{{short description|Television program}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Infobox television | image = ABC drifter.jpg | genre = [[Feature film|Movies]] | country = United States | num_seasons = 36 | num_episodes = | runtime = 120–180 minutes (with commercials) | network = [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] | first_aired = {{Start date|1962|4|8}} | last_aired = {{End date|1998|8|2}} | related = {{Plainlist| *''[[ABC Movie of the Week]]'' *''[[ABC Saturday Movie of the Week]]'' *''[[Walt Disney anthology television series|Wonderful World of Disney]]'' }} }}
'''''The ABC Sunday Night Movie''''' is a [[Television show|television program]] that aired on Sunday nights, first for a brief time in 1962 under the title ''Hollywood Special'' (although ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine lists this version as ''The Sunday Night Movie'') to supposedly replace an open time slot for the TV show ''[[Bus Stop (TV series)|Bus Stop]]'', which was cancelled after March 1962. It then began airing regularly under its more commonly known title from late 1964 to 1998, on [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]. Since 2004, it has aired sporadically as a special program, now titled the ''ABC Sunday Movie of the Week'', though as of the 2011–12 television season, the only films in this timeslot were aired under the ''[[Hallmark Hall of Fame]]'' banner, which transferred to ABC in that season. However, in 2014, ''The Hallmark Hall of Fame'' moved exclusively to cable on the [[Hallmark Channel]]. As a result of this, the ''Sunday Night Movie'' is now exclusively relegated to two special holiday movies, ''The Sound of Music'' every holiday season and ''The Ten Commandments'' every Easter.
''The ABC Sunday Night Movie'' was replaced in 1998 with ''[[Disney anthology television series|The Wonderful World of Disney]]'' although the ''Sunday Night Movie'' initially continued to air alongside ''TWWOD'' for its final season.
==History== Encouraged by the ratings success on [[NBC]]'s ''[[NBC Saturday Night at the Movies|Saturday Night at the Movies]]'', ABC initially purchased 15 [[United Artists]] films released in the late 1950s for its April 1962 premiere.<ref>p. 146 Castleman, Harry & Podrazik, Walter J. ''Watching TV: Six Decades of American Television'' Syracuse University Press, 2003</ref> [[United Artists Television]] also provided some short featurettes promoting upcoming United Artists cinema releases to fill out some films that ended before the two hour time slot finished.
===Edits for television=== The program presented theatrical [[feature film]]s airing on television for the first time. The feature films were [[Editing|edited]] for content, to remove objectionable material, and for time - one such instance was the first network telecast in 1962<ref>{{Citation|title=Moby Dick (1956) - IMDb|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049513/reference|access-date=2020-09-19}}</ref> of [[John Huston]]'s [[1956 in film|1956]] film ''[[Moby Dick (1956 film)|Moby Dick]]'', a [[Warner Bros.]] film which runs 117 minutes uncut, and yet was shown in a two-hour time slot with commercials. In many cases, however, the broadcast was expanded from two to two-and-a-half hours to fit a film's longer running time, as in the two [[1966 in television|1966]] network telecasts of [[Rodgers and Hammerstein]]'s ''[[Carousel (film)|Carousel]]'' (a 1956 film not to be confused with the [[1967 in television|1967]] [[videotape]]d television adaptation of the musical, also broadcast by ABC). The first major network showing of ''[[Superman (1978 film)|Superman]]'' in 1982 was broadcast in two parts with previously unused footage. Extra footage was also added to the ABC broadcast of ''[[Star Trek: The Motion Picture]]'' in 1983, ''[[Superman II]]'' in 1984 and ''[[Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan]]'' in 1985.
Because the concept of [[letterboxing (filming)|letterboxing]] films for television had not been introduced yet, the films shown were also [[pan-and-scan]]ned so the image would fit the standard 4:3 television screen.
===James Bond franchise=== In 1972, ABC bought the broadcasting rights to the [[James Bond (film series)|James Bond]] franchise (also by United Artists). The first film broadcast was ''[[Goldfinger (film)|Goldfinger]]''. Unlike the British broadcasts of the James Bond films, the franchise was not presented in production order.
