gardner)
Message to Love: The Isle of Wight Music Festival, 1970 (Murray Lerner)
Michael (Nora Ephron)
Mother (Albert Brooks)
The People vs. Larry Flynt (Milos Forman)
The Portrait of a Lady (Jane Campion)
Some Mother's Son (Terry George)
Thieves (Les Voleurs) (André Téchiné)
The Whole Wide World (Dan Ireland)
Week of 20 Dec
Beavis and Butt-head Do America (Mike Judge)
Ghosts of Mississippi (Rob Reiner)
La Cérémonie (Claude Chabrol)
Marvin's Room (Jerry Zaks)
My Fellow Americans (Peter Segal)
One Fine Day (Michael Hoffman)
Scream (Wes Craven)
Week of 13 Dec
Citizen Ruth (Alexander Payne)
Jerry Maguire (Cameron Crowe)
Mars Attacks! (Tim Burton)
Orson Welles: The One-Man Band (Vassili Silovic)
The Preacher's Wife (Penny Marshall)
Week of 6 Dec
Adrenalin: Fear the Rush (Albert Pyun)
Daylight (Rob Cohen)
Everyone Says I Love You (Woody Allen)
Fire on the Mountain (Beth Gage & George Gage)
Jeanne la Pucelle: The Prisons (Jacques Rivette)
Losing Chase (Kevin Bacon)
The Substance of Fire (Daniel J. Sullivan)
Week of 29 Nov
The Crucible (Nicholas Hytner)
Jeanne la Pucelle: The Battles (Jacques Rivette)
A Leap of Faith (Jenifer McShane & Tricia Regan)
Lovesick on Nana Street (Savi Gabizon)
101 Dalmatians (Stephen Herek)
Ridicule (Patrice Leconte)
Sling Blade (Billy Bob Thornton)
Zero Kelvin (Hans Petter Moland)
Week of 22 Nov
Bitter Sugar (Leon Ichaso)
Far Harbor (John Huddles)
Jingle All the Way (Brian Levant)
Not Bad for a Girl (Lisa Rose Apramian)
Shine (Scott Hicks)
Star Trek: First Contact (Jonathan Frakes)
The War at Home (Emelio Estevez)
Week of 15 Nov
Anna (Nikita Mikhalkov)
Breaking the Waves (Lars von Trier)
The English Patient (Anthony Minghella)
The Mirror Has Two Faces (Barbra Streisand)
Space Jam (Joe Pytka)
A True American (Paul Roberts)
Up/Down/Fragile (Jacques Rivette)
Week of 8 Nov
Breathing Room (Jon Sherman)
The Champagne Safari (George Ungar)
Everything Relative (Sharon Pollack)
Hype! (Doug Pray)
Joseph Conrad's The Secret Agent (Christopher Hampton)
Mad Dog Time (Larry Bishop)
Paris Was a Woman (Greta Schiller)
Ransom (Ron Howard)
Set It Off (F. Gary Gray)
Week of 1 Nov
Bad Moon (Eric Red)
Dear God (Garry Marshall)
The Funeral (Abel Ferrara)
Larger Than Life (Howard Franklin)
Man With a Plan (John O'Brien)
Mercy (Richard Shepard)
Mother Night (Keith Gordon)
Normal Life (John McNaughton)
A Single Girl (Benoît Jacquot)
Unhook the Stars (Nick Cassavetes)
William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet (Baz Luhrmann)
Week of 25 Oct
The Associate (Donald Petrie)
Curtis's Charm (John L'Ecuyer)
High School High (Hart Bochner)
Palookaville (Alan Taylor)
Stephen King's Thinner (Tom Holland)
The Sunchaser (Michael Cimino)
Twelfth Night (Trevor Nunn)
When We Were Kings (Leon Gast)
Week of 18 Oct
Ed's Next Move (John Walsh)
Freeway (Matthew Bright)
Get On the Bus (Spike Lee)
Jude (Michael Winterbottom)
Niki de Saint Phalle: Who Is the Monster&emdash;You or Me? (Peter Schamoni)
Sleepers (Barry Levinson)
Swingers (Doug Liman)
To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday (Michael Pressman)
You'll Never Make Love in This Town Again: The Documentary (Michael Viner)
Week of 11 Oct
Beautiful Thing (Hettie Macdonald)
Calling the Ghosts (Mandy Jacobson & Karmen Jelincic)
The Chamber (James Foley)
The Ghost and The Darkness (Stephen Hopkins)
The Grass Harp (Charles Matthau)
The Long Kiss Goodnight (Renny Harlin)
Looking for Richard (Al Pacino)
Love Is All There Is (Renée Taylor & Joseph Bologna)
