Thursday, March 9, 2017
Film Blog 5, Question 2 (March 21st)
Compare the top box office hits from last weekend, last year (2016), and
the previous year (2015). Describe two trends that you see in the data. Which
studios/companies were most successful in capitalizing on these trends? And do
you see these trends continuing in the next 3 – 5 years? Limit: 12 responses
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As most of us know, 2016 was a great year for the film industry as the “North American box office clocked in at $11.36 billion in 2016, setting a new high-water mark and up 2.1 percent from last year's record $11.14 billion, according to comScore” (McClintock). This boom was due to successful animated films from Disney and of course superhero films such as Deadpool and Captain America: Civil War. When asked to compare the top box office hits from last weekend, last year (2016), and the previous year (2015), the first thing that came to mind were big franchise films and re-makes of films from previous years. So let’s start off with last weekend where Jordan-Rogt Roberts King Kong reboot Kong: Skull Island, went head to head with Logan, the conclusion of the Wolverine standalone films. According to pre-release numbers, Skull Island “will open in the $45 million-$50 million range domestically, but if the tentpole comes in on the lower end of projections, however, it could find itself in a close battle with Logan, which opened to a stellar $88.4 million last weekend in North America and nearly $250 million globally, well ahead of expectations” (McClintock). This numbers were published the day before Skull Island premiered so the numbers are a little off because Skull Island made 146.1 million opening weekend.
ReplyDeleteAs I mentioned earlier, 2016 was a great year for the film industry and this was due to “Disney and Lucasfilm's Christmas tentpole Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which finished New Year's weekend with nearly $430 million in domestic ticket sales, the second-best showing of 2016 behind fellow Disney release, Pixar's Finding Dory ($486.3 million)” (McClintock), followed by “Captain America: Civil War ($408.1 million), Illumination and Universal's The Secret Life of Pets is the No. 4 title ($364 million), and Disney's live-action family title The Jungle Book rounds out the 2016 top five chart with $364 million” (McClintock). Lastly, 2015 was the year for franchises such as Star Wars with Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($936.6 million), Jurassic World ($652.2 million), which is a reboot of Spielberg’s Jurassic Park series, Avengers: Age Of Ultron(459 million), which is part of Marvel’s superhero franchise, animated film Inside Out ($356.4 million), and Furious 7 ($353 million), the 7th installment in the Fast and Furious series. Two trends that I see in that data is that big-franchise films like Star Wars and Marvel’s superhero franchise, kept the film industry afloat in 2015 and 2016. Another trend I found is that animated films did really well, which also helped the film industry do well in 2015 and 2016. So far in 2017, we have seen some different films doing well such as Hidden Figures ($3.8 million) and La La Land (2.9 million). While those numbers don’t seem like much compared to other films, they aren’t films that you would normally find in the Top 10. Additionally, when looking at the numbers for 2015, 2016, and 2017, the studios that were most successful on capitalizing on these trends are Disney/Marvel and Warner Bros. According to Pamela McClintock from The Hollywood Reporter, “Disney commanded an unprecedented percentage of market share (more than 26 percent), while Warner’s enjoyed a major rebound” (McClintock).
Lastly, I would say that these trends will continue in the next 3-5 years because there is always a super-hero film being made by Marvel since they are in the next phase of the Avengers property and animated films always bring in an audience since they are made for children that do not care about reviews from critics. Additionally, studios will always continue to make big franchise films because they know they will make money, like who ever guessed that they were going to make an 8th Fast and Furious film.
ReplyDeleteWorks Cited
McClintock, Pamela. "2016 Box Office Hits Record $11.4B in North America Despite Angst." The Hollywood Reporter. N.p., 01 Jan. 2017. Web. 20 Mar. 2017.
McClintock, Pamela. "Box-Office Preview: Can 'Kong: Skull Island' Tower Over 'Logan'?" The Hollywood Reporter. N.p., 09 Mar. 2017. Web. 20 Mar. 2017.