ABC made edits to the Bond films for violence, sexual content, and so that the films would fit in the time allotted, but perhaps the most controversial of these was [[On Her Majesty's Secret Service (film)#Broadcast television version|the re-edit]] of the 1969 film ''[[On Her Majesty's Secret Service (film)|On Her Majesty's Secret Service]]'' broadcast on the ''ABC Monday Night Movie''. Broadcast on February 16 and February 23, 1976, the edit involved the film being split into two for a two-night broadcast while including a voiceover (primarily for the first showing) meant to sound like [[George Lazenby]] that starts with the ski chase scene before including flashbacks to prior scenes.<ref>Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211205/mCAV0wpO4mo Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20200812145016/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCAV0wpO4mo&gl=US&hl=en Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite web| url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCAV0wpO4mo| title = On Her Majesty's Secret Service - Clips from 1976 ABC-TV Edit | website=[[YouTube]]}}{{cbignore}}</ref> A subsequent re-airing of the film years later showed it in a three-hour time slot with no edits.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://thedigitalbits.com/columns/history-legacy-showmanship/ohmss-45th-anniv?showall=1|title=All the Time in the World: Remembering "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" on its 45th Anniversary}}</ref>
ABC held the rights to the James Bond films until 1990, when ''[[The Living Daylights]]'' was the final film aired prior to [[TBS (TV network)|Turner Broadcasting]] buying the television rights to the franchise. The Bond films have also aired on several cable channels not owned by Turner. ABC broadcast the films again as a promotional tie-in when ''[[Die Another Day]]'' was in theaters in 2002, dubbed as ''The Bond Picture Show'' on Saturday nights.
===''ABC Sunday Movie Special''=== Occasionally, ''The ABC Sunday Night Movie'' would telecast what they termed an '''''ABC Sunday Movie Special''''' when a film presentation was over three hours or overflowed prime time. When the movie in question was a family film, the telecasts would begin at an earlier hour, so that the film would end at around 11:00 p.m, enabling younger viewers to watch without having to stay up too late. The '''Movie Special'''s invariably consisted of [[blockbuster (entertainment)|blockbusters]], such as ''[[The Bridge on the River Kwai]]'', ''[[The Robe (film)|The Robe]]'', ''[[Oliver! (film)|Oliver!]]'', and ''[[The Ten Commandments (1956 film)|The Ten Commandments]]''. The last-named film continues its television career on ABC today, having become, like ''[[The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)|The Wizard of Oz]]'', an annual television tradition. It is usually shown during the [[Palm Sunday]] or [[Easter]] weekend (''The Robe'', which made its television debut in 1968, had been shown on Easter weekends by ABC prior to being sold to local television stations). The telecast of ''[[Patton (film)|Patton]]'', which took place in 1972 at 9 P.M. E.S.T., was remarkably mature, in that very little of the film's profanity was cut for television.
ABC would occasionally telecast ''Movie Special''s on other days of the week as well, among them ''[[Fiddler on the Roof (film)|Fiddler on the Roof]]'', and ''[[Godspell (film)|Godspell]]'' (which was shown on network television as a [[Thanksgiving]] season special in 1974).
===Method of presenting films throughout the 1960s=== Beginning in 1965, ''The ABC Sunday Night Movie'' used a rather unusual method of presenting the films that movie series on other networks did not use. Except on rare occasions, such as the aforementioned ''Movie Specials'', or films which already had a [[Pre-credit|pre-credits sequence]] that led directly into the [[title sequence|main title]] and so could not be altered, the [[opening credits]] of the particular film in question generally would not be shown until after the movie had ended. Instead, a [[Cold open|teaser]] from the film was shown, whereupon an offscreen announcer (e.g. Joel Crager) would say the name of the film and its stars, and then the credit '''''The ABC Sunday Night Movie''''' would appear. A [[Television advertisement|commercial]] would then follow, and when the program started up again, one would see the screenwriter and the director's names respectively - superimposed over the film's opening scene in credits manufactured by ABC. At film's end, another commercial would follow, after which, somewhat anti-climactically, the movie's actual opening credits, together with the studio [[logo]], would then be presented exactly as they were originally made, as if the film were starting up again.
''The ABC Sunday Night Movie'' was also famous in the mid 1970s for its theme music and brightly colored marquee. The opening has been parodied on the G4 network under the title ''Movies That Don't Suck''.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stleKBpQk6w YouTube video of Movies That Don't Suck intro, which mirrors that of ABC's intro from the 1970s.]</ref>
===Other nights and methods of presentation=== From 1968 to 1970, ABC ran a concurrent movie series on Wednesday nights, under the title '''''The ABC Wednesday Night Movie'''''.
