Each day a different year in review party. Here's Nathaniel...
It's time for a special box office report. Though the year was dire for most studios (at least until the final quarter) with moviegoing down, especially in the summer, there are always hits. The question is only how large and what motivates people to buy a ticket. For all the griping you hear about "everything is superheroes" or "another sequel?" the biggest hits are nearly always sequels or superhero films so the audiences only have themselves to blame in a way.
We've already looked at the top grossing foreign language titles of 2017 so now to the wider releases as well as other categories. We'll break it down into multiple top tens so that it's more interesting than sequels and superheroes. (All grosses are US domestic)...
🔺 = means that the film is still in release so its place in these rankings is not yet settled. All figures are as of March 11th, 2018
TOP TEN BOX OFFICE HITS
links go to reviews
01 🔺 Star Wars The Last Jedi (Disney) $619.6 (Dec 15th)
02 Beauty and the Beast (Disney) $504 (March 17th)
03 Wonder Woman (Warner Bros) $412.5 (June 2nd)
04🔺 Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (Sony) $399 (Dec 20th)
05 Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 (Disney/Marvel) $389.8 (May 5th)
06 Spider-Man Homecoming (Sony/Marvel) $334.2 (July 7th)
07 It (Warner Bros/New Line) $327.4 (Sept 8th)
08 🔺 Thor: Ragnarok (Disney/Marvel) $315 (November 3rd)
09 Despicable Me 3 (Universal) $264.6 (June 30th)
}10 Logan (Fox) $226.2 (March 3rd)
But the lists are more interesting if you move beyond the actual top ten. American audiences have long since gone completely "Brand Loyalty" in their ticket purchasing so it's a much more significant achievement to have a hit without that springboard.
So major major kudos to the following pictures...
TOP ORIGINALS
NOT PRE-EXISTING IN ANY WAY, NOT (YET) A FRANCHISE
01 🔺 Coco (Disney/Pixar) $209 (Nov 22nd)
02 Dunkirk (Warner Bros) $188 (July 21st)
03 Get Out (Universal) $176 (February 24th)
04 🔺 The Greatest Showman (Fox) $168.9 (December 25th)
05 Split (Universal) $138.1 (January 20th)
Yes, technically you could count this as a sequel to Unbreakable but it wasn't sold that way and that felt like an post-production game to make this into an instant franchise by connecting it to a previous film and making a "universe" out of them.
06 Girls Trip (Universal) $115.1 (July 21st)
07 Baby Driver (TriStar) $107.8 (June 28th)
08 The Hitman's Bodyguard (Lionsgate) $75.4 (August 18th)
09 Happy Death Day (Universal) $55.6 (October 13th)
10 American Made (Universal) $51.3 (Sept 29th)
Just missing this list were two widely disliked movies: The Amy Schumacher comedy Snatched and The Great Wall, believe it or not, that Asian monster film starring Matt Damon
NOT ORIGINALS (BUT NOT SEQUELS)
ADAPTATIONS / REMAKES / FRANCHISE LAUNCH
01 Beauty and the Beast (Disney) $504 (March 17th)
02 Wonder Woman (Warner Bros) $412.5 (June 2nd)
03 🔺 Jumani: Welcome to the Jungle (Sony) $399 (Dec 20th)
04 It (Warner Bros/New Line) $327.4 (Sept 8th)
05 The Boss Baby (Fox) $175 (March 31st)
06 🔺 Wonder (Lionsgate) $132.3 (November 17th)
07 🔺 Murder on the Orient Express (Fox) $102.8 (November 10th)
08 The Emoji Movie (Sony) $86 (July 8th)
This is not technically an adaptation of anything but since it's riffing on a well known brand/phenomenon we figured it doesn't count as original
09 Power Rangers (Lionsgate) $85.3 (March 24th)
10 The Mummy (Universal) $80.1 (June 9th)
If you're like "huh, that's not an original?" it's probably a book you weren't aware of. (Me too -- I was surprised about Boss Baby.) Just missing this list were two more family films based on preexisting properties: Captain Underpants and A Dog's Purpose. And yes, despite making this list the Mummy was a huge flop since Universal spent a fortune banking on it launching a big franchise.
TOP GROSSING FILMS LED BY AN ACTRESS / ACTRESSES
01 Beauty and the Beast (Disney) $504 (March 17th) Emma Watson
02 Wonder Woman (Warner Bros) $412.5 (June 2nd) Gal Gadot
03 Girls Trip (Universal) $115.1 (July 21st) Regina Hall & company
04 Fifty Shades Darker (Universal) $114.4 (February 10th) Dakota Johnson
05 A Bad Moms Christmas (STX) $72.1 (November 1st) Mila Kunis & company
06 Happy Death Day (Universal) $55.6 (October 13) Jessica Rothe
07 Atomic Blonde (Focus) $51.5 (July 28th) Charlize Theron
08 Snatched (Fox) $45.8 (May 12th) Amy Schumer & Goldie Hawn
09 47 Meters Down (ENTMP) $44.3 (June 16th) Mandy Moore
10 Ghost in the Shell (Paramount) $40.5 (March 31st) Scarlett Johansson
Box office stats can of course obscure the truth. Not all of these films were hits. Some cost too much to turn a real profit.
