Compare the top box office hits from last weekend, last year (2021), and the previous year (2020). 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: 10 responses
Ben Labadia – Part 1
ReplyDeleteOf the major box office hits from 2022, 2021, and 2020, there are many trends that can be addressed. This past weekend, in 2022, the top five domestic grossing films were The Batman, Uncharted, the BTS documentary, Dog, and Spider-Man: No Way Home (IMDbPro). Two of these (Uncharted and Spider-Man: No Way Home) were Sony Pictures Entertainment films (IMDbPro). In 2021, the major box office hits were: Spider-Man: No Way Home, Shang-Chi and the Legned of the Ten Rings, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Black Widow, and F9: The Fast Saga (IMDbPro). Two of these films were Sony and two were Disney. Of 2020’s top grossing films, there were: Bad Boys for Life, 1917, Sonic the Hedgehog, Jumanji: The Next Level, and Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker. Two of these films were also Sony Pictures Entertainment projects.
From the data, there are clear trends. One is that Sony Pictures Entertainment seems to dominate the box office with major films that draw in a lot of attention. Despite association with Marvel, Sony holds the rights to distribution for Spider-Man and the franchise’s 600 associated characters (Clark). With this grasp on the characters and storylines, Sony has the potential to build off Marvel just as much as Disney has. They can even begin releasing their own side characters with solo films. Another trend is that the majority of popular films have been superhero films. Just this year, The Batman and Spider-Man: No Way Home topped the box office, making three times as much as the other three films in the top five for a single weekend. In 2021, the top four out of five top domestic grossing films were Marvel movies, whether distributed by Sony or Disney, again the most successful companies. In 2020, none of the top five films were Marvel or superhero of any kind, but they fall in line with the over-dramatic, large-scale, action-adventure films, with hits like Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Jumanji: The Next Level (IMDbPro).
According to the Hollywood Reporter, despite the box office being 60% behind 2019’s numbers, there was an increase in audience attendance, mainly due to young males. Why this demographic? Because as stated earlier, young males are flocking to see these action-adventure, superhero flicks. Overall, all of the top grossing films are male-centric and “male-fueled projects” (McClintock). While attracting a large female audience, Marvel movies have been geared towards traditionally male themes and gender norms and have been something many men resonate with. Marvel has been the biggest film franchise ever with $25 billion made over 27 films. Between Disney (25.5%) and Sony (23%), the two companies make up 48.5% of the box office (Clark).
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DeleteBen Labadia – Part 2
DeleteThese trends are here to stay and don’t have any foreseeable downfall anytime soon. Marvel has only just begun, now beginning to make more solo films for its more “fringe characters.” Once Marvel falls, there is no doubt that another sci-fi, action film will not take its place. Major hits with the male demographic are space and technology related projects, such as the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Star Wars. Another trend is bringing back the past with the return of many old franchises. Reboots, remakes, and adaptations took up 29 of the top 30 grossing films of the 2010s. Only one, Frozen, was an original story. Despite the many male-centered films, there is hope for diversity. During the 2010s, breakout hits like Lady Bird, Moonlight, Wonder Woman, and Get Out, gave a spotlight to underrepresented groups in the film industry (Luxford). Now, as their success continues, directors like Ava Duvernay, Greta Gerwig, and Jordan Peele, have some real power in the industry. Hopefully, they can begin creating films and adding more attention to minority groups, so that while Marvel persists, the other characters get to have their stories heard too.
Clark, Travis. “Disney and Sony Topped the US Box Office in 2021, Thanks to Marvel. Here's How Hollywood's Studios Stacked up.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 18 Jan. 2022, https://www.businessinsider.com/hollywood-box-office-revenue-by-studio-in-the-us-ranked-2022-1.
IMDbPro. “Domestic 2022 Weekend 10.” Box Office Mojo, https://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/2022W10/?ref_=bo_wey_table_1.
IMDbPro. “Domestic Box Office for 2020.” Box Office Mojo, https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/2020/?grossesOption=calendarGrosses.
IMDbPro. “Domestic Box Office for 2021.” Box Office Mojo, https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/2021/?ref_=bo_yl_table_2.
Luxford, James. “The Top Movie Trends of the 2020s - Amex Essentials.” Amex Express Essentials, 2021, https://www.amexessentials.com/top-movie-trends-2020s-decade/.
