Head Back to the 80s with "Cocktail" on "The Wonderful World of Disney"

The Wonderful World of Disney is taking us into the 1980s world of flair bartending for a classic rom-com with their special presentation of Cocktail.

What's Happening:

• ABC is taking us back to the late 80's on The Wonderful World of Disney in August as the classic movie, Cocktail, will be broadcast on the alphabet network.
• Originally released in 1988, Cocktail follows Brian Flanagan (Tom Cruise), an ambitious young man who dreams of becoming wealthy. Unable to land a business job, he takes work as a bartender while attending school. Under the mentorship of the charismatic but cynical Doug Coughlin (Bryan Brown), Brian masters flair bartending and becomes a nightclub sensation. After personal betrayals and setbacks, he heads to Jamaica, where he falls in love with Jordan Mooney (Elisabeth Shue) and begins to rethink what success really means.
• The Touchstone Pictures release joins a number of other titles being broadcast as part of The Wonderful World of Disney this summer, including upcoming presentations of Fox classics like Speed and True Lies. Already this summer, we've also seen presentations of more traditionally expected presentations of Toy Story 4, Moana, and another Touchstone classic, What About Bob?
• Cocktail airs as part of The Wonderful World of Disney on Sunday, August 2, at 8:30 PM.

Have a Cocktail:

• Cocktail, the Disney-backed production, earned about $171 million worldwide against a budget of $20 million. Despite negative critical reception, audiences clearly loved the film, making it a box office hit.
• The movie also marked one of Tom Cruise's big 1980s films, having been released between Top Gun and Rain Man.
• Interestingly, the movie is also remembered for its quintessential soundtrack featuring songs like "Kokomo" by The Beach Boys and Bobby McFerrin's "Don't Worry, Be Happy."
• The film also launched a trend of flair bartending. While the entertaining artform existed prior, the movie helped popularize it with many young bartenders adopting the the theatrical bottle-flipping and juggling like they saw in the movie.
• Our own Bill Gowsell took a look at the movie in a deep dive he did on Cocktail back in 2021.