5. MAGIC MIKE - ~$150m Worldwide / $7m Budget
Forget global warming. This caused the heat wave this summer.
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Earlier this year, people thought this would hardly make a dent at the box office, seeing it as likely getting lost in the shuffle. However, female audiences are not to be underestimated. The idea of five muscular men (led by Channing Tatum, straight off of two box office hits, The Vow and 21 Jump Street) as male strippers in a movie that included graphic nudity in its MPAA rating must have got these audiences excited. The film, however, received a release on only one or two screens at most multiplexes. WB ended up underestimating this. On June 29th, the film yielded a $6.6k PTA, churning up a Friday of nearly $20m. Unfortunately, the weekend was rather front loaded, dropping a whopping 41% on Saturday to have an internal multiplier of just over 2x. The film had iffy weekend holds, but it held great on summer weekdays, similar to most films aimed at women over the summer. Not only was it a huge hit off of a $7m budget, it received surprisingly good reviews, thanks to Steven Soderbergh's surprisingly solid (heh, alliteration) direction. Another June 29th release was also popular, but we'll get to that later.
4. ICE AGE: CONTINENTAL DRIFT - ~$825m Worldwide / $95m Budget
For some reason, he's an international celebrity.
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Blue Sky is one of the most profitable studios currently working in Bollywood, churning out CGI movies for lower budgets after tax cuts for working in Connecticut. Their big franchise, Ice Age, continued this summer by introducing a new dynamic: prehistoric pirates. Sid, Diego, & Manny must face these new bad guys while the crazed Scrat still hunts for that coveted acorn. Granted, the film received average reviews, and it had the lowest gross for the franchise domestically. The fourth installment curse strikes again. However, they didn't just make this for American audiences. The series yields INSANE numbers overseas, thanks to the 3D advent and the exciting setting, but even that can't fully explain the ridiculously high numbers. Seriously, Ice Age 3 had the highest overseas take of every single animated film ever. 81% of the film's gross came from foreign countries. Match that with the several toys that it would probably sell, and Fox will struggle to count all the money that they're making off of this cash cow. Ice Age 5 will be just around the corner.
3. THE DARK KNIGHT RISES - ~$1b Worldwide / $250m Budget
When July 20th comes, Marvel, then you have my permission to die.
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What set up do I need? It's the last installment of Christopher Nolan's epic Batman trilogy, placing him against the notorious Bane (Tom Hardy, who worked with Nolan in 2010's Inception.) Push come to shove, The Dark Knight Rises is mimicking what Toy Story 3 is going through, box office wise. The opening fell short of the massive expectations being thrown around, but most people are still going to be generally satisfied with the general result. Of course, one of the reasons for this film's struggle derives from one of the biggest tragedies of the year, one that no predictor could have possibly seen coming: the Aurora shootings. This event sent a shock wave to effect most remaining films in the summer - not just The Dark Knight Rises.
However, most weren't stopped from seeing what should have been the event of the summer, desperate to see how Nolan would end this saga. Overall, it gave a fantastic performance that could have been even better if unfair circumstances weren't brought into play.
2. TED - ~$400m Worldwide / $50m Budget
Moviegoers sure love some tasteful comedy over the summer.
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Seth MacFarlane has a huge fanbase, after Family Guy, American Dad, and The Cleveland Show consistently score high rankings for Fox. Before he does a Family Guy movie, though, he brought the story of a crude, foul-mouthed, pot smoking teddy bear to the big screen. After warm reactions to the trailer in early April, (most likely attached to the disappointing American Reunion) people figured that this was going to be a hit. However, no one could have imagined how big it really was. Every summer has had a big comedy breakout since 2009: The Hangover, Grown Ups, Bridesmaids, and now Ted. The film brought in a whopping $54m opening weekend, proceeding to get nearly a 4x multiplier and cross $200m with ease. Better yet, the film performed better than most comedies do overseas, thanks to the international appeal of Family Guy. When all is said and done, this may very well be Universal's biggest film on its 100th anniversary, unless Les Miserables turns into a crazy breakout.
1. MARVEL'S THE AVENGERS - $1.5b Worldwide / $220m Budget
It would have been awesome even if they showed only this still for 2.5 hours.
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The highest grossing film of the summer both domestically and worldwide - and it wasn't even expected to be. After building up character development through five movies spread out across four years, (Iron Man got two movies, and Hawkeye only had a cameo in Thor, so it's not necessarily equal...) Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, The Hulk, Hawkeye, and Black Widow are finally united under Nick Fury, (Samuel L. Jackson) fighting to take on the forces of Loki, Thor's evil brother. If the idea of all these superheroes working together doesn't do it for you, maybe Joss Whedon, who delivered one of the summer's best scripts with this movie. (Honestly, I thought it was the funniest movie of the summer.) Indeed, the film made history right from the start. It had a jaw dropping opening weekend of over $200m, a record that will probably stick for a while, as well as a second weekend over $100m. Both records are the first for any film to do. The film was universally loved by Marvel fans, general audiences, and critics aline, yielding a whopping $1.5 billion dollar gross during the summer. The film even out grossed Titanic's original run, the only film to do so other than Avatar! Safe to say, The Avengers will stay with us for a while. Thor, Iron Man, and Cap will get their own sequels in the next two years, a new ABC series focusing on SHIELD could pilot next fall, and The Avengers will re-unite to take on Thanos in 2015. Finally, you can see The Avengers again this weekend, as it's returning to most theaters for Labor Day weekend.
That's all, folks!
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