McClintock, Pamela. “Box Office Ends Year 60 Percent behind 2019 with $4.5B Domestically.” The Hollywood Reporter, The Hollywood Reporter, 4 Jan. 2022, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/2021-box-office-revenue-stormy-year-1235067966/#!
Gage Kilborne 1
ReplyDeleteThe top box office hit from last weekend was the new film, "The Batman", distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures(Box Office Mojo). The big box office hit of last year (2021) has to be "Spiderman: No Way Home" which came out in December, it made an insane impact on the rest of the film economics(Box Office Mojo). Finally, in 2020, the biggest box office hit might not be meeting numbers that we used to see in block buster hits so the data points may not be as accurate, but having said this the box office hit of 2020 was "Bad Boys for Life" made from Sony Pictures(Box Office Mojo).
A big reason for why they saw an 80% decline in numbers for 2020 box offices is because of the Covid-19 Pandemic(Whitten). The pandemic decreased the amount of human contact between one person to another and further led to a decline in the economy throughout the world(Whitten). The biggest media trend in the box office over the past couple of years is the increase interest action movies by the audience, the past 3 films that I previously mentioned are big action films. The top 5 films in the box office hits list were mainly action films in the past 3 standings.
Gage Kilborne 2
DeleteOut of the various studios that have produced films, the main ones who have capitalized on this trend are Disney, Warner Bros. Studios, and Sony Pictures. Disney came out with 4 films that made it in the top 10 in the past 2 years, they are all action films, in particular, Marvel. Sony Pictures also took advantage of the opportunity by investing in the DC Universe to compete with Disney's Marvel. This is the main competition that is the reason why we are seeing so many action films being produced is because of an endless battle between Sony and Disney.
I do see the similar trends to continue in the next 3-5 years because super hero movies have been big for the past decade and there is no sign that they are going to be slowing down. The only downside in all of this is that it appears the studios are starting to struggle with finding out what ideas to keep the content fresh and to keep the audience engaged. For instance, most of Disney's Marvel content is now being shown on Disney + and consists of Marvel shows about Marvel villains' back stories.
Overall, some studios are making a killing off of action films over the past 2 years, but they should focus on the next level of producing interesting content for its audience and stop beating the same style. The creative style of these studios are starting to be lost by the love of money, they should begin to be focused on taking risks and seeing what happens with it.
Gage Kilborne 3
DeleteMojo, Box Office. “Domestic Box Office for 2020.” Box Office Mojo, 2020, https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/2020/?grossesOption=calendarGrosses.
Mojo, Box Office. “Domestic Box Office for 2021.” Box Office Mojo, 2021, https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/2021/.
Mojo, Box Office. “Domestic Box Office Weekends for 2022.” Box Office Mojo, 2022, https://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/?ref_=bo_nb_hm_secondarytab.
Whitten, Sarah. “This Chart Shows 2020 Had a Chance to Break Box Office Records, but Covid Caused Lowest Haul in Decades.” CNBC, CNBC, 29 Dec. 2020, https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/29/box-office-2020-sales-plummeted-80percent-the-lowest-haul-in-decades.html.
Robert Fritz
ReplyDeleteLast weekend’s biggest box office hit was the new Batman movie, in 2021 the biggest box office hit domestically was Spiderman: No Way Home and in 2020 it was Bad Boys for Life (Box Office MoJo). The major trends in the data seems obvious amongst the top box office movies domestically is either a nostalgia movie or a superhero movie or in some cases both. The studio companies that had the most success were Sony Pictures entertainment with movies like Spiderman: No Way Home, Venom: Let There be Carnage, Bad Boys for Life, and Jumanji: The Next Level. With these movies Sony Pictures had the top box office movie in 2020 and 2021 while also having the 4th best in 2020 with Jumanji and the 3rd best in 2021 with Venom. Walt Disney studios also saw a lot of success mainly from 2021 with their movies Black Widow and Shang-Chi both coming in the top five of the box office. They also cracked the top 5 in 2020 with Star Wars: Rise of the Skywalker. These trends should continue over the next three to five years especially with all the new marvel superhero movies expected to come out. People like watching content that they know they will like, and superhero movies and old recycled nostalgic movies will always do well because it gives people a safe sense of security watching that movie. With so many platforms to watch content on people will go with the things they know they will like. The studios like Sony and Disney know this and that is why we see the trends we are seeing over the past few years. These superhero movies that can be made into trilogies or just be something for nostalgia do really well and will continue to do well. Look no further than Spiderman: No Way Home which had all three spidermen in it with Toby McGuire, Andrew Garfield, and the current spiderman Tom Holland. It had it all whether it was nostalgia or as a movie that is part of a series. That movie blew away the competition if you were to combine the next three highest movies in terms of total gross that still wouldn’t be as much as Spiderman: No Way Home. Just looking at last years list of top domestic box office the top nine movies were either superhero or nostalgic based. 2020 was a little different for obvious reasons but now that things have gotten at least a little bit better we will see the same trends we saw last year amongst the top box office hits domestically. Disney and Sony should have a very easy time racking in the money with the content they can provide and the trends we are seeing.
