2018: forthcoming films

What filmic delights does 2018 offer? Read on to find out!

Jan 1

Molly’s Game

Aaron Sorkin directs Jessica Chastain in this passed-over awards season contender (left).

Jan 5

All The Money In The World

The Ridley Scott take on the Getty kidnap in the 70s; Spacey was Getty, but got replaced just six weeks before release by Christopher Plummer. Awards season contender.

Hostiles

Apparently astonishing performance by Christian Bale in this violent Western.

Jan 12

Darkest Hour

Gary Oldman is Winston Churchill as, if the scuttlebutt is to be believed, you've never seen him before. Oscar ahoy for Oldman?

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Big awards season contender from Martin McDonagh. 

Jan 19

The Post

The new Spielberg with Hanks and Streep as the head honchos of the Washington Post as it reports Vietnam.

Coco

The new Pixar, set against the Mexican day of the dead. Reviews from mixed to stunning.

Downsizing

Very poor from Alexander Payne, I'm sad to say.

Jan 26

Early Man

The new Aardman Animation opus.

Last Flag Flying

Carrell, Cranston and Fishburne in the pseudo sequel to The Last Detail; directed by Linklater.

Feb 2

Phantom Thread

Hard-to-give-a-damn latest from PT Anderson; DDL in the lead, natch.

Journey’s End

Sam Claflin leads the line in this WWI trench adaptation.

Feb 9

The Mercy

Colin Firth as a yachtsman who spins outrageous lies about what befell him in a major race.

Feb 12

Black Panther

Ryan Coogler directs the year's first Marvel movie (right) as we see Wakanda for the first time.

Feb 14

Shape of Water

Guillermo del Toro's awards season favourite. Oscar ahoy for Sally Hawkins. You'll believe a mute woman and a half-fish/half-man can fall in love. Bring the hankies.

Feb 23

Annihilation

The new Alex Garland with Natalie Portman in the lead.

Lady Bird

Deft, charming, crowd-pleasing coming of age drama from Greta Gerwig. Saoirse Ronan in awards-worthy form.

I, Tonya

Margot Robbie is Tonya Harding. Oscar nom expected.

Dark River

British drama set on a farm as the daughter returns home after her father's death. Premiered at LFF 2017.

Mar 2

Red Sparrow

The new Jennifer Lawrence action flick that looks a little too much like a Black Widow movie! The trailer had me at 'hello'.

Mar 9

Thoroughbreds

Delicious, off-kilter teen thriller with Olivia Cooke and Anya Taylor-Joy on great form as murderous friends.

Mar 16

Tomb Raider 

I note the release of this purely for the record. Alicia Vikander is Lara Croft. Will anybody care?

Mar 23

Pacific Rim Uprising

The sequel nobody wanted or needed to del Toro's giant robots v monsters flop from a few years ago.

Mar 30

Ready Player One

Not sure who this is meant for. There's quite a lot of Matrix here. Riding the wave of 80s nostalgia post-Stranger Things.

Isle of Dogs

The new animated Wes Anderson, involving, you guessed, dogs.

Apr 11

New Mutants

The next X-Men-related movie (left) that seems to be set up more like a horror movie than a metaphor for otherness v the norms  of society.

Apr 13

Ghost Stories 

British horror with Martin Freeman in the lead.

Apr 20

Tully

The new Jason Reitman with Charlize Theron in the lead.

Apr 27

Infinity War

And so it begins: the beginning of the end of the first phases of the Marvel movies as Thanos arrives. Cap's back with 'that' beard, and the Avengers will ultimately join forces with the Guardians of the Galaxy. One or two characters will surely die...

Beast

British indie erotic thriller that won plaudits upon its LFF 2017 premiere.

May 4

A Quiet Place

Emily Blunt in a horror story directed by her husband.

May 25

Han Solo

Can it deliver like Rogue One?

Jun 1

Deadpool 2

Can lightning strike twice for Ryan Reynolds' sweary mutant? Josh Brolin arrives as Cable.