A Tuesday night '''''[[ABC Movie of the Week]]''''' featuring only [[Television film|made-for-TV movies]] was added in 1969. The series was renamed '''''[[ABC Movie of the Week|Tuesday Movie of the Week]]''''' and a Wednesday night '''''[[ABC Movie of the Week|Wednesday Movie of the Week]]''''', also presenting only made-for-TV films, was added in 1972. Both series continued until 1975.
From 1975 to 1983 (and again, briefly, in 1999) ABC ran a concurrent movie series on Friday nights, under the title '''''The ABC Friday Night Movie'''''.
Other concurrent movie series during that time also aired on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.
During the 1980s, films with more mature and politically charged themes, such as ''[[The Day After]]'' and ''[[Consenting Adult (film)|Consenting Adult]]'' ([[homosexuality]]) aired under the ''[[ABC Theater]]'' banner.
Beginning in 1999, a Saturday night variant on the formula began, and has been somewhat of a ratings favorite. However, and more importantly nowadays, the ratings have varied from week to week. Since 1999, The ''[[ABC Saturday Movie of the Week|ABC Saturday Night Movie]]'' has alternated with random repeats, ''[[Disney anthology television series|The Wonderful World of Disney]]'' (up until 2008), and ''[[Saturday Night Football]]'', which runs from the first Saturday in September, up into the first of December. Movies also alternate on various other nights of the week, for sweeps and also as holiday-based programming, such as the annual pre-Easter telecast of ''The Ten Commandments''.
===Announcers=== For many years, until the early 1980s, the announcer for all of ABC's movie shows was network staff [[announcer]] Joel Crager.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Joel Crager Profile by Scott Benjamin|url=https://www.musicradio77.com/joelcragerprofile.html|access-date=2020-09-19|website=www.musicradio77.com}}</ref> Afterwards, the duties would be handled first by [[Ernie Anderson]], and then others, including [[Gary Owens]] (with the announcer depending on the film's tone; Owens would do so for comedies).
===Decline due to the advent of cable networks=== The advent of such [[cable television]] networks as [[HBO]], [[Cinemax]], [[Showtime (TV network)|Showtime]] and [[The Movie Channel]] (all of which broadcast theatrical films on cable before they appear on commercial television), along with the emergence of various [[home video]] formats, led to the decline of theatrical films regularly airing on commercial network television. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, print ads for ''The ABC Sunday Night Movie'' regularly played up the quality of the film being offered to viewers at no cost ("Another Great Film Not On Pay TV"). Whereas one used to be able to see a relatively recent theatrical film on [[prime time]] commercial network television every night of the week, this is now done only occasionally (or, in the case of ABC's ''Saturday Movie of the Week'', only when the network has no other sports commitments, usually confined to holiday weekends). Only cable networks exclusively devoted to films, such as [[AMC (TV network)|AMC]] or [[Turner Classic Movies]], show theatrical films in prime time every night; the [[Big Three television networks|big three networks]], including the newer [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox network]] no longer follow this practice, except perhaps on holidays. The grand opening sequences of the past are now usually eschewed by merely mentioning the airing title in an 'up next' sequence, or a direct cut to a disclaimer noting the film has been edited and presented for a broadcast television presentation with the assumption viewers have already viewed the basic [[electronic program guide]] information for the film.
ABC has since begun to carry classic Disney animated and live-action films under the ''[[Wonderful World of Disney]]'' banner throughout the 2020s on Sunday evenings when ''[[American Idol]]'' is out of season (and providing [[Counterprogramming (television)|counterprogramming]] to NBC's Sunday night primetime sports block), which now mainly serves as a secondary platform to promote subscriptions to its parent company's streaming service, [[Disney+]], where those films are available.
