With the Summer movie season winding down, I thought I would give my take on the most important season for film distributors. It was a crazy year, and there were a lot of surprises.
Super heroes are still the kings of Summer:
Iron Man 3 is the unquestioned winner of the Summer taking in an amazing $1.2 Billion worldwide, and Superman finally had a hit with Man of Steel this Summer with a still pretty impressive $650 Million. The Wolverine is going strong and making money, and it is already up to $308 Million dollars With the three combined taking in over $2 Billion dollars, you bet the studios are busy getting more super heroes ready for a theater near you.
Families still go to the movies:
Despicable Me 2 came in number two (probably a minion poop joke in there) in the domestic summer box office with a staggering $350 Million dollars and $750 total worldwide, the Croods barely in the summer area in March taking in a healthy $530 Million world, and Monsters University taking a great $640 Million worldwide. Proving that if you create a family movie worth watching, the family market will show up.
The ‘R’ rated comedy is not going away:
We’re the Millers ($45 Million) is starting strong, The Hangover Part III did not do as well as its predecessors but it still did $350 Million over all, and The Heat did $200 Million which is great for such a low budget movie, so if you like raunchy ‘R’ rated movies they are not going away any time soon.
The international market flexes it muscles:
The international market is proving to be the real focus now for Hollywood, with movies like Pacific Rim making less then $100 Million in North America, but over $245 Million in internation markets for $345 Million over all, and if it can get to about $380 Million we may get a sequel even though it was a “failure” in the US. This has also been true for World War Z, while not a failure in the US its global total of over $500 Million is making Paramount very happy. Fast & Furious 6 has made an incredible $544 Million in overseas box office alone for a crazy total of over $782 Million.
Stars don’t guarantee success anymore:
Tatum Channing and Jamie Foxx could not save White House Down ($127 Million), Bruce Willis took a bullet with Red 2 ($93 Million), Ryan Reynolds and Jeff Bridges wish they hadn’t done R.I.P.D ($56 Million), Will Smith and son suffer together in After Earth ($240 Million), and most startlingly Johnny Depp crashed and burned with The Lone Ranger ($196 Million). Sure Robert Downey Jr. helped Iron Man 3, and Brad Pitt added to the appeal of World War Z, but you can no longer bank on a movie due to star power alone.
Sony is going to loose a lot of money this year:
Sony had a historically bad year with the Smurfs 2 ($160 Million), Red 2, After Earth, and White House Down all loosing a lot of cash for the studio. I hope they have good insurance, and a great accounting team to try and write off all that damage.
I hope you enjoyed this little wrap up! It has been a crazy Summer at the movies, and I cannot wait for this Fall and Winter to see how the box office fares.