Jun 8

Jurassic World 2

I'm guessing some dinosaurs will attack people...

Jun 22

Ocean’s 8

Bullock, Blanchett, Hathaway, HBC, and Paulson in the all-female heist movie (right).

Jun 29

Sicario 2

A prequel to Sicario, focusing on Benecio del Toro and Josh Brolin.

Jul 13

Incredibles 2

Finally! Will this be the best super hero movie of 2018?

Jul 27

Mission: Impossible 6

Chris McQuarrie and Tom Cruise seek to outdo Bond again; Rebecca Ferguson returns.

Aug 2

Predator 

Shane Black remakes the Arnie classic.

Aug 3

Ant-Man & The Wasp

The sequel to Ant-Man in which Evangeline Lilly dons the Wasp outfit. Michelle Pfeiffer cast as the original and missing in action Wasp.

Sep 14

Mary Queen of Scots

Saoirse Ronan is Mary Stuart! Margot Robbie is Queen Elizabeth I!

Sep 28

The Kid Who Would Be King

The new Joe Cornish!

Oct 5

Venom 

Tom Hardy is Venom in this Spider-Man spin-off. 

Oct 19

The Jungle Book

The Andy Serkis live-action version, faithful to the original text - so not very Disney then!

Oct 31

Dark Phoenix

The third X-Men-related movie of the year sees Sophie Turner's Jean Grey go full Phoenix (left). Directed long-time X-Men movie producer and writer Simon Kinberg; might it actually be good?

Nov 2

First Man

Following Whiplash and La La Land, Damian Chappelle directs Ryan Gosling as Neil Armstrong.

Dec 14

Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse

Animated Spidey, focusing on an alternative universe, introducing Miles Morales as the Ultimate Spider-Man.

Dec 21

Aquaman

The only DC movie of 2018, following more than a year after the mess that was Justice League... Saw and Conjuring director James Wan might bring something new to the super hero genre?

Mary Poppins Returns

Emily Blunt is Mary Poppins...

Wondering about Wonder Woman

Gender box office records broken, glass ceiling smashed, thousands of words written about the film’s wider impact: nothing’s impossible for Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman or so it appears. There may be spoilers ahead!

Before I give my witness statement, I need to set myself in context: yes, I’m a comic geek, but I’m not hugely into DC, outside of Bats and Supes; I don’t think I’ve ever read an issue of Wonder Woman, but I am a reader and watcher of Jessica Jones, Black Widow, Captain Marvel, Agent Carter, and Mockingbird from the Marvel comics, movies and TV series, and also a reader of more female-focussed works such as Bitch Planet, Saga, Black Magick and Velvet.

Like many, I wasn’t happy with Bats v Supes and was seriously underwhelmed by Suicide Squad. The only chink of light in BvS was Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman. I wasn’t entirely convinced by the first trailer, but as WW’s opening date drew closer, I became more hopeful.

And for the most part that hope was well founded. Aside from the bookends, the film is self-contained with no references to the established DC movie universe. Indeed, the film is probably even better if you haven’t seen BvS.

The film is comfortable in its own skin, even if the plot feels like a patchwork of Superman The Movie, Captain America: The First Avenger and Thor (the London backstreet bullet-catch sequence is a replay of Lois and Clark being mugged behind the Daily Planet sequence in Superman, for example). The film has an honest emotional core to it, not unlike Lord of the Rings, that lends the film gravitas and lifts it above its source material. It’s perfectly pitched, and the tonal shifts are well executed: the comedy to drama to tragedy absolutely works.

Indeed, it’s certainly the most romantic superhero movie since Thor and Spider-Man II. And that’s in part due to the natural chemistry between Gadot and Chris Pine as Captain Steve Trevor. There’s a whiff of James T Kirk in Trevor, but Pine takes his position in the drama and rolls with it: he’s world-weary, heroic, but flummoxed, embarrassed and by the end utterly smitten with Diana (just like every guy in the room, then!). It has already been noted by other observers, notably in Meg Downey's excellent analysis for CBR.com, that he declares his love for her and that she does not reciprocate.