"2015 DOMESTIC GROSSES." Box Office Mojo. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2017.
"2016 DOMESTIC GROSSES." Box Office Mojo. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2017.
"Weekend Box Office Results for March 3-5, 2017." Box Office Mojo. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2017.
Between the box office hits from last year (2016), and the previous year (2015), Buena Vista has distributed the overall highest grossing films with Rouge One in 2016 at $529M and The Force Awakens at $936M. Not only has Buena Vista distributed the overall highest grossing films but they also have distributed the most amount of films in the top 10 of the previous two years. In 2016, five out of the ten top ten highest grossing films were distributed by Buena Vista, along with four out ten in 2015. Buena Vista is a sub branch for the much larger and well known Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney in the last few years has really been hitting it home with animated movies such as Finding Dory which came in second at $486M in 2016, and Zootopia that came in seventh at $341M also in 2016. Animated movies were still prevalent in 2015 and again Walt Disney / Buena Vista was able to produce Inside Out that came in fourth for the year at $356M. A Business article I found from 2015, points out that, “With Marvel, Lucas film, and Pixar, Disney is the movie studio to beat right now” (Philips). This article was published in October of 2015 but hits the nail on the head about the predictions for the future block buster films of the following year. Trying to compare the previous two years with last weekend’s box office to me does not give the most accurate representation of which films will be the top grossing for 2017.
ReplyDeleteKronenberger Cont.
DeleteIf you look solely at the two top grossing films from 2016 and 2015 as mentioned earlier, they were both Star Wars films, that usually are not released until very late in the year. It is interesting to see though, the movies that are currently doing well, such as Get Out with a weekend grossing of $28M coming in second right behind Logan with $88M coming in first. There are also no Buena Vista films in the top 10 of last weekend’s grossing but again I believe this is because it is too early in the year for Buena Vista or Walt Disney Films to be released. Finding Dory 2016’s second highest grossing film came out in early June, so there is still a bit of time for Buena Vista and Walt Disney to take the reins on the top grossing films of the year.
Works Cited
Acuna, Ian Phillips and Kirsten. "Disney Announced All Its Movies Coming in the next 4 Years." Business Insider. Business Insider, 27 Oct. 2015. Web. 20 Mar. 2017.
"2015 DOMESTIC GROSSES." Box Office Mojo. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2017.
"2016 DOMESTIC GROSSES." Box Office Mojo. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2017.
"Weekend Box Office Results for March 3-5, 2017." Box Office Mojo. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2017.
The top box office hits from this past weekend (March 17-19) were Beauty and The Beast, Kong: Skull Island, Logan and Get Out. In 2016, broke a box office record of $11.36 billion “up 2.1 percent from last year’s [2015] record of $11.14 billion” (McClintock). This positive success is important in the film industry. Disney (Buena Vista) and it’s franchises Lucasfilm and Marvel were the big winner last year with box office hits such as Rouge One, Finding Dory, Captain America, The Jungle Book and Zootopia all landing in the top 10 grossing films of 2016. “Warner Brothers enjoyed a major rebound” in 2016 with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad and Fantastic Beast and Where to Find Them all landing in the top 15. In 2015 Disney had great success again with Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Inside Out and Cinderella all landing in the top 10. Universal also succeeded with box office hits Jurassic World, Furious 7 and Minions landing in the top 10.
ReplyDeleteBased off of these box office trends the big companies that are succeeded year after year are capitalizing on franchises and family animated and live action films. Disney has really gotten a hold on both of these categories. Superhero franchises are a big trend. The Avengers franchise has had great success in both 2015 with The Avengers: Age of Ultron grossing $459 million domestically, 3rd highest and Captain America: Civil War grossing $408 million domestically, 3rd highest in 2016. Fox also capitalized on the superhero franchise with the release of Deadpool in 2016, which grossed $363 million and received high praised for being a rated R superhero movie. This seemed to have started a new trend in itself, a lot of people did not expect that an R rated superhero movie would be as successful as Deadpool was. This also lead to recent X-Men movie Logan changing from the tradition X-Men Wolverine rating of PG-13 to R. I don’t see the superhero franchise going anywhere anytime soon, Marvel and DC have a huge following and so many different resources that will help them continue to be successful. The success of both Marvel and DC films are going to keep Disney and Warner Brothers on top of the box office for years to come.