Michael Collins (Neil Jordan)
Microcosmos (Claude Nuridsany & Marie Pérennou)
The Proprietor (Ismail Merchant)
Three Lives and Only One Death (Raoul Ruiz)
Trees Lounge (Steve Buscemi)
Week of 4 Oct
Bound (The Wachowski Brothers)
D3: The Mighty Ducks (Robert Lieberman)
The Glimmer Man (John Gray)
Infinity (Matthew Broderick)
Predictions of Fire (Michael Benson)
Small Wonders (Allan Miller)
That Thing You Do! (Tom Hanks)
Week of 27 Sep
Caught (Robert M. Young)
Curdled (Reb Braddock)
Entertaining Angels: The Dorothy Day Story (Michael Ray Rhodes)
Extreme Measures (Michael Apted)
Glory Daze (Rich Wilkes)
The Leopard Son (Hugo van Lawick)
The Line King: The Al Hirschfeld Story (Susan W. Dryfoos)
Secrets & Lies (Mike Leigh)
2 Days in the Valley (John Herzfeld)
Week of 20 Sep
Big Night (Stanley Tucci & Campbell Scott)
Dadetown (Russ Hexter)
The First Wives Club (Hugh Wilson)
Hustler White (Bruce LaBruce & Rick Castro)
Last Man Standing (Walter Hill)
A Modern Affair (Vern Oakley)
Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills (Joe Berlinger & Bruce Sinofsky)
Surviving Picasso (James Ivory)
Week of 13 Sep
American Buffalo (Michael Corrente)
American Strays (Michael Covert)
Brother of Sleep (Joseph Vilsmaier)
Feeling Minnesota (Steven Baigelman)
Fly Away Home (Carroll Ballard)
Grace of My Heart (Allison Anders)
Maximum Risk (Ringo Lam)
The Rich Man's Wife (Amy Holden Jones)
Synthetic Pleasures (Iara Lee)
Week of 6 Sep
The Big Squeeze (Marcus DeLeon)
Bogus (Norman Jewison)
Bulletproof (Ernest Dickerson)
Ernesto 'Che' Guevara: The Bolivian Diary (Richard Dindo)
Highway of Heartache (Gregory Wild)
Kids of Survival: The Art and Life of Tim Rollins + K.O.S. (Dayna Goldfine & Dan Geller)
Maborosi (Hirokazu Kore-eda)
Week of 30 Aug
The Crow: City of Angels (Tim Pope)
First Kid (David Mickey Evans)
The Greenhouse (Philippe de Broca)
The Stupids (John Landis)
The Trigger Effect (David Koepp)
Week of 23 Aug
Aventurera (Alberto Gout) [1949]
Carpool (Arthur Hiller)
Foxfire (Annette Haywood-Carter)
Girls Town (Jim McKay)
The Island of Dr. Moreau (John Frankenheimer)
Madagascar Skin (Chris Newby)
She's the One (Edward Burns)
Solo (Norberto Barba)
The Spitfire Grill (Lee David Zlotoff)
A Very Brady Sequel (Arlene Sanford)
Week of 16 Aug
Alaska (Fraser C. Heston)
Bordello of Blood (Gilbert Adler)
The Fan (Tony Scott)
House Arrest (Harry Winer)
Kansas City (Robert Altman)
Small Faces (Gillies Mackinnon)
Tin Cup (Ron Shelton)
The Wife (Tom Noonan)
Week of 9 Aug
Basquiat (Julian Schnabel)
Flirt (Hal Hartley)
Jack (Francis Ford Coppola)
John Carpenter's Escape From L.A. (John Carpenter)
Rendezvous in Paris (Eric Rohmer)
Week of 2 Aug
Chain Reaction (Andrew Davis)
Emma (Douglas McGrath)
Matilda (Danny DeVito)
Phat Beach (Doug Ellin)
Week of 26 Jul
The Adventures of Pinocchio (Steve Barron)
Joe's Apartment (John Payson)
Johnny Shortwave (Michael Bockner)
Kingpin (Peter Farrelly & Bobby Farrelly)
Manny & Lo (Lisa Krueger)
The Pompatus of Love (Richard Schenkman)
Stonewall (Nigel Finch)
A Time to Kill (Joel Schumacher)
When Pigs Fly (Sara Driver) [1993]
Week of 19 Jul
Bye-Bye (Karim Dridi)
Celestial Clockwork (Fina Torres)
Fled (Kevin Hooks)
The Frighteners (Peter Jackson)
Girlfriends (various)
Kazaam (Paul Michael Glaser)
Multiplicity (Harold Ramis)
Trainspotting (Danny Boyle)
Walking and Talking (Nicole Holofcener)
Week of 12 Jul
Courage Under Fire (Edward Zwick)
Harriet the Spy (Bronwen Hughes)
The Visitors (Jean-Marie Poiré) [1993]
Week of 5 Jul
