Year in Review: The 15 Biggest Box Office Hits of '15

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... 

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In the Heart of the Box Office

Ron Howard's new adventure on the high seas (based on the story that inspired Moby Dick) In the Heart of the Sea didn't manage to beat The Hunger Games, due mostly to the latter's much higher screen count. But regardless it's the final week of Katniss's reign. Next weekend the jedis, generals, droids, and wookies arrive surely stealing all the screens in our multiplex world.

If Chris & Tom survive this whaling adventure they get to play Marvel superheroes next

In Oscar-seeking land, Spotlight was off only 10% after a final expansion to 1089 screens so word of mouth is strong and the run will surely be leggy as it nabs more prizes at award ceremonies. The Big Short, inexplicably on only 8 screens despite multiplex-appeal (this is not a highbrow movie!) and tons of stars, packed its houses. Carol and The Danish Girl with tiny expansions are also doing solid if unspectacular business. If you've been dragging your feet on Bridge of Spies, Suffragette, Sicario, The Asssassin (and maybe even Room, Brooklyn, and Trumbo) get there this week -- they're likely to lose screens soon and unless Oscar curiousity catches on with the general public most of them won't be around much longer.

BOX OFFICE WIDE
(Dec 11th-13th)
01 Hunger Games 4 $11.3 (cum. $244.4)  Hunger Games & Oscar
02 In the Heart of the Sea $11 *new* 
03 The Good Dinosaur $10.4 (cum. $89.6) Review
04 Creed $10.1 (cum $79.3) Review & Oscar Chances
05 Krampus  $8 (cum. $28.1)
06 Spectre $4 (cum. $190.7) Review
07 The Night Before $3.9 (cum. $38.2)
08 The Peanuts Movie $2.6 (cum. $124.9) Peanuts Films
09 Spotlight $2.5 (cum. $20.3)  Podcast, From TIFF, SAG Ensemble
10 Brooklyn $1.9 (cum. $14.3)  Review, Ensemble, Podcast, Saoirse & Oscar

BOX OFFICE LIMITED
Excluding previously wides (Dec 11th-13th)
01 Trumbo $.8 554 screens (cum. $5.4) SAG Ensemble
02 The Big Short $.7 8 screens *NEW*  Review & SAG Ensemble
03 Chi-Raq $.5 285 screens (cum. $2.1) Podcast
04 Carol $.3 16 screens (cum $1.2) Reviewish, Podcast, Its Genius, Sketches
05 Legend  $.3 107 screens (cum. $1.3)
06 The Danish Girl   $.2 24 screens (cum. $.6) Interview
07 Macbeth  $.2 108 screens (cum. $.3) Review, Podcast
08 Room $.2 198 screens (cum. $4.1) Premiere, Podcast, FYC Jacob Tremblay
09 Youth $.1 17 screens (cum. $.2) Review, Podcast
10 Suffragette $.09 166 screens (cum. $4.5) Review, Carey Campaign

Dean O'Gorman (The Hobbit) plays Kirk Douglas in "Trumbo"

What did you see this weekend?
I finally caught up with Trumbo. I have no idea why it took me so long to see it since I do love my Hollywood history movies and celebrity impersonations (New Zealander Dean O'Gorman does a terrific Kirk Douglas for what it's worth! He was stupidly left out of the SAG Ensemble nomination). More on Trumbo soon since it's popping with SAG & Globe nominations.

What did you see this weekend?

With only Krampus as a new wide release this weekend was a repeat of Thanksgiving weekend with The Hunger Games, The Good Dinosaur and Creed leading the way at the multiplex and Oscar hopefuls like Carol doing good business on a miniscule amount of screens. Spotlight and Brooklyn -- which are both looking lockish for Best Picture nominations -- continue to reap the benefits of great word-of-mouth audience response.

"Um, why am I in Krampus?" -Toni Collette to her agent, probably.

BOX OFFICE
(Dec 4th-6th)
01 Hunger Games 4 $18.6 (cum. $227)  Hunger Games & Oscar
02 Krampus $16 *new* 
03 Creed $15.5 (cum. $65.1) Review & Oscar Possibilities
04 Good Dinosaur $15.5 (cum $75.9) Review
05 Spectre  $5.4 (cum. $184.5)  Review
06 The Night Before   $4.9 (cum. $31.9) 
07 The Peanuts Movie  $3.5 (cum. $121.4)
08 Spotlight $2.9 (cum. $16.6) First Impression & SAG Ensemble Predix
09 Brooklyn $2.4 (cum. $11.2) Review, Saoirse & Best Actress
10 Secret in Their Eyes $1.9 (cum. $17.2) 

With BFCA's "Critic's Choice" ballots going out tomorrow and a handful of critics organizations voting this weekend, I've been struggling to catch up / wrap up but in truth I am always quite behind at this point. And I get distracted by my pets... like seeing Carol twice this weekend. Oops. By my count there are 27 titles that I had hoped to see that I still have to squeeze in during the busiest month of the year and of course the rewatches I'd hoped to do before drawing up the top ten list. If I get to half of this by Christmas it'll have to be considered an enormous success. The Glut! The Glut!

What did you see this weekend? Are you struggling to keep up?

What you saw this long holiday weekend. Survey says...

What did you see this weekend? I didn't hit theaters since I was travelling but I finished Jessica Jones (which really improved as it went along) and screeners gave me a second shot at Steve Jobs (Fassy & Kate are just as big a "wow" as they were the first time) and a first go at Straight Outta Compton. In the next 24 hours The Revenant and Joy hit my eyeballs. Here's hoping for the best.

