Box office review 2012

Worldwide box office in 2012 was driven by three event movies, two of which performed well beyond their producers’ expectations: The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises and Skyfall.

Dealing with them in reverse, Skyfall is now the first billion Bond. It topped the UK chart and is the first film ever to cross the £100m mark at home. It pulled in a franchise record of nearly $300m in the US, and then rapidly notched up more than $700m internationally. And it’s still on release and those numbers will keep growing, especially if it gets Oscar and BAFTA noms. Oh, and it hasn’t opened in China yet…

Skyfall’s international take is nearly double that of Quantum Of Solace; its US take is nearly double of the previous instalment; and its UK take is double Quantum too. Yes, there’s been ticket price inflation since Daniel Craig’s second outing in 2008, but not enough to account for these mega figures; quite simply millions more people went to see Bond this year. The combination of Skyfall and TDKR proved you don’t need 3D to be huge.

And so on to the Bat – disappointing film and the producers will surely be disappointed by its overall performance. Fewer people saw TDKR than its predecessor – four years of ticket inflation and a significant increase in the number of IMAX screens worldwide and all it could muster was abut $100m more than The Dark Knight… Nevertheless it took an impressive scalp in the UK, beating The Avengers, and beating $1bn mark worldwide is not to be sniffed at.

But ultimately the Bat took a real beating from Marvel’s superteam: in most major territories, the Avengers did double what Batman did. It’s jaw-dropping opening in the US (more than $200m) rather set the tone for the rest of the world. Its performance was, of course, buoyed by 3D pricing, but there’s no escaping the huge pull of the Avengers brand now.

As many commentators have been keen to point out, it’s the most successful film not directed by James Cameron (Titanic and Avatar): $623.4m in the US plus $888.4m internationally.

Other significant performers included Ice Age 4 (ever diminishing in the US, but ever increasing in the rest of the world), the conclusion of the Twilight series (achieving franchise records everywhere) and The Hobbit (started slowly in the US, but then picked up during the Xmas break and doing well internationally), which may yet get within reach of $1bn worldwide.

Surprise, surprise

Major surprises included the performance of Ted: more than $200m in the US and nearly $300m in the rest of the world – US comedy rarely crosses over internationally that well.

And of course one must mention the spring sensation that was The Hunger Games: a massive $400m-plus in the US, plus nearly $300m from the rest of the world. The next instalment, which takes over the Twilight November release date slot, will be even more successful.

In the UK, two British films performed particularly well: first, The Woman In Black spent three weeks at number one as Daniel Radcliffe found life after Potter and the new Hammer Horror kicked off in style.

Second, oh so close behind it but off the top 15 chart was The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel with £20.3m, proving the profitability of the grey pound (and therefore unleashing a new form of British cinema) and reviving the careers of many of our over-50 actors and actresses. It pulled in $46.4m in the US and $21m in Australia.

While 3D helped The Avengers, Ice Age 4, Madagascar 3, Amazing Spider-Man, Prometheus and MIB III, 3D re-releases of cherished 2D films didn’t work too well with the all-too significant exception of Titanic. It only took $57.9m in the US, but raked in $285.7m from the rest of the world, including a whopping $145m from China.

Also worthy of mention is the French mega-hit, The Intouchables, which took nearly $250m internationally, mostly from France (where it was released in autumn 2011 and has since raked in $166.1m), Germany ($79m) and Spain ($21m).

The biggest star to emerge in the US in 2012 was Channing Tatum, taking three films to $100m-plus: 21 Jump Street ($138.5m); The Vow ($125m); and Magic Mike ($113.7m). In total that trio brought in $564.9m worldwide for a combined cost of circa $80m…

Hits and flops that weren’t

Steven Spielberg’s War Horse was a hit, wasn’t it? Er, not really. While it spent three weeks at number one in the UK at the start of the year on the way to £18.6m, it failed to perform outside the English language, limping to just $177.5m worldwide (against Spielberg’s Tintin on $373.9m).

Amazing Spider-Man failed to convince, falling short of the poorest performer of Sam Raimi’s original trilogy: it neither crossed $300m in the US nor $500m internationally. Nevertheless it did enough to justify a sequel.

In theory, two mega-budget movies flopped this year: Battleship and John Carter. Well, they didn’t flop as badly as some. While both were undoubted flops in the US, they delivered more than $200m internationally each. But given respective budgets $209m and $250m, it’s hard to see them ever turning a profit!

The real flops

The Wrath of the Titans was a significant casualty: its predecessor, The Clash, delivered $493.2m from a $125m budget in 2010, but the sequel mustered just $301m from a $150m budget. Presumably The Flop of the Titans will not be greenlit!

One of the big flops of the year was Tim Burton: Frankenweenie limped to a lifeless $66.6m worldwide (!), while Dark Shadows – despite Eva Green’s ever-impressive figure and the Deppster in full flight – sucked its way to $239.1m worldwide from a budget of $150m. To put those performances into context, remember that Burton’s previous effort was Alice In Wonderland ($1bn from a $200m budget). Burton desperately needs a hit!

The other flop of the year was Tom Cruise: his Jack Reacher has not launched a new franchise for him (its current running total of $80.9m worldwide with many major territories still to open suggests a final cume of circa $200m from a budget of $60m), while his starring cameo in Rock Of Ages produced no material benefit for the film as it pulled in just $56.4m worldwide from a $75m budget. And these two performances follow the apparent restoration of his box office halo with the success of MI4 and its $694.7m worldwide. Like Tim Burton, Tom Cruise needs a hit: perhaps April’s sci-fi actioner Oblivion will do the job.

Worldwide top 15

The Avengers $1,511.8m

The Dark Knight Rises $1,081m

Skyfall $1,000.2m

Ice Age 4 $875.1m

Breaking Dawn Part 2 $799.3m

The Amazing Spider-Man $752.2m

Madagascar 3 $742.1m

The Hunger Games $686.5m

The Hobbit $685.7m

Men In Black 3 $624m

Brave $535.3m

Ted $501.8m

Prometheus $402.5m

Snow White & The Huntsman $396.4m

Taken 2 $365.3m

UK top 15

Skyfall            £100.5m

The Dark Knight Rises £56.3m

The Avengers £51.9m

The Hobbit £35.9m

Breaking Dawn Part 2 £35.4m

Ted £30.1m

Ice-Age 4 £30.3m

Amazing Spider-Man £25.9m

Prometheus £24.7m

The Hunger Games £23.8m

Taken 2 £23.6m

Madagascar 3 £22.2m

Brave £22m

Men In Black 3 £21.9m

The Woman In Black £21.2m

US top 15

The Avengers $623.4m

The Dark Knight Rises $448.1m

The Hunger Games $408m           

Skyfall            $290.9m

Breaking Dawn Part 2 $286.4m

The Amazing Spider-Man $262m

Brave $237.2m

The Hobbit $228.5m

Ted $218.7m

Madagascar 3 $216.4m

The Lorax $214m

Men In Black 3 $179m

Wreck-It Ralph $175.9m

Ice Age 4 $161m

Snow White & The Huntsman $155.1m

International top 15

The Avengers $888.4m

Ice Age 4 $714m

Skyfall            $710.6m

Dark Knight Rises $632.9m

Madagascar 3 $525.7m

Breaking Dawn Part 2            $513.2m

The Amazing Spider-Man $490.2m

The Hobbit $464m

Men In Black 3 $445m

Brave $298.1m

Titanic 3D $285.7m

Ted $283.1m           

The Hunger Games $278.5m

Prometheus $276m

The Intouchables $247.8m

Sources: Screendaily.com and Box Office Mojo