==Ratings for selected films== {| class=wikitable style="background:#FFFFEE" |- style="color:#FFFFEE" ! style="background:#000000"| Date ! style="background:#000000"| Movie ! style="background:#000000"| Household ratings or viewers |- |April 8, 1962 |''[[Moby Dick (1956 film)|Moby Dick]]'' | align="center"| '''Rating:''' 7.3 |- | September 25, 1966 | ''[[The Bridge on the River Kwai]]'' | align="center"| '''Rating:''' 38.3 |- bgcolor="FFFFDE" | March 26, 1967 | ''[[The Robe (film)|The Robe]]'' | align="center"| '''Rating:''' 31.0 |- |June 2, 1968 |''[[Walk on the Wild Side (film)|Walk on the Wild Side]]'' |align="center"| '''Rating:''' 0.70 |- |March 9, 1969 |''[[The Cardinal]]'' | align="center"|'''Rating:''' 7.1 |- |January 4, 1970 |''[[The Naked Prey]]'' | align="center"|'''Rating:''' 6.6 |- |January 11, 1970 |''[[House on Greenapple Road]]'' |align="center"|'''Rating:''' 7.1 |- |January 18, 1970 |''[[Woman Times Seven]]'' | align="center"|'''Rating:''' 6.8 |- |January 25, 1970 |[[Hombre (film)|''Hombre'']] | align="center"| '''Rating:''' 7.4 |- |February 1, 1970 |''[[In Like Flint]]'' | align="center"| '''Rating:''' 7.3 |- |February 8, 1970 |[[The Oscar (film)|''The Oscar'']] |align="center"| '''Rating:''' 7.6 |- |February 15, 1970 |''[[Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round]]'' | align="center"| '''Rating:''' 7.1 |- |February 22, 1970 |[[The Family Jewels (film)|''The Family Jewels'']] | align="center"| '''Rating:''' 4.9 |- |March 1, 1970 |''[[The Sons of Katie Elder]]'' | align="center"| '''Rating:''' 7.0 |- |March 8, 1970 |''[[Dial Hot Line]]'' | align="center"| '''Rating:''' 7.4 |- |March 15, 1970 |''[[Up from the Beach]]'' | align="center"| '''Rating:''' 6.3 |- |March 29, 1970 |[[The Chase (1966 film)|''The Chase'']] | align="center"| '''Rating:''' 7.5 |- |April 5, 1970 |''[[The Lonely Man]]'' | align="center"| '''Rating:''' 7.3 |- |April 12, 1970 |[[Scared Stiff (1953 film)|''Scared Stiff'']] | align="center"| '''Rating:''' 7.7 |- |April 19, 1970 |[[The Fall of the Roman Empire (film)|''Fall of the Roman Empire'']] | align="center"| '''Rating:''' 6.4 |- |April 26, 1970 |''[[Duel of the Titans]]'' | align="center"| '''Rating:''' 7.3 |- |May 3, 1970 |''[[Night into Morning|Night Into Morning]]'' | align="center"| '''Rating:''' 6.8 |- |May 10, 1970 |''[[The Blob]]'' | align="center"| '''Rating:''' 6.4 |- |May 17, 1970 |''[[It! The Terror from Beyond Space]]'' | align="center"| '''Rating:''' 6.1 |- |May 24, 1970 |''[[Code Two]]'' | align="center"| '''Rating:''' 6.4 |- |May 31, 1970 |''[[Glory Alley]]'' | align="center"| '''Rating:''' 6.0 |- |June 7, 1970 |''[[Penelope (1966 film)|Penelope]]'' | align="center"| '''Rating:''' 6.3 |- |July 5, 1970 |''[[Rage (1966 film)|Rage]]'' | align="center"| '''Rating:''' 6.3 |- |July 19, 1970 |[[Skullduggery (1970 film)|''Skullduggery'']] | align="center"| '''Rating:''' 4.7 |- |July 26, 1970 |''[[The Girls on the Beach|The Girls On The Beach]]'' | align="center"|'''Rating:''' 5.2 |- | October 1, 1972 | ''[[Love Story (1970 film)|Love Story]]'' | align="center"| '''Rating:''' 42.3 |- bgcolor="FFFFDE" | November 12, 1972 | ''[[True Grit (1969 film)|True Grit]]'' | align="center"| '''Rating:''' 38.9 |- | November 19, 1972 | ''[[Patton (film)|Patton]]'' | align="center"| '''Rating:''' 38.5 |- bgcolor="FFFFDE" | February 18, 1973 | ''[[The Ten Commandments (1956 film)|The Ten Commandments]]'' | align="center"| '''Rating:''' 33.2 |- | November 11, 1973 | ''[[Airport (1970 film)|Airport]]'' | align="center"| '''Rating:''' 42.3 |- bgcolor="FFFFDE" | October 27, 1974 | ''[[The Poseidon Adventure (1972 film)|The Poseidon Adventure]]'' | align="center"| '''Rating:''' 39.0 |- | January 18, 1976 | ''[[Jeremiah Johnson (film)|Jeremiah Johnson]]'' | align="center"| '''Rating:''' 37.5 |- bgcolor="FFFFDE" | February 29, 1976 | ''[[The Sound of Music (film)|The