Disney has also been able to capitalize on remakes of classic Disney movies such as Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast and Pixar movies. Universal also has great-animated films that were loved in both 2015 and 2016 such as Minions and The Secret Life of Pets. I definitely see the trend of superhero franchise movies from DC and Marvel and family animated and live action films such as The Jungle Book and Zootopia continue to top the list of highest grossing films.
Delete"Weekend Box Office March 3 - 5." Box Office Mojo. Accessed 7 March 2017. Web.
"2016 Domestic Grosses." Box Office Mojo. Accessed 7 March 2017. Web
McClintock, Pamela. "2016 Box Office Hits Record $11.4B in North America Despite Angst." The Hollywood Reporter 1 Jan. 2017. Web.
"2015 Domestic Grosses." Box Office Mojo. Accessed 7 March 2017. Web.
This past weekends top box office hit and the largest grossing movies of the past years have something in common, they are all based on previously made movies as either a continuation or a new story of a well know saga. Last weekends top movie was Logan, which was part of the Wolverine story. Fox Studios made the movie. In 2016 the highest grossing moving was Rogue One: A Star Wars Story made by Buena Vista studios. In 2015, Star Wars: The Force Awakens was the highest grossing movie also made by Buena Vista Studios. These movies all have a common thread and it’s that they are familiar to audiences. Logan was a continuation of the Wolverine franchise, which was a blockbuster, hit. The Star Wars movie started in 1977 and was one of the highest grossing movies of its time and remains on the top grossing movie list even today.
ReplyDeleteThese three movies along with being familiar are also adventure movies with supernatural characters. People seem want to be taken to a fantasyland or see fantasy characters in todays culture. BV studios is owned by Disney who does an excellent job of creating new worlds and characters that people can enjoy. Disney is consistently on top with their movies. Fox was the original movie studio of Star Wars but lost the rights with the new revival that turned out the top movies of 2015 and 2016. Fox does an excellent job of making films that explore different fantasies. I see the trend of more sagas and fantasy movies continuing in the future. For one the Star wars films are set to release 4 more films over the next few years. Also, due to the confusing times in the world and the country people find comfort in what is familiar and being taken to another world is what people look for when they go to the movies. The next Star Wars films are set to break records once again when they are released putting Disney at the top of studios. Disney is able to pump millions of dollars into projects that other studios do not have the luxury of doing. They constantly spend money to get money and their stocks hardly ever waiver. Disney has the tools and resources to stay on top for years to come. With the purchase of Lucas Films giving them the rights to star wars and Marvel giving them the rights to superhero’s they have the market cornered on fantasylands and characters. This seems to be the future of the movie industry and I truly believe that it will continue for years to come. People look to movies now as a way to escape the real world and fantasy films are the best market and Disney is in the best position.
"2015 DOMESTIC GROSSES." Box Office Mojo. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2017.
"Weekend Box Office Results for March 3-5, 2017." Box Office Mojo. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2017.
"All Time Worldwide Box Office." The Numbers. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2017.
"2016 DOMESTIC GROSSES." Box Office Mojo. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2017.
After comparing the top box office hits from the weekends March 17-19, 2017, March 11-13, 2016 and March 13-15, 2015, I was able to identify a couple trends. The first trend I noticed was studio Buena Vistas having the highest top selling weekend gross for the past three years. Not only have they been number one for the past three years, but they have been in the top 3 highest weekend gross since 2012. Buena Vistas has done a great job capitalizing within the first couple weekends their films show. With the dominance Buena Vistas has acquired over the years for the weekend gross, I believe they will maintain that trend within the next 3-5 years. Not only have they maintained the number one spot, but they have created quite the gap between them and the number two spot, Warner Bros. In 2017, Buena Vistas top weekend gross came in at $174.4 million; Warner Bros. came in a $109.1 million. The gap between the top two spots is significant and asserts Buena Vistas dominance.
