Year in Review: The 15 Biggest Box Office Hits of '15
Sunday, December 20, 2015 at 2:55PM There's not much of a story this weekend beyond Star Wars: The Force Awakens which broke all available records without even breaking a sweat this weekend with a $238 million opening. And that's even before the lucrative Christmas week. Jurassic World currently tops the 2015 box office globally with $1.6 billion in revenues with Furious 7 tailing it with $1.5. Surely The Force Awakens has its eyes on even greater prizes though. Like James Cameron's top two records Titanic's 2.1 billion and Avatar's (2009) 2.7 billion worldwide gross.
The Force Awakens is a good movie so the audience wins. Or do we? Let's talk about the Dark Side of the box office as we look at the biggest hits of the year in five separate categories after the jump...
The Force made box office go boom
BIGGEST FRANCHISE HITS
As of December 20th
01 Jurassic World $652.2
02 Avengers: Age of Ultron $459
03 Furious 7 $353.4
04 Minions $336+
🔺 Hunger Games Finale $254+
🔺 Star Wars: The Force Awakens $238+
07 Mission Impossible - Rogue Nation $195+
🔺Spectre $193+
09 Pitch Perfect 2 $184.2
10 Ant-Man $180.2
11 Hotel Transylvania 2 $167.5+
12 Fifty Shades of Grey $166.1
13 The Spongebob Movie $162.9
14 Mad Max: Fury Road $153.6
15 The Divergent Series: Insurgent $130.1
Our guess is that the final installment of the Hunger Games will be its least successful... which comes from breaking the finale in two halves, obviously. The last film hit $337 domestically but this one already lost a thousand theaters to Star Wars. And we don't even have the Christmas wide openings yet so competition for screens will be even worse in less than one week.
Unless one of the Christmas openers is an unexpected behemoth, the only real movement on this chart will be Star Wars leaping frogging each competitor in record time and James Bond topping Ethan Hunt at any second.
Phrasing!
Here's where it starts getting depressing. Take a look at the next chart, for non-franchise films... i.e. they're not sequels or don't currently have sequel plans. Notice how similar this chart feels to the all-franchise chart: animated films, and effects driven adventures.
BIGGEST NON-FRANCHISE HITS
As of December 20th
01 Inside Out $356.4
02 The Martian $223+
03 Cinderella $201.1
04 Home $177.3
05 Straight Outta Compton $161.1
06 San Andreas $155.1
07 Spy $110.8
08 Trainwreck $110.2
🔺The Good Dinosaur $96+
10 Tomorrowland $93.4
11 Get Hard $90.4
12 Pixels $78.7
13 Paddington $76.2
14 The Intern $75+
15 Bridge of Spies $69+
The only non animated, non-effects driven, non broadly comic films to make the list were Straight Outta Compton and Bridge of Spies. American audiences have been in this safe for all ages (since Americans dont' mind graphic violence) fx driven brand name spiral for some time now. If all things are cyclical when will they start caring about dramas again?
Here's an all drama chart - the top 15 of the year. Notice how paltry the numbers are comparatively.
how much further can Creed take it?
BIGGEST DRAMAS
As of December 20th
01 Fifty Shades of Grey $166.1
02 Straight Outta Compton $161.1
🔺 Creed $88+
04 Bridge of Spies $69+
05 War Room $67+
06 Black Mass $62+
07 The Perfect Guy $57+
08 Southpaw $52+
09 Sicario $46+
10 McFarland USA $44.4+
11 The Gift $43.7
12 Everest $43.4
13 Max $42.6
14 The Age of Adaline $42.6
15 The Longest Ride $37.4
No, I didn't know what War Room was either. It's amazing how some movies exist outside of the media bubble and still make a mint. That one is a faith-based drama.
To give you a sense how dire it is for dramas out there consider that the bottom third of this list -- even movies people really loved like Sicario -- all made less than Fantastic Four which 99% of people who watched hated. The lesson is that you don't even have to try to make a good movie as long as you can keep your budget down (obviously this one didn't - oops) and make sure the property is effects driven and/or based on something people are already familiar with.
Labyrinth of Lies... if it can hold on until the nominations, will it get a second wind?