I like that the film allows Trevor to maintain the gentlemanly code of conduct that’s correct for the period, which then paves the way for a delicate moment of power play: post-dance, Trevor escorts Diana to her room and moves to exit and close the door, not assuming he has the right to stay; with a subtle bow and turn of the head, Diana’s stare pierces him and invites him to stay. Like Michael Biehn’s Corporal Hicks in Aliens with Ripley, Trevor respects Diana from the off and swiftly accepts her power and her right to be the dominant force.

It would be fair to say that the challenge her empowerment provides to the film’s patriarchy emboldens the majority of men to be better, to think with their brains and hearts rather than with their cocks and anger – for the most part, Diana doesn’t emasculate the men around her.

With her part in ensuring the end of WWI a secret, there’s no chance for her efforts to galvanise the gender war. (Note: the script never refers to ‘goddesses’, just ‘gods’.) Indeed, the film rather raises the question of what Diana did for the 100 years or so between the Great War and BvS? Perhaps Justice League may offer us a clue when it opens in November.

While the film is effectively a star-making vehicle for Gal Gadot (it’ll be intriguing to see how her career develops: what roles will she be offered?), I’m not convinced she completely believed in some of her character’s ‘hero’ moments or maybe those set pieces were early in the shoot and she wasn’t fully confident in herself and the material.

That said, Diana’s almost graceful journey from ingénue to hero to wrathful and judging god to benevolent idol demands much and Gadot rises to the challenge. The film’s set piece in No Man’s Land, in which Diana draws the attention and the heavy fire of the German frontline, brings a lump to the throat, aided by Rupert Gregson-Williams’ stirring score.

The film’s and Diana’s gaze falls witheringly on man’s inhumanity to his fellow man and woman, specifically through war. The film is stridently anti-war and much is made of Diana’s compassion; there’s even time for a needs of the few versus the needs of the many debate before the No Man’s Land sequence.

There’s some giddy, Liberal wish-fulfilment in the finale that is counterpointed by our foreknowledge of the events to come in the ensuing 100 years and thus hints at the moral complexities and failings of mankind Diana will have to learn: she ends Ares but not jealousy, hatred and war.

The film has issues, of course. The finale launches the film backwards into a pitch-black Zack Snyder-style CGI-fest with maximum destruction for our viewing pleasure… This is a shame given how progressive the film is up to that point.

And briefly touching on technical points, the fight styles and effects in the DC movies so far are not a patch on Marvel’s work. Similarly, Marvel’s choice of cinematographers is a notch (or more) above DC’s. Those trends continue with Wonder Woman.

There’s an element of tokenism to Trevor’s Scooby Gang: are they there simply to highlight to Diana man’s inhumanity to man and woman alike? Upon reflection and further viewings, Ewen Bremner’s PTSD-sufferer probably gets the best of the bad hands dealt here.

The bad guys are just too typically lazily drawn and there’s no getting away from the fact that great performers like Danny Huston and Elena Anaya are wasted here. Similarly, there’s little for Connie Nielsen and Robin Wright to do as Diana’s mother and aunt respectively.

And as intelligent as some of the material and the approach to it is, WW does not confront and debate the gender war with the same depth and analysis as Marvel’s/Netflix’s Jessica Jones (perhaps because, in pure narrative terms, Diana is at war with war whereas JJ is at war with the patriarchy).

Those caveats aside, I thoroughly enjoyed the film. It sets a high bar for the Captain Marvel movie (and the Black Widow solo outing should it ever emerge) and should comfortably pull in more than $600m worldwide – frankly it should do $700m-plus but that hinges on how good its domestic legs are and how the rest of the world takes to a character it barely knows.

Wonder Woman is a standard around which those who rightly demand Hollywood should produce more diverse output from more diverse creatives must rally (and in significant number). Nevertheless, the film represents victory in just one battle of a much longer and larger campaign.