ReplyDeleteAnother trend I was looking at was the top two spots in the category of the weekend gross always contains at least 3,000 theater count. Any studio or film below the top two spots tend to attract significantly less theater count. Bueno Vistas and Warner Bros. has done a great job attracting a large theater count within the opening weekends of their films showing. Their marketing and advertising, combined with a loyal audience, must be polished to maintain these top trends. I believe this trend will continue to increase within the next 3-5 years. As studios start to adapt to knew trends and audience demands, I would think the theater count should climb slightly over the next few years.
"Warner Bros. Box Office Receipts by Calendar Gross." Box Office Mojo. IMDb Company, n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2017.
Olivia Dufault (1)
ReplyDeleteThe top three trends I see in the top box office hits from last weekend, last year, and 2015 are franchises, superhero films, and animated films. According to the domestic grosses, in both 2015 and 2016, movies from the Star Wars franchise – Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story – came in at number one (2015 DOMESTIC GROSSES and 2016 DOMESTIC GROSSES). During the week of March 3-5, 2017 Logan was the number one top-grossing film at the box office, which is part of a franchise and a superhero movie (Weekend Box Office). On all of the box office charts from the last few years, at least one animated film has made the top 10 including Inside Out and Minions in 2015, Finding Dory and Zootopia in 2016, and The LEGO Batman Movie in the week of March 3-5, 2017.
The Walt Disney Company has done amazingly in producing movies in each of these genres because they own Marvel, which creates loads of superhero films and franchises, and the company also owns Pixar, which has created some of the most beloved animated films throughout the years. In 2016, “animated family films (and Disney) played a huge part in the boom, while Ryan Reynolds Deadpool was the top-grossing superhero film of 2016 domestically behind Captain America: Civil War” (McClintock, 2017). In both 2015 and 2016, the Walt Disney Company had the most films in the top 10 on the top box office hits list, and it looks like the company will continue to top the charts in upcoming years.
Olivia Dufault (2)
DeleteNot only does Disney do a fantastic job creating films in the most popular genres, but they have also been very successful recreating old Disney classics into live-action films, such as Cinderella, which was in the top ten in 2015 (2015 DOMESTIC GROSSES), The Jungle Book, on the top 10 in 2016, and now Beauty and the Beast, which even with the “90-second teaser-trailer generated a record 92 million views in its first day online” (Barnes, 2017). Due to the films’ success, Disney will continue to create live-action adaptions with the list now including Dumbo, Aladdin, Cruella, The Lion King, and The Little Mermaid. “The strategy, set by Alan Horn, Disney’s movie chairman, replicates what Disney-owned Marvel Studios has done with superhero films – take characters that have permeated popular culture and elevate them by bringing on top stars and serious filmmakers” (Barnes, 2017). That is also a reason why franchises do so well because it is the continuation of beloved characters and storylines that viewers are already heavily invested in.
Franchises, animated films, and superhero movies will continue to top the box office charts because these genres reach a wide variety of audiences. Franchises keep characters alive and continue their stories, such as the Star Wars franchise, which is loved by generations. Animated films are often tailored to families, but also reach my generation due to nostalgia, such as Pixar films such as Finding Dory or the To Story franchise. Finally, superhero movies reach many viewers because they play on comic book lovers, but also the fact that superheroes are consistently popular because they are so well known. Studios are also smart to begin creating not only male superheroes, but also female superheroes, such as with the soon-to-be release of Wonder Woman.
Works Cited
Barnes, Brooke. "‘Beauty and the Beast’ - Disney’s $300 Million Gamble." New York Times 8 March 2017. Web.