BIGGEST FOREIGN FILMS
(As of December 20th)
01 Un Gallo con Muchos Huevos $9 (Mexico)
02 A La Mala $3.6 (Mexico)
03 Phoenix $3.1 (Germany)
04 Wild Tales $3.1 (Argentina - Oscar Nominee 2014)
05 Assassination $1.9 (South Korea)
06 Clouds of Sils Maria $1.9 (France)
07 Lost in Hong Kong $1.3 (Hong Kong)
08 Goodbye Mr Loser $1.2 (China)
09 Veteran $1.2 (South Korea)
10 Goodnight Mommy $1.1 (Austria - Oscar Submission 2015)
11 Timbuktu $1.0 (Mauritania - Oscar Nominee 2014)
12 Gett: The Trial of Viviane Absalem $.9 (Israel - Oscar Submission 2014)
13 The 100 Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared $.9 (Sweden)
🔺 Labyrinth of Lies $.7 (Germany - Oscar Finalist 2015)
15 Boruto: Naruto the Movie $.6 (Japan)
Since over 66% of this list would have been Bollywood pictures -- who have a decidedly loyal audience so they always do better than foreign films of other nationalities with barely any media coverage, I've opted not to include them. But for the record Bollywood's biggest hits stateside this year were Bajrangi Bhaijaan and Prem Ratan Dhan Payo both starring Salman Khan, Baahubali: The Beginning and Dil Dhadakane Do which all did well over 3 million.
Technically speaking Clouds of Sils Maria doesn't completely belong here since much of it is in English but we love it so in the list it goes. Son of Saul from Hungary just opened in theaters so perhaps we'll see it climb this chart with its expected Oscar trajectory.
Amy was the biggest traditional doc this year. But can it win the Oscar?
BIGGEST DOCUMENTARIES
(as of December 20th)
01 Monkey Kingdom $16.4
02 Amy $8.4 (Oscar Finalist 2015)
03 He Named Me Malala $2.6 (Oscar Finalist 2015)
04 Meru $2.3 (Oscar Finalist 2015)
05 The Salt of the Earth $1.3 (Oscar Nominee 2014)
06 Iris $1.3
07 The Wolfpack $1.3
08 The Dior and I $1.1
09 Best of Enemies $.8 (Oscar Finalist 2015)
10 Cartel Land $.7 (Oscar Finalist 2015)
11 Red Army $.6
12 Seymour: An Introduction $.6
13 Black Panthers: Vanguard of a Revolution $.5
14 Deli Man $.5
15 Steve Jobs: Man in the Machine $.4
What do you think it will take to get American audiences interested in non-effects driven, non-animated films again?
More Year in Review
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Reader Comments (21)
The drama audience mostly stays home watching TV. I kinda get it. You don't necessarily need a giant screen to enjoy a bunch of people in rooms talking to each other.
What do you think it will take to get American audiences interested in non-effects driven, non-animated films again?
Maybe Adele in a movie would do it. Come on, Dolan.
Then again, AMERICAN SNIPER was the biggest hit of 2014. Straight drama.
"What do you think it will take to get American audiences interested in non-effects driven, non-animated films again?"
If holier than thou cinephiles and critics are so quick to denigrate anything slightly conventional as "Oscar bait", then what hope is there for general audiences?
American Sniper was very violent, so I don't know if it qualifies as a straight drama. I don't see dramas ever making a resurgence. Movie audiences now are pumped for big thrills, big laughs, FX animation or cartoons.
I saw the Peggy Guggenheim documentary. It's merely competent but great for art collectors or historians.
A bit disappointing that Clouds of Sils Maria hasnt fared better. You'd think the kind of audience that pays attention to foreign films would've gone see it, with the rave reviews, Binoche... plus it´s not really in a foreign language, so it's even more accesible.
Carlos -- i thought the same. i wonder if it was the length because it's already slow paced but then it's also just over 2 hours long.
Joy is using Pete Hammond from Deadline as their best "critic's" review in their NYT ads? That's rich. This has been one of my best years ever.
