2018 was a record-breaking year both stateside and worldwide. At the box office, 2018 made $11.9BN in the US and $42BN worldwide, an all-time high. The industry continues to be lopsided, with Disney taking 26% of the domestic box office, equivalent to $3BN, and with the Disney-Fox merger happening next year, could they create world domination? Well, not so fast, because Warner Brothers, Universal and Sony are all looking at good years next year and had good years this year, enough to equate for nearly 50% of the US box office.
1. Disney: $3.09BN
- 28% Increase From 2017
With brands like Marvel and Pixar equating to 79% of Disney’s gross, one could argue that without these brands that Disney would be seriously struggling, but remember, that they have to put these films together and they’ve been getting things right lately.
Top Five Films Of 2018:
1. Avengers: Infinity War – $2.042BN
2. Black Panther – $1.341BN
3. The Incredibles 2 – $1.247BN
4. Ant-Man & The Wasp – $622.7M
5. Solo: A Star Wars Story – $393.7M
As we can see, Disney’s year was led by the two Marvel films that are Infinity War and Black Panther. Both of these were big events in the cinematic universe and this obviously helped Disney propel their earnings by 28% from last year. Pixar continues to be a major asset with their one film a year, this time being The Incredibles 2, and with Toy Story 4 on the way in June 2019, it could be another great year for Pixar and Disney.
However Disney haven’t had the best of years. They’ve had five films directly from the dreams factory that have…well…failed. A Wrinkle In Time brought in just $132M worldwide against a $120M production budget, making it one of the big losses of the year. Even though Solo was their fifth highest grossing film of 2018, the film had a $310M production budget, with Disney estimated to loose roughly a quarter of a billion dollars. Then we have The Nutcracker, which took $170M worldwide against a $120M budget, another loss.
Christopher Robin wasn’t really a loss, but $198M worldwide against a $75M budget is just enough to break even. Then we have Wreck It Ralph 2, which is projected to make $400M worldwide by the end of its run, with sound decent, but against a $175M budget, again, its underwhelming.
Looking into next year, they will be at the top of the table once more with films such as Captain Marvel, Avengers: Endgame and Toy Story 4 helping them, however they need to get their act together on their original content.
2: Warner Brothers – $1.93BN
- 5% Decrease From 2017
Top Five Films Of 2018:
1. Aquaman – $822M*
2. The Crimes Of Grindelwald – $632M*
3. Ready Player One – $582.9M
4. The Meg – $530.9M
5. Rampage – $428M
WB had a great Christmas period thanks to films such as Aquaman and The Mule, and finished just 5% behind what was a record-breaking 2017 for the Burbank studio. What went great was that they built a slate of low to mid-budget films (Crazy Rich Asians, The Nun, A Star Is Born, Tag, Game Night) and eventising the second half of the year. The studio’s success can be attributed to great storytellers like James Wan, Steven Spielberg and Bradley Cooper and its innovative, relentless approach to marketing: Each and every film is sold differently, including sequels like Aquaman.
One could argue that The Crimes Of Grindelwald was a relative disappointment, making roughly $635M worldwide when the original made $180M more, but it was a sequel, and it dropped like it should have done.
WB had one of their best summers in recent history, topping the charts for five consecutive weekends thanks to The Meg, which made a whopping $530M and Crazy Rich Asians, which WB marketed the crap out of, allowing it to make $175M in the US and $239M worldwide to put it at a Hangover-level success.
There weren’t any bombs for WB either, and they are currently taking risks to keep the R-Rated comedy-genre alive under the Disney stranglehold. They’ve released three R-Rated comedies this year, Game Night $119M worldwide against a $40M budget, Tag making $82M worldwide against a $29M budget, and Life Of The Party making $66M against a $30M budget. These are all small successes but they are consistent and provide a film for the adult who wants something fun.
Next year looks to be a good year with two big DC films that could make big money, The LEGO Movie 2, Godzilla, It 2, Detective Pikachu and more.
3: Universal – $1.79BN
- 17% Increase From 2017
Top Five Films Of 2018:
1. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom – $1.305BN
2. The Grinch – $471.3M*
3. Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again – $393.8M
4. Fifty Shades Freed – $371.4M
5. Skyscraper – $304.1M
Their cash-cow staples from Illumination (The Grinch at $267M made $100M more than Grindelwald, and bested the $180M take of Ralph Breaks the Internet), low-cost Blumhouse (Halloween, First Purge, Insidious: The Last Key) and older-skewing franchises (Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, Fifty Shades Freed, which took the franchise to $1.3B), and, of course, Jurassic World: Forbidden Kingdom. The studio’s mantra is excelling with a slate built on diversity.