Independence Day (Roland Emmerich)
Phenomenon (Jon Turteltaub)
Who Killed Pasolini? (Marco Tullio Giordana)
Week of 28 Jun
The Low Life (George Hickenlooper)
Maybe...Maybe Not (S&oum;nke Wortmann)
The Nutty Professor (Tom Shadyac)
Striptease (Andrew Bergman)
Vive L'Amour (Tsai Ming-liang)
Week of 21 Jun
Eraser (Chuck Russell)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Gary Trousdale & Kirk Wise)
Lone Star (John Sayles)
Magic Hunter (Ildikó Enyedi)
A Perfect Candidate (R.J. Cutler & David Van Taylor)
The Search for One-Eye Jimmy (Sam Henry Kass)
Week of 14 Jun
The Cable Guy (Ben Stiller)
Moll Flanders (Pen Densham)
Stealing Beauty (Bernardo Bertolucci)
Week of 7 Jun
Blush (Li Shaohong)
Desolation Angels (Tim McCann)
Heavy (James Mangold)
Kaspar Hauser (Peter Sehr) [1993]
The Phantom (Simon Wincer)
The Rock (Michael Bay)
Week of 31 May
The Arrival (David Twohy)
DragonHeart (Rob Cohen)
Eddie (Steve Rash)
Week of 24 May
A Boy Called Hate (Mitch Marcus)
Carpati: 50 Miles, 50 Years (Yale Strom)
Guimba the Tyrant (Cheikh Oumar Sissoko)
Mission: Impossible (Brian De Palma)
Sgt. Kabukiman, N.Y.P.D. (Lloyd Kaufman & Michael Herz)
Spy Hard (Rick Friedberg)
Two Deaths (Nicolas Roeg)
Welcome to the Dollhouse (Todd Solondz)
Week of 17 May
Ashes of Time (Wong Kar-wai)
Flipper (Alan Shapiro)
Heaven's Prisoners (Phil Joanou)
Homage (Ross Kagan Marks)
The Horseman on the Roof (Jean-Paul Rappeneau)
The Man by the Shore (Raoul Peck) [1993]
Week of 10 May
Boys (Stacy Cochran)
Cold Comfort Farm (John Schlesinger)
Dead Man (Jim Jarmusch)
4 Tales of 2 Cities (various)
Open Season (Robert Wuhl)
Original Gangstas (Larry Cohen)
Someone Else's America (Goran Paskaljevic)
Twister (Jan De Bont)
Under the Domim Tree (Eli Cohen)
Week of 3 May
Barb Wire (David Hogan)
Butterfly Kiss (Michael Winterbottom)
Captives (Angela Pope)
The Craft (Andrew Fleming)
The Great White Hype (Reginald Hudlin)
I Shot Andy Warhol (Mary Harron)
Last Dance (Bruce Beresford)
Madame Butterfly (Frédéric Mitterrand)
The Pallbearer (Matt Reeves)
Week of 26 Apr
Cemetery Man (Michele Soavi)
Mulholland Falls (Lee Tamahori)
The Quest (Jean-Claude Van Damme)
Sunset Park (Steve Gomer)
The Truth About Cats & Dogs (Michael Lehmann)
2 Friends (Jane Campion) [1986]
Week of 19 Apr
August (Anthony Hopkins)
Celtic Pride (Tom DeCerchio)
For the Moment (Aaron Kim Johnston) [1993]
Lotto Land (John Rubino)
Ma saison préférée (André Téchiné) [1993]
The Monster (Roberto Benigni)
Mrs. Winterbourne (Richard Benjamin)
Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie (Jim Mallon)
The Substitute (Robert Mandel)
Week of 12 Apr
Fear (James Foley)
Getting Away With Murder (Harvey Miller)
James and the Giant Peach (Henry Selick)
Jane Eyre (Franco Zeffirelli)
Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy (Kelly Makin)
Loaded (Anna Campion)
Nelly & Monsieur Arnaud (Claude Sautet)
Rude (Clement Virgo)
The Silences of the Palace (Moufida Tlatli)
Wallace & Gromit: The Best of Aardman Animation (Nick Park)
Week of 5 Apr
Cold Fever (Fridrik Thor Fridriksson)
Faithful (Paul Mazursky)
The Last Supper (Stacy Title)
Neurosia: Fifty Years of Perversion (Rosa von Praunheim)
Primal Fear (Gregory Hoblit)
A Thin Line Between Love & Hate (Martin Lawrence)
Week of 29 Mar
All Dogs Go to Heaven 2 (Paul Sabella & Larry Leker)
Carried Away (Bruno Barreto)
Denise Calls Up (Hal Salwen)
A Family Thing (Richard Pearce)
Ghost in the Shell (Mamoru Oshii)
Sgt. Bilko (Jonathan Lynn)
Sweet Nothing (Gary Winick)