Logan: finally The Wolverine

I’ve waited until my second viewing of Logan before sharing my thoughts. Indeed, it’s taken a second viewing to ‘process’ the film. Be warned: there be spoilers here.

Let’s start with that trailer: its tone hints at what’s to come in the film, but it in no way prepares the viewer for its bleak, solemn and brutal approach. The trailer, backed of course with Johnny Cash’s cover of Hurt, suggests heroic redemption, Gladiator-style.

And while DoP John Mathieson, who shot Gladiator, brings an epic visual scope to Logan, there is little else about this film that matches Gladiator’s arc.

Logan is clearly closest in spirit to Clint’s Unforgiven, but even that had humour and crowd-pleasing moments. It shares the Oscar-winning Western’s set-up and themes, but in the hands of director James Mangold and star Hugh Jackman, Logan mines those with greater and discomforting intensity.

Logan is not a super hero movie – yes, there are super-powered characters, fights and some effects – rather this is a story of two old men, both of whom have had enough of life, facing up to the choices they have made and the choices that have been forced upon them. Live by the claw, die by the claw.

Key to the film’s success is this set-up: while both Logan and Xavier are powerful mutants, their abilities are curbed by old age. The idea of Xavier suffering from a degenerative neurological disorder and having to take medication that dulls his brain further is upsetting.

Logan appears to begrudge his role of Xavier’s provider and carer; indeed there’s an edge of care home abuse in his treatment of the Professor. Once we work out what happened to all the mutants, we realise that, in his grief, Logan is imprisoning and punishing Xavier.

Logan, clearly being poisoned by the adamantium grafted to his skeleton, finds his only escape from the pain and the tedium of caring for Xavier in beer and bourbon. With his healing power failing him, more recent scars stand proud upon his body – no chance of leaving behind a beautiful corpse – and he walks with a pronounced limp.

He even seems to be suffering from erectile dysfunction of his claws: they don’t pop as quickly and as far as they used to.

Nevertheless, when he does pop those claws, boy does he… The first fight against some would-be car-jackers is shocking. Logan wearily asks them to back away, but then the shots start and before you know it, Logan’s limo has got marks on it – and that drives this tired, old white man over the edge. The ensuing fight sees him kill most of the hoodlums with crunching, graphic claw attacks – more often than not he goes for the kill-strike immediately (up through the chin, from the base of the back of the skull, etc), not because they’re the most expedient, but because he gets the most satisfaction that way, it’s the only way to sate the anger and blood lust.

As the story progresses, Logan gets ever more violent and ever-more dehumanized by his own actions. His violence stands on the same ground as sex in Cronenberg movies: it’s a headlong dive into self-loathing, and, like a junkie, he just can’t give up.

By the time we reach the final battle, Logan is running on little more than pure, animalistic rage: at this point he is The Wolverine. And this is uncomfortable to watch, as Jackman utters guttural animal noises – he’s no longer human.

There’s so much violence and it’s so graphic that the viewer is left bloodied and broken like Logan’s enemies, unwillingly complicit in the dearth (and indeed death) of humanity in a beloved screen hero.

Wolverine, hero no more: that could have been the film’s alternative title. There’s nothing heroic here, what redemption there is for Logan is depressingly fleeting.

Compare the fall of Maximus in Gladiator with the falls of either Xavier or Logan: Russell Crowe’s Caesar-killer is accorded a hero’s death, full of pomp and ceremony, while the dispatch of and burial of Xavier is exceptionally tough on the character, his legacy and the audience.

Logan can only articulate his sense of loss through rage and violence, unable even to summon any appropriate eulogy. His reaction in the immediate aftermath is momentarily amusing for UK audiences as it recalls Basil Fawlty attacking his car; however, the humour rapidly dissipates as he continues to attack the car before collapsing to the ground – it’s agonising to watch.

When he falls at the hands of his clone (echoing Superman III’s ego and id battle), Logan is at least accorded that fleeting redemption, a second of happiness in a lifetime of abuse, misery and shattered dreams.

