(photo credit: Don Perry)
Memphis Heat Draws Real Heat! Top 5 in Nation Box Office Screen Average Opening Weekend
Memphis Heat: The True Story of Memphis Wrasslin’ opened to rave reviews from the media, the fans, and the wrestlers themselves. Additionally, the limited run premiere held an average screen box office of over $3900, enough to rank just behind Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Sucker Punch, Limitless, and the Lincoln Lawyer at #5 in the U.S.A. for the avg. screen box office for the weekend of March 25-27th!
The documentary chronicling the rough and tumble, fire-throwing and brawling Southern wrestling territory from 1950s to the mid-1980s featuring such stars as Sputnik Monroe, Jackie Fargo, Jerry “the King” Lawler, “Handsome” Jimmy Valiant, and “The Mouth of the South” Jimmy Hart.
Owner of the territory and one of the top wrestlers in the Memphis region in the 1970s, Jerry Jarrett was quoted in The Memphis Daily News as saying, “I think they did a great job of catching the magic of that era and putting it on film.” Jerry “the King” Lawler, who attended an advanced screening of Memphis Heat, said that he loved it. Jimmy Hart flew in from Wrestlemania 27 preparations to enjoy a victory lap in the territory where he became the top heel manager in the world.
Reviews:
The Commercial Appeal, John Beifuss: “Memphis Heat is entertaining from the 1st bell to the last.”
The Memphis Flyer’s Chris Davis: “An always entertaining and surprisingly enlightening film.”
Wrestling News Center: “Memphis Heat is entertaining.”
Sputnik Monroe’s daughter Natalie Bell and son Quentin Brumbaugh receive National Sputnik Monroe Day proclamation from Congressman Steve Cohen’s aide Beanie Self