However they need to create more compelling franchises, as its hard to make money just from original material. Currently their exhausting their material after making sequels to Jurassic World (only one more left in the trilogy).
2019 looks to be another good year with hits like Glass, The Secret Life Of Pets 2, Us and more hitting the screens.
4: Sony/Colombia – $1.28BN
- 21% Increase From 2017
Top Five Films Of 2018:
1. Venom – $855.5M*
2. Hotel Transylvania 3 – $527.3M
3. Peter Rabbit – $351.3M
4. Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse – $224M*
5. The Equalizer 2 – $190.4M
Keeping its side of the Marvel franchise alive with Venom making $885M WW and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse ($213.7M), together earning north of $1.06B. With all the production problems on Venom, dark clouds loomed over its fate, and Sony, thanks to studio boss Tom Rothman and his marketing, distribution and post-production teams, hammered the film into perfect shape and delivered a buzz-worthy event for autumn.
However Sony need to improve on their awards contenders in limited release, with films such as White Boy Rick, The Front Runner and All The Money In The World not reaching the heights they deserve.
2019 looks to be another great year, with Men in Black, Grudge, and Charlie’s Angels and sequels Spider-Man: Far From Home, Jumanji 3 and Zombieland 2. Looks like Sony is back in the game after a hiatus.
5: 20th Century Fox – $1.09BN
- 18% Decrease From 2017
Top Five Films Of 2018:
1. Deadpool 2 – $735.6M
2. Bohemian Rhapsody – $703.8M*
3. Maze Runner: The Death Cure – $288.3M
4. The Predator – $160.5M
5. Red Sparrow – $151.6M
Reminding its future owner Disney what it’s great at, and how it can fill the bill heading into the new merger: R-rated superhero product like Deadpool 2 ($741.5M WW) and musical big-picture fare such as The Greatest Showman and Bohemian Rhapsody. Of all the successes this year, the last one is sublime, with a global B.O. north of $703M.
However there were some big misses, like Jennifer Lawrence’s Red Sparrow, estimated at loosing $10M. Widows was a marketing nightmare and Fox could not work out how to market it, as a popcorn film or as an awards contender. For that reason the film has only made $74M against a $49M budget.
They tried to reboot The Predator but that failed too, making $160M against a $88M budget.
6: Paramount Pictures – $757M
- 42% Increase From 2017
Top Five Films Of 2018:
1. Mission Impossible: Fallout – $791M
2. A Quiet Place – $340.7M
3. Bumblebee – $179M*
4. Sherlock Gnomes – $90.3M
5. Instant Family – $74.2M*
Although the studio was still in transition from the previous administration, one could see the hand of CEO Jim Gianopulos and his marketing, distribution teams already winning here, taking staple series Mission: Impossible to a series high with Fallout making $220.1M domestic, $791M WW.
What Paramount need to do is to solidify some relationships with some big auteurs like Spielberg-esque and build relationships with those directors, like WB did with Christopher Nolan.
Bright lights ahead with frosh series Dora the Explorer, Sonic the Hedgehog, the reboot of Terminator with James Cameron producing, and Paramount’s rock music biopic Rocketman with Taron Egerton as Elton John.
Paramount should pat themselves on the back, as they had the best year out of the top seven, taking a 42% increase and are creeping their way back into the $1BN club.
7: Lionsgate – $389M
- 56% Drop From 2017
Not much for Lionsgate as it remains franchise-starved in the wake of the success of Hunger Games. It also lacked a strong counter-programming hit like last year’s Wonder and 2017 six-time Oscar winner La La Land.
A 56% drop is huge, and with $389M it is now in danger of dropping out of the big seven, as STX Entertainment, despite their woes, are taking $270.3M this year, a 31.3% increase from 2017.
However 2019 does look to be a better year for the studio. They’re looking forward to this year’s Hellboy reboot, John Wick Chapter 3, the Seth Rogen/Charlize Theron comedy Flarsky in June, Roland Emmerich’s WWII action epic Midway, and Rian Johnson’s Media Rights Capital production Knives Out in November.
There we have it. This week I will also be assessing how good their 2019’s are looking to be.
UKFILMS 