McClintock, Pamela. "2016 Box Office Hits Record $11.4B in North America Despite Angst." The Hollywood Reporter 1 Jan. 2017. Web.
"2015 Domestic Grosses." Box Office Mojo. Accessed 7 March 2017. Web.
"2016 Domestic Grosses." Box Office Mojo. Accessed 7 March 2017. Web.
"Weekend Box Office March 3 - 5." Box Office Mojo. Accessed 7 March 2017. Web.
The most obvious trend that we can see in both the 2016 domestic grosses chart and the 2015 chart is that the top three movies in both years were part of a movie franchise. In 2015, the top three movies were Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Jurassic World, and Avengers: Age of Ultron, while the top three movies in 2016 were Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Finding Dory, and Captain America: Civil War. Another trend that I’ve noticed analyzing the charts is the amount of Superhero movies that were ranked. In 2015, the Avengers: Age of Ultron ranked highly at #3 with $459,005,868 in gross income, while in 2016, five of the top fifteen movies were superhero films, all brining in more than $150,000,000 each in gross income. Given their popularity in the past, it should come to little surprise that these two movie trends would happen to be apparent in the most popular films of the past two years.
ReplyDeleteOne of the movie companies that was one of the most successful in these two years was Buena Vista, which is a subdivision of Disney. In those two years, they have capitalized greatly off of their franchises as their movies consistently ranked in the top of these charts. In both years, their Star Wars movies were ranked #1, while in 2015 their sequel Finding Dory ranked #2 and their Jungle Book remake ranked #5. In 2015, Disney had five movies in the top 15 while in 2016, Disney boasted seven movies in the top 15, making them one of the most successful film companies in the past two years. A company that has seen significant improvement over the past two years was Warner Bros. In 2015, there was not a single Warner Bros. movie in the top 15 (the closest movie they had was “San Andreas” at #20). However, in 2016, Warner Bros. had three movies rank in the top 15, all of which brought in around $888,000,000 combined, with their top movie being Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice ranking at #8. Not only is the jump from #20 to #8 extremely significant (especially in terms of money, seeing that Batman v. Superman made almost double what San Andres did), but also shows a lot about the superhero + franchise trend. When Warner Bros. followed the trend in 2016, they enjoyed more success, yet when they did not follow that trend in 2015, their rankings suffered.
We can see both these trends already being successful in 2017. In fact, the #1 movie during the week of March 3-5, 2017 is Logan, which is a superhero movie based on the X-man franchise. These two trends, whether separated or combined, are absolutely something we can see being successful in the next couple of years. According to IMDb, the top two most anticipated movies of 2018 are the Avengers: Infinity War and Deadpool 2, respectfully (IMDb). Again, these movies are not only superhero movies, but are both part of a franchise. The third most anticipated movie of 2018 is a Predator sequel, following the franchise trend. It is not until the fourth ranked movie till we see an original movie (Early Man) only to go back to yet another franchise movie at #5 (Ocean’s Eight) (IMDb). While the trend may continue on into 2018, can we say the same for 2019, 2020, or 2021? It’s hard to tell, especially given the recent popularity of some original movies. For instance, the movie “Get Out”, which is an original horror, ranked #2 during the week of March 3-5, and #1 the week before. “Get Out” is neither a franchise nor a superhero flick, which suggests that there is opportunity for original movies to become contenders with the established trends.
Works Cited:
"Weekend Box Office March 3 - 5." Box Office Mojo. Accessed 7 March 2017. Web.
"2016 Domestic Grosses." Box Office Mojo. Accessed 7 March 2017. Web.
"2015 Domestic Grosses." Box Office Mojo. Accessed 7 March 2017. Web.
“Popular Feature Films Released 2018-01-01 to 2018-12-31." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2017.
Going to the movies these days may seem like an old fashioned hobby or activity with all the other ways we now have to watch movies, however the box office numbers of recent years says otherwise. “Revenue at the North American box office clocked in at $11.36 billion in 2016, setting a new high-water mark and up 2.1 percent from last year's record $11.14 billion, according to comScore estimates,” (McClintock). These high grossing numbers from 2016, 2015, and even last weekend all have a common trend. The highest grossing numbers are all from movies that are either animated, part of a franchise or a continuation or remake of an older version.