Yeah I agree with Kevin people want to see Star Wars or the avengers in the theater, but people can wait for Spotlight or Carol to stream on Netflix. Not to mention most of the theater going audiences are made up of kids, teenagers, and people on dates all who generally don't want to see something too heavy. Also there's those who would like to see good movies but a dragged to big budget crap by their kids or their friends with bad taste. I've had plenty of moments in my life where I've been forced to see some shit bomb.
There's also the whole "adult movies only ever coming out in the last two months of the year" thing. I still don't think Carol's playing near me and I finally saw Brooklyn, which I'd happily see again if not for Carol, Star Wars, and Room being top priorities. Can you imagine how much money Brooklyn could've made in the spring or summer or just by releasing earlier in general? Or if Carol hadn't pushed its wide release to go against Star Wars? Nothing really could've stopped any of the franchises, but these grown-up movies certainly aren't helping themselves here, even if the system that led to this November/December flood is more or less their own faults.
I loved Brooklyn. It's so emotional and honest, never dull, the perfect tonic.
Plus most dramas with prestige have oscar screeners, which every year leak online. As a matter of fact you go on any torrent site right now and you'll find screener copies of Carol, Brooklyn, Room, Creed, even The Hateful Eight and The Revanant that haven't even come out yet. Blockbusters never leak online other than Cam copies that barely anyone wants to watch. So piracy actually hurts the oscar seeking movies more than other films.
The silly thing about that notion "I'll wait for it on Netflix" is it's very rare for anything great to end up on Netflix, so if people seeking adult dramas want to see them, it's best to catch them in theaters when they're vying for Oscar attention.
After that it's not 100% certain they'll end up at Redbox or on Netflix. Maybe on Amazon Prime which seems to have better choices when it comes to film.
Four of those dramas -- Straight Outta Compton, Creed, The Perfect Guy and War Room -- have Black leads. Now there's a story...
My feeling is there is a very narrow audience now for adult films. Two months will become one month, and then it will just switch over to home viewing. Unless you offer reserved seats, alcoholic drinks and a restaurant, adult cinema is not sustainable.
What do you think it will take to get American audiences interested in non-effects driven, non-animated films again?
Lower ticket prices. I'm serious. Matinee prices now generally end at noon (remember when they lasted until 4PM? It wasn't so long ago), so unless you want to go in the morning, you're stuck paying $12-$16 per ticket. That's INSANE for a non-3D film. I know oftentimes I decide to stay in and watch something from Netflix or Amazon simply because going to see a film in the theater is so expensive. Heck, OWNING the damn thing on Blu-Ray is often cheaper!
ALOT of people rarely go to the movies (maybe once or twice a year). Those folks are most likely to see those special effects "event" films. This makes logical sense; see the spectacle in theater/3D rent the well reviewed drama on blue ray. The logic is sound.
What Tonytr said
Netflix basically abandoned the movies to become a TV producer. which is fine. as long as we can find a suitable movie alternative but so far there isn't really one.Anonny -- but why is the logic sound? I think CAROL for instance needs the big screen as much as any fx spectacle. it's unbelievably shot.
NewMoonSon -- i noticed that too. We see that on TV too. it's weird that Hollywood -- so numbers driven -- is only just beginning to notice it.
Hasn't Netflix been getting into the movies game with Beasts of No Nation? A few weeks after it came out it had been streamed over 3 million times in North America, so that's at least a $30 million gross if it were translated to moviegoing dollars, probably ending up at double that in the long run.
The biggest dramas tend to make their most money during the winter awards season (American Sniper and Unbroken last year, American Hustle and Wolf of Wall Street the year before). I'd suspect between Hateful Eight, The Revenant, and Joy there's at least one $100+ million drama hit.
Rubi -- i mean as a way to watch movies. Netflix no longer the best place for that at all. They only buy up indies or no budget stuff now because streaming rights to classics and stuff that's new on dvd tend to be more expensive.
Some possible fixes: Theaters need to take chances and not be completely indebted to big studio fare. Ticket prices need to be lowered. Theaters need to offer better food. Distributors should wait a while before making the film available anywhere else and force people to actually go to the movies for fear of not being in the conversation. And adult films need to be spread out during the year.