The film completes its echoes of Unforgiven by affording Logan a fiery and naïve protégé, X23/Laura (Dafne Keen gives as strong and committed a performance as Jackman here).

It’s worth noting how Logan toys with Unforgiven’s meta aspect – the ‘man of letters and such’, mythologising the Wild West with the tales of the ‘Duck of Death’ who bears witness to William Munny’s own myth. When Logan finds the X-Men comics in X23’s possession, the myths of which she clings to, he flicks through the pages and decries the stories: ‘maybe a quarter of it happened and not like this; you don’t just pull on some spandex and save the day’.

Some writers have suggested that the primary colour visions in the comic panels rekindle the long-dead hero in Logan, but I’m not sure I agree. He’s not one to believe his own press.

However, it is worth noting that in the glimpses of the comics we get, the character who calls for Logan’s help is his original X-daughter, Rogue. Given that the comic revelation comes just after Logan has discovered the truth about X23’s ancestry, this is the turning point in his attitude towards her: if not her hero, he must become her father.

But the sins of the father have been passed on undiluted to this child: seeing her tear men apart makes for even more uncomfortable viewing than Wolverine’s berserker rage, her feral quality a result of years of abuse and captivity.

Logan’s final fatherly advice hints at despair and a mission impossible: “Don’t become what they made you.”

Using Shane’s departing speech as a eulogy, X23/Laura then completes Logan’s burial, fittingly and tellingly flipping the angle of the makeshift cross on Logan’s grave so that it forms an ‘x’. Weapon X is dead, long live Weapon X.

2016 box office review: of superheroes and animals

2016 was the year when animals and superheroes ruled cinemas worldwide: if you didn’t focus on those two archetypes, then your film had a limited box office scope.

The top 20 films worldwide feature six superhero movies and six films focusing on anthropomorphised animals. Leading the pack was Captain America: Civil War with more than $1.1bn (some $250m less than Age of Ultron but some $440m more than the previous instalment of Cap); it placed seventh in the UK, first internationally, third in the US and fourth in China.

Second, third and fourth were another trio of Disney hits: Finding Dory and Zootopia just clipping passed $1bn, with the live action Jungle Book falling just shy of that marker. Dory wasn’t as well reviewed as Nemo and its performance was hampered somewhat as it was the fourth and last of the major animal movies (preceded not only by Zootopia and Jungle Book but also The Secret Life of Pets) and did not perform well in China (perhaps because Finding Nemo was never released there), leading to an international take lower than its predecessor of 2003. Nevertheless, Dory was fifth in the UK, seventh internationally, and top in the US.

Zootopia was the second-most successful film internationally, aided by a second place finish in China with $235.6m. It was also the most successful film based on an original script. In the UK, it could only place 13^th with £24m, nearly £12m short of Pets, £19m short of Dory and £22m short of Jungle Book.

Jungle Book was surprisingly well-reviewed, showed good legs and pocketed nearly $967m worldwide, including £46m-plus in the UK (good for fourth place), more than $600m internationally (third place), and $150m in China.

The fifth largest film of the year is the first non-Disney film: The Secret Life of Pets got close to $900m, making nearly £36m in the UK (ninth place), and more than $500m internationally (also eighth). It placed fourth in the US, just beating Jungle Book.

Supers v supers

Four of the next seven places are taken by superheroes, namely Bats v Supes, Deadpool (arguably the shock over-performer of 2016), Suicide Squad and Doctor Strange. While both DC entries were poorly received by the fanbase they were aimed at, they both finished clear of $300m and £30m in the US and UK respectively. Of the DC films, only Bats v Supes was released in the China, falling just shy of $100m. Deadpool came seemingly from nowhere to deliver his own Valentines’ Day massacre: counter-programming didn’t succeed quite as well as this in the rest of 2016 and Mr Pool was the most successful rom-com of the year. He was the most successful superhero in the UK (just beating Civil War) and doubled the take of his cohorts in the X-Men. In the US, the only superhero movie to beat him was Civil War. Mr Pool was also the most successful superhero movie in France, Germany, Australia and Russia. A crisp high five then to all those involved with Mr Pool!