Mojo, Box Office. “Domestic Box Office for 2020.” Box Office Mojo, 2020, https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/2020/?grossesOption=calendarGrosses.
Mojo, Box Office. “Domestic Box Office for 2021.” Box Office Mojo, 2021, https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/2021/.
Mojo, Box Office. “Domestic Box Office Weekends for 2022.” Box Office Mojo, 2022, https://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/?ref_=bo_nb_hm_secondarytab.
Shawn A. Baker Part 1
ReplyDeleteWhile taking a look at the domestic box office records of weekend 11 from the years 2020, 2021, and 2022, a couple noticeable trends stood out. The first one being animated movies and action movies (most of which tended to be superhero movies) tended to do the best . In 2020, Onward (animated) was ranked number one during the weekend of March 13th-15th. Coming in a close second was Bloodshot (action). Sonic the Hedgehog (animated and action) came in sixth overall that weekend, and Bad Boys for Life (action) rounded out the top ten, coming in tenth. (IMDbPro). In 2021 during the weekend of March 12th-14th, Raya and the Last Dragon (animated) was ranked number one. Tom & Jerry: The Movie (animated) came in second, Chaos Walking came in third (action), The Crood 2: A New Age (animated) came in fifth, The Marksman (action) came in seventh, and Wonder Woman 1984 (action) came in tenth. (IMDbPro). During the weekend of March 18th-20th in 2022, the number one ranked movie was The Batman (action). In second was Jujutsu Kaisen 0: The Movie (animated and action), in third was Uncharted (action), in fifth was Spider-Man: No Way Home (action), and in tenth was Sing 2 (animated). (IMDbPro).
To the surprise of no one, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures did the best job in the animated movie department, taking the number one spot in 2020 and 2021. The reason why they didn’t take number one in 2022 was because their animated movie that year, Encanto, came out a lot earlier, and was on its 17th week (still ranking 20th overall). (IMDbPro). Universal Pictures alo did pretty well in this category, having an animated movie in the top ten in 2021 and 2022. In terms of action movies, Sony Pictures Entertainment by far excelled in this. Out of the three action movies in the top ten in 2020, Sony distributed two of them. Sony Pictures Entertainment didn’t have a movie playing in theaters during the 11th weekend in 2021, but in 2022, out of the four action movies in the top ten, two of them were once again distributed by Sony. In total, Sony distributed four of the ten action movies in the top ten from 2020-2022, the most out of any company. (IMDbPro).
Shawn A. Baker Part 2
DeleteAnother noticeable trend was that the number of movies being played in theaters on the 11th weekend decreased every year. In 2020, 82 movies were played. In 2021, the number was almost cut in half, as only 43 movies were played. In 2022, once again the number was nearly halved, as only 26 movies were played. (IMDbPro). Warner Bros. was very successful in capitalizing on this. In 2020, they only had three movies being played, placing seventh, 11th, and 36th. In 2021, they had five movies being played, placing second, ninth, tenth, 12th, and 25th. (IMDbPro). There were less movies being played then the previous year, less options, which meant more people would be likely to watch a Warner Bros movie. In 2022, Warner Bros. only had one movie being played, The Batman, which took the number one spot and grossed $36,800,000, which is more than the amount grossed by all of the movies in 2021 combined. Only 26 movies total were being played that weekend, so again less options, so more people were likely to watch a Warner Bros. movie. It was also an actions\ movie, which as previously mentioned, ranks very well, and Warner Bros. utilized that.