BOX OFFICE
(Nov 27th-29th)
01 Hunger Games 4 (4,175 screens) $51.6 (cum. $198.3)  Hunger Games & Oscar
02 The Good Dinosaur (3,749 screens) $39.1 new (cum. $55.5)
03 Creed (3,404 screens) $30.1 new (cum. $42.6) Review
04 Spectre (2,940 screens) $12.8 (cum $176) Review
05 The Peanuts Movie (3,089 screens) $9.7 (cum. $116.7) 
06 The Night Before (2,960 screens) $8.2 (cum. $24.1) 
07 The Secret in Their Eyes (2,392 screens) $4.5 (cum. $14)
08 Spotlight (897 screens) $4.4 (cum. $12.3) First Impression
09 Brooklyn (845 screens) $3.8 (cum. $7.2) Review, Saoirse & Best Actress
10 The Martian (1,420 screens) $3.3 (cum. $218.6) Podcast 
11 Love the Coopers (1,867 screens) $3 (cum. $20.4)
12 Victor Frankenstein (2,797 screens) $2.3 new (cum. $3.4)

With the dismal opening of Victor Frankenstein (Fox) paired with the muted response to Crimson Peak (Universal) do you think Universal is getting worried about their classic movie monster multiverse plans? Today's audiences maybe don't have a yearning for the gothic flavors of more old school horror?

Apart from Frankenstein and his monster, it was a fairly happy weekend for distributors: Hunger Games 4 held stronger in its second weekend than Hunger Games 3 (I refuse to do this "part 1 and part 2" padding bullshit anymore);  Creed, which was smartly produced on a non gargantuan budget, supposedly made back its budget in its first (holiday) weekend; Spectre is holding well for a Bond film (anyone expecting a repeat of Skyfall's anomalous numbers was insane); even The Good Dinosaur, which opened weak as Pixar films go, shows promise since the audience reaction was very positive and it has no direct competition in the next few weeks.

As for the suspected Oscar contenders things are continuing to look very golden for both Spotlight and Brooklyn which are expanding very well and should be peaking at just the right time for Oscar love. With Carol and The Danish Girl, though, it's probably too early to tell since they're only on four screens each and competition is fierce and will continue to be (as it always is in November/December) for their target demographic.

Box Office: Katniss Reigns (Softly) While Spotlight Gains

[Whistles Katniss theme]

As expected Katniss and her unmerry band of rebels dominated the weekend box office as The Hunger Games franchise finally wrapped up. Though this is the softest opening yet for the franchise it's not soft enough to end Hollywood's love of splitting final chapters into two for no good narrative reason so the trend will obviously continue for now. (sigh). I personally have no real ill will for this franchise  (it's okay but I bowed out after the second film -- just too dull for my personal tastes) but The Film Experience does have official stance ill will for franchise decisions that no reasonable trustworthy person could ever claim were based on anything other than milking more money from fans. "Event" showbiz is fun but the first priority really should be to the generous fan bases of serial cinema -- Hollywood owes fans good storytelling, not padding to take more of their paycheck once you've hooked them. You're not drug dealers, movie studios, you're showmen! Putting on a great show needs to be your priority. Hopefully the upcoming slate of finale splitting franchises fail in much more embarrassing / decisive ways so -- Hollywood deserves the wrist-slapping.

BOX OFFICE
(Nov 20th-22nd)
01 Hunger Games 4 (4,175 screens) $101 new Hunger Games & Oscar
02 Spectre (3,659 screens) $14.6 (cum. $153.7) Review
03 Peanuts Movie (3,671 screens) $12.8 (cum. $98.9)
04 The Night Before (2,960 screens) $10.1 new
05 Secret in Their Eyes (2,392 screens) $6.6 new
06 Love the Coopers (2,603 screens) $3.9 (cum. $14.8) 
07 The Martian (2,086 screens) $3.7 (cum. $213) Podcast
08 Spotlight (598 screens) $3.6 (cum. 5.8) First Impression
09 The 33 (2,452 screens) $2.2 (cum. $9.9)
10 Bridge of Spies (1,532 screens) $1.9 (cum. $65.1) Review, Tom Hanks
11 Goosebumps (1,787 screens) $1.7 (cum. $76) First Impression
12 Brooklyn (113 screens) $1.1 (cum. $2.1) Review, Saoirse & Best Actress
13 Hotel Transylvania 2 (828 screens) $.7 (cum. $166.4) on director Genndy Tartakovsky
14 Prem Ratan Dhan Payo (283 screens) $.6 (cum. $3.9)
15 Suffragette (517 screens) $.5 (cum. $3.5) Carey's Performance, Review

Among the limited releases Spotlight and Brooklyn had the strongest per screen totals. Hopefully they'll stay strong in wider release since at heart they're quite accessible entertainments and it's infinitely depressing that anything non-genre that aims for adult audiences and quality these days is automatically viewed as "specialized" in its appeal. Room, a much trickier sell than either of those premise-wise is having a tougher time expanding but if the A24 Best Picture hopeful can hold out until top ten lists and awards noms give it some extra juice it should do well. It's already gathered a reasonable $2.8 million in its first month or so in release.

In extremely miniscule release Todd Haynes's latest masterpiece Carol earned a robust quarter million on just 4 screens... though in rather frustrating news it seems to be sticking to its originally aborted release date (opposite Star Wars) in terms of when it will show up in a lot of sizeable markets and won't be in some other smaller markets until Christmas day and beyond. In short: we're not sure when to schedule our proposed Carol week since it's going to take forever for many of you to see it. We feel your pain; you don't deserve the torturous wait.

What did you see this weekend? 
I had a homebody weekend looking at screeners for Black Mass (for the first time), Truth (again), and the first half of Jessica Jones (Netflix).