Dr Strange opened well and showed good legs everywhere to finish 12th.

The worldwide top 10 also features Rogue One, which in the final fortnight of the year hauled in nearly $800m. Its performance so far is weighted towards the US, but  it didn’t open in all major international territories before the end of the year. It gatecrashed the party in the UK, just scraping ahead of Fantastic Beasts in the final days of the year to top the chart. It should finish on $1bn or more worldwide (depending on its legs internationally). Of course, 2016 was bookended by Star Wars, with The Force Awakens dominating the start of the year. It took a further $732.5m in the first few months of the year (including $125m in China and £35.9m in the UK) on top of its $1.3bn in 2015.

Also making the top 10 was another franchise spin-off (which launches a new franchise), namely Fantastic Beasts. If not quite in the HP and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 league ($1.3bn), it’s got a shot at passing the $800m mark.

Huge Chinese hit The Mermaid generated 95% of its $553.8m worldwide take from China.

The X-Men suffered their own Apocalypse, coming in 27% down on their Future Past adventure. Kung Fu Panda suffered similarly, down 22% on its predecessor, with its largest territory being China.

More than half’s Warcraft’s worldwide take came from China, placing it 16^th overall.

More adult fare, Jason Bourne and The Revenant, finished in a tight pack with the fifth (and presumably final given its take was 53% lower than its immediate ancestor) Ice Age movie. It's worth noting that just two movies in the top 20 were star-driven: Bourne and Revenant.

Enter the flops

The Independence Day sequel got bumped from the top 20 list in the final days of the year, overtaken by Moana (which had not opened in all major territories before the end of the year). ID2’s near-$390m take came off a production budget of $165m. Its predecessor took more than $800m 20 years ago; if you inflation-adjust that figure and note that there was no Chinese market then, it would appear about that only a quarter of the number of people that saw the original saw the sequel.

2016 was a crowded year and it’s no surprise that other films failed to find a large audience. Notably missing from the worldwide top 20 are such heavily marketed films as Star Trek Beyond (it fell more than 25% short of Into Darkness), Ghostbusters (it failed to cross the $300m barrier on a production cost of $144m), The Huntsman: Winter’s War (Chris Hemsworth, Charlize Theron, Emily Blunt and Jessica Chastain wasted in a $115m production that pulled in nearly $165m, less than half of its predecessor’s haul) and Alice Through The Looking Glass (it fell just shy of the $300m barrier, but finished with a take 70% lower than the original’s take).

The third Divergent instalment, Allegiant, brought in less than $180m, which compares poorly with the near $300m totals of the first two parts. It emerged all-too swiftly that the fourth and final part would screen as a TV series. Whether this kills off the YA fantasy/sci fi adaptations remains to be seen.

Particularly dishonourable mentions should also go to Inferno, which finished with less than a third of the Da Vinci Code’s final result, and Ben-Hur. The latter epic cost $100m and generated just $94.1m worldwide. For reference, the inflation-adjusted US box office only figure for the Charlton Heston variant is $843.8m!

The British bit

In the UK, Bridget Jones’s Baby played like a traditional British movie: number three at home with £48.1m, but with only low-level success elsewhere. Nearly one-third of Bridget’s overall box office came from the UK.

Other notable over-performers in the UK include The BFG, which crossed the £30m barrier (that figure accounts for about a fifth of its overall total), and The Girl On The Train, which crossed the £20m barrier  (the UK was pretty much the only territory where it performed like the film its marketing and release pattern aped, Gone Girl).

The Revenant also crossed the £20m barrier, which just goes to show how much a brilliant trailer can impact a film’s performance: it was all about that bear attack.

