Hollywood's top 10 contains several surprises and tells us a lot about a market clearly in flux.
As we begin the second half of the 2013 movie season, we look back on the top 10 most successful films of the year. These aren't necessarily Hollywood's best, but that doesn't mean industry reps are complaining.
Let's take a look at the numbers so far:
- Iron Man 3 $405,435,000
- Man of Steel $248,660,000
- Oz The Great and Powerful $234,668,782
- Fast Six $233,313,000
- Star Trek Into Darkness $220,501,000
- The Croods $184,412,000
- Monsters University $171,006,000
- Great Gatsby $141,988,676
- Identity Thief $134,506,920
- World War Z $123,722,000
Looking at these titles brings up several interesting trends:
1st Quarter leftovers Oz The Great and Powerful and Identity Thief continue to prove their amazing resiliency, especially considering both are now available on Blu-ray. Although neither were spectacular, their continued appearance tells you a lot about people's opinions of the lot of films currently in theaters.
Man of Steel, in release for only 17 days, has already eclipsed earlier releases like G.I. Joe: Retaliation and Hangover III. Same for Monsters University, only open for 10 days.
Similarly, World War Z enjoyed the biggest opening ever for Actor Brad Pitt, and might become his most successful film to date (Ocean's Eleven and Mr. and Mrs. Smith finished with over $180 million). Only open for 10 days, it's defied expectations and all the bad press between Pitt and Director Marc Forster.
Films like Fast Six and Star Trek: Into Darkness have not lived up to their marketing campaigns or estimates and might be considered disappointments by the time Labor Day rolls around.
There was a last-minute shifting of the top 10 - from June 26-30, Man of Steel jumped three places and Monsters University entered with a bomb at #7, while other titles underwent adjustments as a result.
Just to show you how different this quarter was from the first, check out this breakdown as of March 31:
- Oz The Great and Powerful $186,672,400
- Identity Thief $128,817,890
- Silver Linings Playbook $99,352,650
- Zero Dark Thirty $94,172,217
- Django Unchained $93,537,202
- Les Miserables (2012) $75,753,685
- The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey $74,210,420
- Mama $71,514,415
- Safe Haven $69,423,682
- A Good Day to Die Hard $66,393,000
So, what do all these numbers mean? While looking good, the box office is still down 9% from this time last year. Additionally, Third-Quarter films like The Wolverine and The Lone Ranger (which we liked a lot) are meeting with skepticism from moviegoers, posing a potential problem to those hoping the worst was over. Therefore, it all falls on Pacific Rim (July 12) to keep this market going, because many films from our current list are slated for closures before month's end. In fact, we may have to wait until early November before we have another genuine blockbuster in Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Yikes.
Like we've said, Hollywood is on its own self-made rollercoaster. Once titles are placed in the pipeline, there's no way to rush a release into production that would help to plug any Quarter 3 gaps. We saw a lot of terrific Quarter 1 films that went unnoticed by moviegoers, and we could see that again in Quarter 3.
Perhaps the biggest trend is the shift to overseas receipts. Most of the Top 10 got early releases overseas, telling us a lot about where Hollywood thinks the real money lies. That's not good for those of us who expect American-made movies to be premiered here instead of Peru or Austria first. In a year that's lived up to its disappointing expectations, this figures to be the lead story going forward. But, a lot of other questions remain: Will Fourth Quarter releases like The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug reverse the market by year's end? Is there a dark horse out there that could become a blockbuster?
Stay with us as we keep an eye on what figures to be an interesting second half run.
Author Matt Cummings is a Film and Blu-ray Critic for SandwichJohnFilms, HiDefNinja, and OnePerCase. Follow him on Twitter at @mfc90125.
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