ReplyDeleteStarting most recent, let’s look at last weekend’s box office numbers. This past weekend’s top three grossing movies were a live-action remake, a reboot of an old franchise, and a threequel superhero movie. Coming in at number one was Disney’s live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast. “’Beauty and the Beast’ arrived to an astounding $170 million in ticket sales at North American theaters over the weekend,” breaking last years record for biggest opening in March, (Barnes). Beauty and the Beast was followed by Kong: Skull Island, bringing the iconic ape back to the big screen for the first time since 2005, which brought in around $27 million this weekend. Logan, the third and final installment of the Wolverine franchise, followed closely after bringing in over $17 million this weekend after being in theaters for seventeen days. These top three show that there is an era of nostalgia and among viewers today.
As stated earlier, 2016 was a record year for the film industry. “The boom was made possible even as a bad case of swquilitis struck Hollywood…” (McClintock). Disney was the 2016’s big winner claiming the top two spots with Star Wars: Rogue One and Pixar’s Finding Dory. Both are either part of a franchise or a sequel of sorts of a previous movie. 2016 also saw a lot of success in animations (The Secret Life of Pets - $364 million), live-actions (The Jungle Book - $364 million), and superhero movies (Deadpool, Captain America, Batman vs. Superman). 2015 saw very similar results in terms of which types of movies made it to the top. The top 5 grossing movies of 2015 were Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Jurassic World, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Inside Out and Furious 7. These five are all franchised, superhero films and/or animations.
As we can see there has definitely been a trend over the past two years and will probably continue through this year. Based on this data, I’d say the two highest trends are franchised/sequels and animations. The two studios that are capitalizing best on these trends are Disney and Warner Brothers. I definitely think we will continue to see these trends within the next 3-5 years. We live in a time of nostalgia and wanting to relive our age of innocence and these trends we are seeing give viewers just that. They give us movies we can share with our parents and that we will be able to share with our children.
Barnes, Brooks. "‘Beauty and the Beast’ Clobbers Record With $170 Million Opening." The New York Times. The New York Times, 19 Mar. 2017. Web. 21 Mar. 2017.
DeleteMcClintock, Pamela. "Box-Office Preview – Can 'Kong - Skull Island' Tower Over 'Logan'?" The Hollywood Reporter 9 March 2017. Web.
McClintock, Pamela. "2016 Box Office Hits Record $11.4B in North America Despite Angst." The Hollywood Reporter 1 Jan. 2017. Web.
"Weekend Domestic Chart for March 17th, 2017." The Numbers - Where Data and Movies Meet. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2017.
“2016 Domestic Grosses." Box Office Mojo. Accessed 7 March 2017. Web.
"2015 Domestic Grosses." Box Office Mojo. Accessed 7 March 2017. Web.
(1/2)
ReplyDeleteEvery year, it will be inevitable that the top 5 box office hits will have an animated movie made by Walt Disney studios, a movie about a superhero, and or a remake or sequel. Most likely, you will find all of the above in one movie. In the past three years and movies from this weekend, all have these trends. However, the number one movie will always be a Star Wars Movie. Number two is a movie about an animal and three, will be a superhero movie, most likely from the Marvel world. (Box Office Mojo) But besides that, one major trend that the film companies have capitalized on is the feeling of nostalgia in millennials and older generations. For millennials, it’s the feeling they get from the things they would watch in the 90s. The joy they got from seeing animated version of The Jungle Book on VHS, or the memories they got when they saw Finding Nemo in the theaters for the first time. With Walt Disney now making a new revamped version of their favorite movies, people will flock to the movies to see them. Take the new box office hit Beauty and the Beast “A 90-second teaser trailer had generated a record 92 million views in its first day online, leaving Hollywood slack-jawed — not even “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” had attracted as much interest.” (Barnes) I, myself had this movie on VHS and watched it a million times and went to go see this movie that day it came out.
