2011 box office review

Harry Potter, the Transformers and the Pirates may have continued their domination of the worldwide box office in 2011, raking in $1bn or more each, but in the UK surprise home-grown hits were the real story. Clearly, I am referring to The King’s Speech, The Inbetweeners Movie and Arthur Christmas.

The multiple BAFTA and Oscar winner spent three weeks at Number One in January and remained on the chart for most of the first half of the year, pulling in an astonishing £45.3m. It displayed Avatar-esque legs: in weekends two, three and four, its grosses were higher than its wide opening weekend.

To put The King’s Speech’s success into context, it’s worth noting that the penultimate instalment of Harry Potter pulled in £52.5m, while Inception took £35.2m (both in 2010): so the stammering Colin Firth was in stellar company. Ultimately the film went on to take $275m internationally and $138.8m in the US. Its success clearly soaked over into the marketing campaign for Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (like King’s Speech, the key demographic is older): the spy thriller reeled in £14.1m in the UK, thanks in no small part to the presence of the Oscar-winning Firth.

The second British surprise was The Inbetweeners at £45m. It spent four weeks at Number One, having generated the third highest opening weekend of the year (behind Harry Potter and Breaking Dawn Part 1, and ahead of Pirates and the Transformers). Comedy doesn’t travel well, so while it matched The King’s Speech in the UK, it won’t get anywhere near the latter’s numbers elsewhere.

The third British surprise was Aardman’s Arthur Christmas, which led a charmed existence throughout the winter in counterpoint to its predecessor Flushed Away, which pulled in ‘just’ £11.2m in the winter of 2006/07. Initially, things didn’t look good: it opened to excellent reviews but found itself pulling in just £2.1m on its opening weekend, but then that most precious of commodities – good worth of mouth – kicked in. Weekend two was higher, weekend three higher still; finally on weekend four it got to the top, and then began what looked to be gradual decline through weekends five and six, before jumping back up to secure the top spot over the two-day Christmas weekend. As 2011 ended, Arthur had delivered £20.5m for Aardman, thereby defeating other Christmas kid pics Puss In Boots and Alvin and the Chipmunks 3, and all but matching the other Brit comedy hit of the year, Johnny English Reborn, which pulled in £20.6m.

The rest of the UK
Of course, Harry Potter finished on top with a magic £73m (although still not as good as Toy Story 3, 2010’s chart-topper on £73.4m). The fourth Pirates instalment was big, but performed below par. It was ahead of the Hangover sequel, which pulled in 50% more than the original.

Confirming the series’ position as the fourth biggest franchise in the world right now, Breaking Dawn just beat its predecessor; ditto Transformers 3. Aside from the British surprises, the big shock in the top 10 was Bridesmaids – another cross-over success, raking in £22.3m. The chart is rounded out by the classy Planet of the Apes sequel.

In the first half of the year, 3D films accounted for 18% (£90m) of the total UK box office, according to the BFI. Once the data is available, I suspect the second half will show a much greater share for 3D, thanks to the summer’s event films.

Turning to the international market, we find more surprises as a number of films appear that either didn’t perform as well as expected in the UK and the US or were simply squeezed out by intense local competition in the UK. Falling into either of those categories are the following: Kung Fu Panda 2; The Smurfs; Fast Five; Cars 2; and Rio.

International
Jack Black’s Panda sequel under-performed in both the UK and the US (especially in comparison with the original), but it took in $80m more than its predecessor in the rest of the world, and $30m more worldwide.

The Smurfs performed well enough in the UK and the US, but didn’t catch fire. However, internationally, they delivered nearly $420m – more than enough to propel the little blue people onto the top 10 worldwide list.

Fast Five out-performed all its predecessors, taking in $200m-plus in the US, and $400m-plus internationally. Presumably Fast Six has been given the green light…

In not crossing the $200m barrier in the US, Pixar’s Cars 2 failed to match its originator’s performance. However, internationally the story was different, as the sequel hit top gear and pulled in 60% more than the original.

Rio also under-performed in the US and the UK, but nevertheless drew in $300m-plus internationally, winging its way to nearly $500m and just beating the Apes prequel to 10th place worldwide.

In the US, the Hangover sequel failed to match the original’s take, but improved its international take by nearly 70% to $327m. Thor was not only the best-reviewed super hero movie of 2011, but also the most successful ($181m in the US, plus $266m internationally). Captain America trailed in second in that competition, its $176.6m US haul matching the Apes prequel.

Biggest unexpected flop of the year? Happy Feet Two, which has so far generated just $120m worldwide. It had a budget of circa $130m, according to IMDb. Its predecessor hauled in $384m four years ago (without the additional income of premium pricing for 3D performances). Ooops…

Late arrivals
Some end of year films came too late to make an impression on these lists, notably Mission: Impossible 4 ($386.9m worldwide, having only opened on 21 December; could end up north of $500m) and Sherlock Holmes 2 (£242.9m worldwide, having opened on 16 December; should come close to $400m). Some films opened in the final quarter that struggled against expectations: Puss In Boots – $430.7m worldwide is probably a little disappointing for Dreamworks; and Tintin – huge in France and Belgium ($40m-plus and $9.1m respectively), surprisingly dismissed in the UK with ‘just’ £16.1m and expectedly ignored in the US whereby Spielberg stablemate War Horse will give the boy detective a bloody nose, culminating in ‘just’ $311.9m worldwide from $130m budget).

UK box office
Harry Potter 8 £73m
The King’s Speech £45.3m
The Inbetweeners Movie £45m
Pirates 4 £32.9m
The Hangover Part II £32.7m
Breaking Dawn 1 £30.4m
Transformers 3 £27.8m
Bridesmaids £22.3m
The Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes £21m
Johnny English Reborn £20.6m
Arthur Christmas £20.5m

International box office
HP8 $947.1m
Pirates 4 $800.9m
Transformers 3 $765m
Kung Fu Panda 2 $496.5m
The Smurfs $419.9m
Fast Five $416.3m
Breaking Dawn 1 $410m
Cars 2 $362.5m
Rio $342.5m
The Hangover Part II £327m

US box office
HP8 $381m
Transformers 3 $352.4m
Breaking Dawn 1 $276.1m
The Hangover Part II $254.5m
Pirates 4 $241m
Fast Five $209.8m
Cars 2 $191.5m
Thor $181m
The Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes $176.7m
Captain America $176.7m

Worldwide box office
HP8 $1.3bn
Transformers 3 $1.1bn
Pirates 4 $1bn
Breaking Dawn 1 $686.1m
Kung Fu Panda 2 $661.7m
Fast Five $628.1m
The Hangover Part II £581.5m
The Smurfs $555.3m
Cars 2 $553.9m
Rio $486.1m

Sources: Screendaily.com; Box Office Guru; UK Film Council; and Box Office Mojo