TOP GROSSING FILMS DIRECTED BY A WOMAN
(apologies if I missed someone!)
01 Wonder Woman (Warner Bros) $412.5 (June 2nd) directed by Patty Jenkins (Monster)
02 Pitch Perfect 3 (Universal) $104.8 (Dec 22nd) directed by Trish Sie (Step Up All In)
03🔺 Lady Bird (A24) $48.7 (November 3rd) directed by Greta Gerwig (solo feature debut)
04 Everything Everything (Warner Bros) $34.1 (May 19th) directed by Stella Meghie (Jean of the Joneses)
05 Underworld Blood Wars (Sony) $30.3 (Jan 6th) directed by Anna Foerster (feature debut)
06 Home Again (Open Road) $27 (September 8th) directed by Hallie Meyers-Shyer (feature debut)
07 The Bye Bye Man (STX) $22.3 (January 13th) directed by Stacy Title (The Last Supper)
08 Rough Night (Sony) $22.1 (June 16th) directed by Lucia Aniello (feature debut)
09 The Zookeeper's Wife () $17.4 (March 31st) directed by Niki Caro (Whale Rider, North Country)
10 Detroit (Annapurna) $16.7 (July 28th) directed by Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker, Strange Days)
Of course since Netflix only releases their films theatrically for one week to qualify for Oscars and then doesn't report the grosses we have no idea if Mudbound would have been a hit or not.
Outside the List
Over 10 million: Megan Leavey, Battle of the Sexes, Before I Fall, Unforgettable, and The Beguiled; 1-10 Million: A United Kingdom, Loving Vincent, Their Finest, Kedi, Professor Marston and the Wonder Women, The Wedding Plan, and the documentary Step; < 1 Million: Beach Rats, Landline, Novitiate, and XX
TOP GROSSING FILMS DIRECTED BY A PERSON OF COLOR
(apologies if I missed someone!)
Taika Waititi and various Asgardians
01 Thor: Ragnarok (Disney/Marvel) $315 (November 3rd) directed by Taika Waititi (Hunt for the Wilderpeople, What We Do in the Shadows)
02 The Fate of the Furious (Universal) $225.7 (April 14th) directed by F Gary Gray (Straight Outta Compton)
03 Get Out (Universal) $176 (February 24th) directed by Jordan Peele (feature debut)
04 Split (Universal) $138.1 (January 20th) directed by M Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable)
05 Girls Trip (Universal) $115.1 (July 21st) directed by Malcolm D Lee (The Best Man Holiday)
06 Boo 2! A Madea Halloween (Lionsgate) $47.3 (October 20th) directed by Tyler Perry (Meet the Browns, Why Did I Get Married, Madea franchise)
07 The Great Wall (Universal) $45.1 (February 17th) directed by Zhang Yimou (Hero)
08 All Eyez On Me (Lionsgate) $44.9 (June 16th) directed by Benny Boom (Next Day Air)
09 Everything Everything (Warner Bros) $34.1 (May 19th) directed by Stella Meghie (Jean of the Joneses)
10 Baahubali 2 The Conclusion (Great India Films) $20.2 (April 28th) directed by SS Rajamouli (Baahubali) this film also leads the top grossing subtitled films list
Just outside the list: The Glas Castle directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, Marshall directed by Reginald Hudlin, A United Kingdom directed by Amma Assante, Professor Marston and the Wonder Women directed by Angela Robinson
TOP GROSSING FILMS DIRECTED BY AN OUT MEMBER OF THE LGBT COMMUNITY
(apologies if I missed someone!)
02 🔺 Call Me By Your Name (SPC) $17.6 directed by Luca Guadagnino (I Am Love, A Bigger Splash)
03 Brad's Status (Annapurna) $2.1 directed by Mike White (Year of the Dog)
04 A Quiet Passion (Music Box Films) $1.8 directed by Terence Davies (House of Mirth, Distant Voices Still Lives)
05 Professor Marston and the Wonder Women (Annapurna) $1.5 directed by Angela Robinson (Debs)
06 Wonderstruck (Roadside Attractions) $1.0 directed by Todd Haynes (Carol, Far From Heaven)
07 God's Own Country (Orion) $296k directed by Francis Lee (directorial debut)
08 🔺 BPM (Beats Per Minute) (Orchard) $123k direted by Robin Campillo (Eastern Boys)
09 The Ornithologist (Strand) $50k directed by João Pedro Rodrigues (O Fantasma)
10 The Wound (Kino Lorber) $30k directed by John Trengrove (directorial debut)
NOTE: It took scouring hundreds of films to come up with a top ten. No wonder the Tom of Finland biopic was so conventional -- it was directed by a straight man! Many of our most famous queer filmmakers didn't have movies released this year and many of our less famous queer filmmakers have moved over to TV where they are working much more frequently . And this is yet another list in this post (that makes three that Mudbound would have been on had it had a proper theatrical release -- curse you Netflix!)
WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF THESE LISTS? CAUSE FOR HOPE / ALARM / OR OTHER?