Sound of Music]]'' | align="center"| '''Rating:''' 33.6 |- | November 4, 1979 | ''[[Jaws (1975 film)|Jaws]]'' | align="center"| '''Rating:''' 39.1 |- bgcolor="FFFFDE" | October 31, 1982 | ''[[The Wild Women of Chastity Gulch]]'' | align="center"| '''Rating:''' 17 |- | November 20, 1983 | ''[[The Day After]]'' | align="center"| '''Rating:''' 46 |- bgcolor="FFFFDE" | November 26, 1989 | ''[[Blind Witness (film)|Blind Witness]]'' | align="center"| '''Rating:''' 16.3 |- | March 11, 1990 | ''[[Brewster Place]]'' | align="center"| '''Viewers:''' 13.9 million |- bgcolor="FFFFDE" | March 18, 1990 | ''[[Love and Lies (American film)|Love and Lies]]'' | align="center"| '''Viewers:''' 16.8 million |- | May 12, 1991 | ''[[An Inconvenient Woman]]'' (Part 1 of 2) | align="center"| '''Viewers:''' 16.6 million |- bgcolor="FFFFDE" | October 10, 1993 | ''[[Shameful Secrets]]'' | align="center"| '''Viewers:''' 18.1 million |- | February 16, 1997 | ''[[...First Do No Harm]]'' | align="center"| '''Viewers:''' 15.7 million |- bgcolor="FFFFDE" | September 28, 1997 | ''[[Two Came Back]]'' | align="center"| '''Viewers:''' 13.28 million |- | November 2, 1997 | ''[[Before Women Had Wings]]'' | align="center"| '''Rating:''' 18.7 |- bgcolor="FFFFDE" | December 28, 1997 | ''[[I Love Trouble (1994 film)|I Love Trouble]]'' | align="center"| '''Viewers:''' 17.6 million |- | February 11, 2001 | ''[[Dr. Dolittle (film)|Dr. Dolittle]]'' | align="center"| '''Viewers:''' 15.6 million |- bgcolor="FFFFDE" | November 11, 2001 | ''[[Saving Private Ryan]]'' | align="center"| '''Viewers:''' 17.9 million |- | January 27, 2002 | ''[[Mouse Hunt]]'' | align="center"| '''Viewers:''' 10.4 million |- bgcolor="FFFFDE" | November 24, 2002 | ''[[The Pennsylvania Miners' Story]]'' | align="center"| '''Viewers:''' 13.2 million |- | December 29, 2002 | ''[[The Sound of Music]]'' | align="center"| '''Viewers:''' 11.5 million |- bgcolor="FFFFDE" | May 11, 2003 | ''[[E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial]]'' | align="center"| '''Viewers:''' 7.5 million |- | February 8, 2004 | ''[[Pearl Harbor (film)|Pearl Harbor]]'' | align="center"| '''Viewers:''' 9.4 million |- bgcolor="FFFFDE" | May 9, 2004 | ''[[Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (film)|Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone]]'' | align="center"| '''Viewers:''' 11.1 million |- | June 20, 2004 | ''[[Bicentennial Man (film)|Bicentennial Man]]'' | align="center"| '''Viewers:''' 5.1 million |- bgcolor="FFFFDE" | December 5, 2004 | [[Mitch Albom]]'s ''[[The Five People You Meet in Heaven]]'' | align="center"| '''Viewers:''' 18.6 million |}
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{IMDb title|id=0218746|title=The ABC Sunday Night Movie}} * [http://www.classicthemes.com/50sTVThemes/themePages/abcColorMovies.html ABC Color Movies (since 1961)] at Classic Themes * [http://www.tvtango.com/series/abc_sunday_night_movies/episodes Episode List: ABC Sunday Night Movies] at TV Tango * [https://www.radiodiscussions.com/threads/movies-on-network-tv-1961-onward-part-2.559540/ Movies on Network TV: 1961 Onward (Part 2)] at Radio Discussions
{{Motion picture television series on ABC}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:ABC Sunday Night Movie, The}} [[Category:1962 American television series debuts]] [[Category:1962 American television series endings]] [[Category:1964 American television series debuts]] [[Category:1998 American television series endings]] [[Category:1960s American anthology television series]] [[Category:1970s American anthology television series]] [[Category:1980s American anthology television series]] [[Category:1990s American anthology television series]] [[Category:American Broadcasting Company original programming]] [[Category:English-language American television shows]] [[Category:American motion picture television series]]