2017 offers a similar number of superhero movies (including the first female-led example, courtesy of Wonder Woman), remakes (Tom Cruise’s The Mummy), and sequels (Wolverine 3, Guardians 2, Kingsman 2, Alien Covenant, Despicable Me 3, Cars 3, Thor 3, Paddington 2, Blade Runner 2049, and Pitch Perfect 3). There’s also the small matter of Star Wars 8: will records be broken again?

Worldwide (1 January 2016 to 1 January 2017)

Civil War $1,153.3m

Finding Dory $1,027.6m

Zootopia $1,023.8m

The Jungle Book $966.6m

The Secret Life Of Pets $875.4m

Batman v Superman $873.3m

Rogue One $786m

Deadpool  $783.1m

Fantastic Beasts $775.5m

Suicide Squad $745.6m

Star Wars 7  $732.5m

Dr Strange $657.6m

The Mermaid   $553.8m

X-Men: Apocalypse $543.9m

Kung Fu Panda 3 $521.2m

Warcraft $433.5m

Jason Bourne $415.2m

The Revenant  $409.4m

Ice Age 5 $407.7m

Moana $399.1m

UK (1 January 2016 to 1 January 2017)

Rogue One £52.1m

Fantastic Beasts £51m

Bridget Jones’s Baby £48.1m

The Jungle Book £46.2m

Finding Dory £42.8m

Deadpool  £37.9m

Civil War £36.9m

Batman v Superman £36.6m

The Secret Life Of Pets £36.5m

Star Wars 7  £35.9m

Suicide Squad £33.6m

The BFG £30.6m

Zootropolis £24m

The Girl On The Train £23.5m

Trolls £23.4m

Jason Bourne £23.3m

The Revenant  £23.2m

Dr Strange £23.2m

X-Men: Apocalypse £18.3m

Alvin & The Chipmunks: The Road Chip  £16.8m

International (1 January 2016 to 1 January 2017)

Civil War $745.2m

Zootopia $682.5m

The Jungle Book $602.5m

Fantastic Beasts $551.4m

The Mermaid  $550.6m

Batman v Superman $542.9m

Finding Dory $541.3m

The Secret Life Of Pets $507.1m

Star Wars 7  $449.3m

Dr Strange $427.5m

Suicide Squad $420.5m

Deadpool  $420m

X-Men: Apocalypse $388.5m

Warcraft $386.3m

Kung Fu Panda $377.6m

Rogue One $361m

Ice Age 5 $343.7m

The Revenant  $331.3m

Independence Day $286.5m

Now You See Me 2 $269.8m

Jason Bourne $253.1m

US (1 January 2016 to 1 January 2017)

Finding Dory $486.3m

Rogue One $425m

Civil War $408.1m

The Secret Life Of Pets $368.3m

The Jungle Book $364m

Deadpool  $363.1m

Zootopia $341.3m

Batman v Superman $330.4m

Suicide Squad $325.1m

Star Wars 7  $283.2m

Dr Strange $230.1m

Fantastic Beasts $224.1m

Moana $210m

The Revenant  $181.9m

Sing $166.5m

Jason Bourne $162.2m

Star Trek Beyond $158.9m

X-Men: Apocalypse $155.5m

Trolls $150.3m

Kung Fu Panda 3 $143.5m

China (international releases only in 2016)

The Mermaid $526.8m

Zootopia $235.6m

Warcraft $220.8m

Civil War $190.4m

Kung Fu Panda $154.3m

The Jungle Book $150.1m

The Great Wall $148.2m

Star Wars 7  $125.4m

X-Men: Apocalypse $120.8m

Dr Strange $109.2m

Now You See Me 2 $97.1m

Batman v Superman $95.8m

Fantastic Beasts $85m

The Angry Birds Movie $75.9m

Independence Day $75.4m

Jason Bourne $66.9m

Ice Age 5 $66.5m

Star Trek Beyond $65.1m

TMNT 2 $58.9m

Alice Through The Looking Glass $58.8m

Data sourced from Boxofficemojo.com and the BFI