These are the Highs & Lows, the Winners & Losers, the Successes & Failures of the Summer 2016 Box Office:
Hits
ANIMATION DOMINATION…AGAIN – “Finding Dory” topped the season (and is No. 1 for 2016 to date) with $480 million. “The Secret Life of Pets”, from “Despicable Me” studio Illumination Entertainment, earned more than $350M. And Sony’s R-rated Seth Rogen animated comedy “Sausage Party” shocked the nation with a $34M open.
FUNNY LADIES – While some may deem “The Surprise Comedy Hit of the Summer” to “Central Intelligence”, most predicted that the pairing of Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart would prove well for audiences, and its $127M total is hardly shocking. But “Bad Moms”, the R-rated, female-led comedy, exceeded everyone’s expectations and is on its way to $100M in the U.S. Strong word of mouth has helped “BM”, which has only dropped an average of 30% weekend-to-weekend. It’s also the first bonafide hit for STX Entertainment.
THE LORD OF THE APES – 4th of July wasn’t as much of a blockbuster holiday weekend as in the past, but then again, I’ve been writing this for the past several years. Nonetheless, “The Legend of Tarzan” was a solid option for moviegoers. Mostly poor reviews didn’t damper a $125M domestic total.
WHEN IN DOUBT: SCARES COUNT – Four horror films made HUGE profits: Universal’s “The Purge: Election Year” (Budget: $10M, Gross: $79M), Warner Brothers’ “The Conjuring 2” (Budget: $40M, Gross: $102M) and “Lights Out” (Budget: $5M, Gross: $65M), and most recently Sony’s “Don’t Breathe” (Budget: $10M, Opening Weekend: $26M).
ADULT FARE – The core, older audience had plenty to choose from, and the results were spread across the board between George Clooney’s “Money Monster”, “The Nice Guys” with Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling, “Free State of Jones” starring Matthew McConaughey, Bryan Cranston’s “The Infiltrator”, Woody Allen’s “Cafe Society”, “Hell or High Water” with Jeff Bridges, and Meryl Streep’s “Florence Foster Jenkins”.
SUPERHEROES…I GUESS – “Captain America: Civil War” kicked-off Summer with a $180M open, but its $407M total was $50M less than last year’s “Avengers: Age of Ultron”. As for “Suicide Squad”, negative reviews held the DC action film from even reaching the underwhelming $330M cume of “Batman v. Superman”.
Misses
DISNEY FAMILY LIVE-ACTION – While “Cap” and “Dory” make-up much of The Mouse House’s giant 2016, their other three releases each grossed less than $100 million: “Alice Through the Looking Glass”, Steven Spielberg’s “The BFG” and the studio’s remake of “Pete’s Dragon”.
NOT ENOUGH PEOPLE CALLED – Despite mostly positive reviews, following a ton of initial negative buzz, “Ghostbusters” only managed $125 million. Personally, I think the number is much higher than it could’ve been, and it’ll still end-up as one of Sony’s top-grossing movies of the year.
ANGRY ABOUT “BIRDS” – Prime May open, all-star voice cast, familiar title. You’d think all of this would’ve helped “The Angry Birds Movie” earn more than $107M total. Despite the low number, Rovio and Sony are moving forward on a sequel.
Bombs
NEARLY EVERY SEQUEL – “X-Men: Apocalypse”, “Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising”, “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows”, “Now You See Me 2”, “Independence Day: Resurgence”, “Star Trek Beyond”, “Ice Age: Collision Course” and “Jason Bourne” ALL disappointed.
IT DIDN’T POP – Andy Samberg and his Loney Island team crafted “Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping”. It only managed $9.5M and Universal pulled it from theaters after just three weeks. I think no one went because the trailers, basically, told the entire movie.
BEN-HURL – Paramount’s remake of “Ben-Hur” was expected to be disastrous at the box office…and it was.
Source: BoxOfficeMojo.com