It really isn’t a surprise the number of movies in theaters have been decreasing since the 11th weekend in 2020 was the last weekend before everything started shutting down due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Recovering from the pandemic has still been pretty slow, with the total movie revenue for the whole year of 2021 being 60% behind what it was in 2019, so it’s really no surprise the number of movies in theaters has decreased. (McClintock). The pandemic also explains why action and animated movies were so successful, since the younger demographic were much more willing to go out to the theaters, and they tend to be drawn to movies that contain action, and are more willing to watch an animated movie, especially since animated movies tend to be targeted towards a younger audience. (McClintock). With Covid-19 restrictions starting to be less severe, and people, especially older, are becoming more comfortable going out, I do think the number of movies in theaters will start to increase, and by three years from now, likely be back to where it was in 2020, pre-pandemic. This also means with older audiences going back to theaters, action and animated movies may not do as well, but action movies have been popular for a long time. Between the years of 1995-2022, action movies grossed $50 billion in North America, with Drama behind at $35.85 billion. That said, action actually came in second overall, with adventure being number one with $65 billion, but action and adventure are almost always grouped together. (Navarro). So in the future, we can expect action movies to continue dominating the box office.
Shawn A. Baker Part 3
DeleteIMDbPro. “Domestic 2022 Weekend 11.” Box Office Mojo, https://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/2022W11/?ref_=bo_wey_table_1.
McClintock, Pamela. “Box Office Ends Year 60 Percent behind 2019 with $4.5B Domestically.” The Hollywood Reporter, The Hollywood Reporter, 4 Jan. 2022, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/2021-box-office-revenue-stormy-year-1235067966/.
Navarro, José Gabriel. “U.S. & Canada: Film Genres by Total Box Office Revenue 2022.” Statista, 14 Mar. 2022, https://www.statista.com/statistics/188658/movie-genres-in-north-america-by-box-office-revenue-since-1995/.
Michael McGurrin
ReplyDeleteIt is nice to finally see COVID 19, a thing of the past within the movie industry. The box office got hit the worst by the pandemic than any other industry in 2020. However, 2021 saw a nice increase in the box office with $4.5 billion in revenue. According to The Hollywood Reporter, on the rise in revenue, ”that was up more than 101 percent over 2020” (McClintock). That trend seems to be continuing in the right direction for the coming months and years. Just look at this year with movies that have come out. The best hit during the pandemic in 2020 was Tenet. Tenet grossed around $60 million during 2020, which is very low. The biggest movie that was released in 2021 was Spider-Man No Way Home. The film grossed around $1.06 billion during its time in theatres. Spider-Man has done the best out of any movie since the start of the pandemic. Last weekend the biggest hit on the box office was The Batman. The film generated $36.8 million on the weekend and grossed just over $300 million in the U.S. It is funny how Warner Bros, Sony, and Disney seem to like the top of the lists. These three companies have done the best since the start of the pandemic and have expanded to more than just movies.
One of the top trends they have capitalized on is the rise in the superhero genre. That has been a trend for several years now that companies have been building off of. The other trend I see is when these movies are released. These three movies were released towards the end or just beginning a new year. Wintertime seems to be the best time for a film to get released. One other aspect of a movie that I have seen is a trend in the last several years. It is filmmakers adding a bit of comedy to their films. According to Raindance’s top 20 filmmaker trends, “Funny is money” (Elliot Grove). I think all of these trends will stay strong for many years to come. Release dates have been the same trend for many years now and will remain the same. Superhero movies will continue to stay popular in the movie industry. Look at how much DC, Marvel, and Sony have expanded their companies just off one superhero movie. For example, the Avengers movies were developed almost a decade from the four films they made. That is just one series made up of a lot of superheroes. Finally, we will always get that funny joke in a movie. Let’s not forget Noobmaster69 from Avengers End Game. Fat Thor as a character itself is a comedy throughout the film and was one of the best parts of that movie. I will say that I hope that movie theatre will still exist in 10 years.