One of the other tends that the box office movies have had in the past three years is, they add more depth to the original movie. “…the screenwriters Stephen Chbosky (“The Perks of Being a Wallflower”) and Evan Spiliotopoulos (“The Huntsman: Winter’s War”) added depth — what happened to Belle’s mother, more about why the prince got zapped.” (Barnes) We, as moviegoers, all have questions that were unanswered. Where is Dory’s family? Where was she going before finding Nemo? How did Mike and Sully meet from Monsters Inc.? Who was Wolverine before he became Wolverine? What would happen if Wolverine had a kid? Will Star Wars ever end? The answer to all of these questions and more are in the top box office hits.
(2/2)
DeleteThe studio/company that has been dominating is hitting these trends is Walt Disney studios. “Disney hasn’t just saved us adults from a fate worse than the Teletubbies… by giving us something to watch with younger siblings or children of our own that are actually bearable – Disney has a certain attraction that is all its own, that it has built through cleverly joining various parts of the adult and children's’ worlds together.” (North) They know how to answer our questions, bring us back to the good old days, and draw in a younger audience. This past weekend can show us this just from the Beauty and the Beast being number one at the box office grossing 174,750,616 in the first weekend. (The Numbers) I definitely see these trends continuing in the next 3 to 5 years because Disney has more remakes to make and more superheroes to bring together.
Works Cited
Barnes, Brooke. "‘Beauty and the Beast’ - Disney’s $300 Million Gamble." New York Times 8 March 2017. Web.
"2016 Domestic Grosses." Box Office Mojo. Accessed 7 March 2017. Web
"2015 Domestic Grosses." Box Office Mojo. Accessed 7 March 2017. Web.
“Weekend Domestic Chart For March 17th, 2017.” The Numbers. Accessed 21 March 2017. Web
“6 Reasons Why Disney Movies Still Appeal to Adults.” We Got This Covered. Web
The North American box office hit a new record in 2016 hitting 411.36 billion in revenue, which is up 2.1 percent from last years $11.14 billion. Many of the top hits from this year happened to be sequels from movies from the past instead of new movies. This makes sense because the production companies know they already have a devoted fan base that is just sitting around waiting for the newest movie to come out. Finding Dory and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story topped the lists at $486.3 million and $430 million respectively. Disney seems to have an unprecedented amount of the market share while Warners also had a pretty nice year for themselves.
ReplyDeleteLast weekend we saw Skull Island, the reboot of the King Kong movies and Logan, which is a Wolverine spinoff, compete in the box office. Skull Island opened in the $45 million-$50 million range, which is hard to compete with Logan at $88.4 million. The production companies, Legendary and Warners did not expect Logan to have the success it did due to its R-rated tag. Also the film tends to appeal more towards the male demographic but some would argue that both films appeal more towards the males.
At the top of the lists for both 2015 and 2016, Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story absolutely dominated. Bueno Vista Production Company is responsible for these two classics and has collected an insane amount of revenue from these films. The Star Wars fan base is something that probably cannot be competed with, each film that comes out there are critics who say they are going to over do and it kill the movies, but each time those critics are proven wrong. I found it interesting that the movies at the top of the 2015 list earned more revenue than the movies at the top of the 2016 list. With Rogue One being the 1st part of the new trilogy, I think it is fair to expect that the next 2 films will succeed just as much as the first one and will continue to have Star Wars at the top of the lists.
I also think Disney will continue to dominate because of the amount of money and resources that are available to them. Disney owns Lucas Films, which produces Star Wars, and between Finding Dory and Star Wars, Disney is a force to be reckoned with. I think animated movies will also continue to do well for years to come because the animation films provide people an escape from reality and an ability to fall in love with characters that they can align themselves with. Now once a fan base is devoted to characters, the sequels start to roll out and the production companies can continue to make money.