Week of 22 Mar
Diabolique (Jeremiah Chechik)
Flirting With Disaster (David O. Russell)
Frisk (Todd Verow)
Girl 6 (Spike Lee)
It's My Party (Randal Kleiser)
Jack & Sarah (Tim Sullivan)
Little Indian, Big City (Hervé Palud)
Race the Sun (Charles T. Kanganis)
Week of 15 Mar
The Celluloid Closet (Rob Epstein & Jeffrey Friedman)
Ed (Bill Couturié)
Executive Decision (Stuart Baird)
Institute Benjamenta, or This Dream People Call Human Life (Brothers Quay)
Knocks at My Door (Alejandro Saderman)
Land and Freedom (Ken Loach)
Man of the Year (Dirk Shafer)
Two Much (Fernando Trueba)
Week of 8 Mar
The Birdcage (Mike Nichols)
Chung King Express (Wong Kar-wai)
Fargo (Joel Coen)
The Flower of My Secret (Pedro Almodóvar)
Hellraiser: Bloodline (Alan Smithee)
Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco (David R. Ellis)
If Lucy Fell (Eric Schaeffer)
The Star Maker (Giuseppe Tornatore)
Week of 1 Mar
Crows (Dorota Kedzierzawska)
Down Periscope (David S. Ward)
From the Journals of Jean Seberg (Mark Rappaport)
The Neon Bible (Terence Davies)
Target (Sandip Ray)
Up Close & Personal (Jon Avnet)
Week of 23 Feb
Anne Frank Remembered (Jon Blair)
Before and After (Barbet Schroeder)
Bottle Rocket (Wes Anderson)
Mary Reilly (Stephen Frears)
Rumble in the Bronx (Stanley Tong)
Unforgettable (John Dahl)
The Young Poisoner's Handbook (Benjamin Ross)
Week of 16 Feb
Catwalk (Robert Leacock)
City Hall (Harold Becker)
Happy Gilmore (Dennis Dugan)
Headless Body in Topless Bar (James Bruce)
Mr. Wrong (Nick Castle)
Muppet Treasure Island (Brian Henson)
Nueba Yol (Angel Muñiz)
Sonic Outlaws (Craig Baldwin)
Week of 9 Feb
Beautiful Girls (Ted Demme)
Broken Arrow (John Woo)
Hate (Mathieu Kassovitz)
Heidi Fleiss: Hollywood Madam (Nick Broomfield)
A Midwinter's Tale (Kenneth Branagh)
Shopping (Paul W.S. Anderson)
Week of 2 Feb
Antonia's Line (Marleen Gorris)
Black Sheep (Penelope Spheeris)
Egon Schiele: Excess and Punishment (Herbert Vesely) [1981]
The Juror (Brian Gibson)
Vukovar (Boro Draskovic)
White Squall (Ridley Scott)
Week of 26 Jan
Angela (Rebecca Miller)
Angels and Insects (Philip Haas)
Bed of Roses (Michael Goldenberg)
Big Bully (Steve Miner)
Once Upon a Time...When We Were Colored (Tim Reid)
Screamers (Christian Duguay)
The Sexual Life of the Belgians: 1950–1978 (Jan Bucquoy)
The White Balloon (Jafar Panahi)
Week of 19 Jan
Eden Valley (no director credited)
From Dusk Till Dawn (Robert Rodriguez)
Halfmoon (Frieder Schlaich & Irene von Alberti)
Last Summer in the Hamptons (Henry Jaglom)
Mr. Holland's Opus (Stephen Herek)
Week of 12 Jan
Bio-Dome (Jason Bloom)
Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood (Paris Barclay)
Dunston Checks In (Ken Kwapis)
Eye for an Eye (John Schlesinger)
French Twist (Josiane Balasko)
Fresh Kill (Shu Lea Cheang)
Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace (Farhad Mann)
Two if by Sea (Bill Bennett)
Week of 5 Jan
Delta of Venus (Zalman King)
Nico Icon (Susanne Ofteringer)
Roujin-Z (Hiroyuki Kitakubo) [1991]
Date unknown
I noted these films as NYC releases at the time, but now, 21 years later, cannot find any evidence (on the Internet) of said release. Most of them are Asian, and may have opened at the same theater; at some point I might put some effort in tracking them down.
The Adventurers (Ringo Lam)
Full Throttle (Derek Yee)
Iceman Cometh (Clarence Ford) [1989]
Love in the Time of Twilight (Tsui Hark)
Phantom Lover (Ronny Yu)
Somebody to Love (Alexandre Rockwell)
301/302 (Chul-Soo Park)