Clark, Travis. “Disney and Sony Topped the US Box Office in 2021, Thanks to Marvel. Here's How Hollywood's Studios Stacked up.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 18 Jan. 2022
Elliot GrovePhoto Credit: Bertie WatsonFew people know more filmmakers and screenwriters than Elliot Grove. Elliot is the founder of Raindance Film Festival (1993) and the British Independent Film Awards (1998) and Raindance London Film School (2017). He . “Twenty-Two for 2022: Trends Filmmakers Track.” Raindance, 9 Jan. 2022
McClintock, Pamela. “Box Office Ends Year 60 Percent behind 2019 with $4.5B Domestically.” The Hollywood Reporter, The Hollywood Reporter, 4 Jan. 2022
Jordon Bennett 1
ReplyDeleteThe release of ‘The Batman’ in March has made the movie the highest grossing film of March. Opening week for ‘The Batman’ is the highest grossing opening week movie of the year so far in 2022. With other films from Marvel and ‘Avatar 2’ set to be released in 2022, it’ll be interesting to see whether the caped hero will be the most successful. ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’, from Disney’s Marvel Studio’s was the standout performer of 2021, with over $1.8 billion box office worldwide, one of the highest in box office history. This is by far the highest grossing film since the pandemic. The movie and cinema industry took a major hit from the COVID-19 pandemic, with box office being at an all-time low. ‘The Eight Hundred’ topped 2020’s box office worldwide but that’s thanks to China with 99.9% of box office coming abroad. (IMDbPro) When looking at the top movies of the three years, they all made from established companies with plenty of action and drama. When looking at the trends, higher box office success comes from superhero’s, action, and drama. COVID-19 has played a major impact on cinema, with many movies in 2020 opting to postpone release dates, like ‘The Quiet Place 2’. Although we don’t see a considerable rise in 2021, there is still a significant increase in box office. ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ was the movie to kick start box office again ahead of anticipated releases in 2022.
Marvel and Sony were two studios able to capitalize on the pandemic, with ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ being released during a time where COVID was thought to be a memory. Five of the six movies at the domestic box office were either from Marvel or Sony. (Clark) Sony was able to profit from Marvel because of their ownership of the Spider-Man franchise. Warner Bros. showed a different approach during the pandemic, both distributing movies in cinema and on HBO Max. Although this approach had them trailing in theatres, it did boost their HBO Max subscriptions, because of movies like ‘Dune’ being released on the streaming service.
Jordon Bennett 2
ReplyDeleteMarvel has become such a mainstream phenomenon that it will continue to dominate Box Office. There are so many characters and stories that fans love and want to see in cinema, so Marvel will continue to produce movies. It’ll be interesting to see how successful Marvel’s “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse’ will be. Movie Star, Ben Affleck has stated that he believes box office will be strictly for Marvel and event-based films. He said that his award winning ‘Argo’ wouldn’t even be released in theatres today, and theatres are now reserved for younger people who want to see what happens next in Marvel. (Vasisht) Overall, Superhero and franchise movies will succeed at box office for many years to come because of their name and they manage to advertise their movies perfectly where fans can get excited, but not spoil the film. Other movies can succeed if they market their movie well enough, with storylines, lead characters and special scenes in the film. It’s difficult to take down the action and superhero film’s but not impossible.
Clark, Travis. “Disney and Sony Topped the US Box Office in 2021, Thanks to Marvel. Here's How Hollywood's Studios Stacked up.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 18 Jan. 2022, https://www.businessinsider.com/hollywood-box-office-revenue-by-studio-in-the-us-ranked-2022-1.
IMDbPro. “Domestic 2022 Weekend 10.” Box Office Mojo, https://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/2022W10/?ref_=bo_wey_table_1.
IMDbPro. “Domestic Box Office for 2020.” Box Office Mojo, https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/2020/?grossesOption=calendarGrosses.
IMDbPro. “Domestic Box Office for 2021.” Box Office Mojo, https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/2021/?ref_=bo_yl_table_2.
Vasisht, Deepak. “Ben Affleck Believes the Future of Cinema Lies with Marvel & Franchise Films.” FandomWire, 12 Jan. 2022, https://fandomwire.com/ben-affleck-believes-the-future-of-cinema-lies-with-marvel-franchise-films/.