Works Cited
McClintock, Pamela. "2016 Box Office Hits Record $11.4B in North America Despite Angst." The Hollywood Reporter. N.p., 01 Jan. 2017. Web. 20 Mar. 2017.
McClintock, Pamela. "Box-Office Preview: Can 'Kong: Skull Island' Tower Over 'Logan'?" The Hollywood Reporter. N.p., 09 Mar. 2017. Web. 20 Mar. 2017.
"2015 DOMESTIC GROSSES." Box Office Mojo. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2017.
"2016 DOMESTIC GROSSES." Box Office Mojo. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2017.
"Weekend Box Office Results for March 3-5, 2017." Box Office Mojo. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2017.
The one prominent trend that I see comparing the box office hits is the trilogy/series aspect. The top 3 in 2015 were “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”, “Jurassic World”, and “Avengers: Age of Ultron” which were all parts of mega-millions franchises (2015 Domestic Grosses). This same trend is seen in the top 3 of 2016 with “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”, “Finding Dory”, and “Captain America: Civil War” (2016 Domestic Grosses). In the box office hits from last weekend, this trend is partly seen although not as strongly. In the top 3 there is only one movie representing a franchise (“Logan” as part of the Marvel-verse), but within the top 10 there are about three (“John Wick: Chapter Two” and “Fifty Shades Darker”) (Weekend Box Office). This is also seen in a broad sense in both top 2015 and 2016 hits, which included many blockbuster hits that were within franchises such as the Marvel-verse, animated series, Disney remakes, and book-to-film adaptations.
ReplyDeleteThe second trend I see within these data sets are the prominence of live theater audiences for the top hits. In both the top 2015 and 2016 hits, each of the top 5 movies had a theater audience of over 4,000 – with the exception of the blockbuster hits from last weekend, which still featured audiences of over 2,000. Given that that data set is solely from the last week or so, it makes sense that the theater audience counts are still low – given the solid weekend grosses I would anticipate these to climb by the time the final top 2017 list is released.
I think that looking at the data, the most successful studios are Buena Vista, Universal, and Fox. Buena Vista without a doubt is the most successful, having 7 of the top 20 for 2016 and 5 of the top 20 for 2015. Buena Vista only had representation of 1 movie on weekend box hits in “Moana” but the year is still early. In the last weekend hits, 5 of the top 20 were claimed by Universal, perhaps signally that this may be the year they find their greatest success.
During the next 3-5 years I absolutely see these trends continuing, especially because year after year these types of movies continue to draw in huge grosses and large live audiences which has arguably been a dying trend. Additionally, many of these franchises are continuing to develop further sequels, trilogies, and even off-shoots within the universe that will allow their success to continue for years to come. Hasbro is a great example of this, with its venture within Paramount Pictures. According to the Los Angeles Times, Hasbro has intentions of expanding their current ventures into a Marvel-sized universe in the future. It’s an easy way for them to continue generating money, “that have so far grossed more than $3.7 billion in cinemas worldwide, turning Hasbro into a major Hollywood player” (Ng 2017). According to this article, Hasbro already has big plans to capitalize on their own “universe” in the Transformers world, “as Paramount prepares to release “Transformers: The Last Knight” in June, Hasbro is already looking beyond Planet Cyberton… the company can afford to think big – Marvel-size big” (Ng 2017).
It’ll be interesting to see what movies top the list for the years to come, but I do believe that franchises will continue to dominate – driven by their fan bases to continue to achieve success.
Ng, David. “Looking beyond ‘Transformers,’ Hasbro wants to create its own Marvel-sized movie universe”. Los Angeles Times. 21 March 2017. Web.
“2015 Domestic Grosses.” Box Office Mojo. 7 March 2017. Web.
“2016 Domestic Grosses.” Box Office Mojo. 7 March 2017. Web.
“Weekend Box Office Results for March 3-5, 2017.” Box Office Mojo. 7 March 2017. Web.