Thursday, March 9, 2017
Film Blog 5, Question 2 (March 21st)
Compare the top box office hits from last weekend, last year (2016), and
the previous year (2015). Describe two trends that you see in the data. Which
studios/companies were most successful in capitalizing on these trends? And do
you see these trends continuing in the next 3 – 5 years? Limit: 11 responses
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
When looking at the past couple of years of Hollywood’s domestic gross there are two trends that can be observed. First being that The Walt Disney Company consistently benefits from their acquisition of both Marvel and Lucas Films. According to Box Office Mojo’s 2015 report three out of the top five films are parts of the Disney family. Now looking to Box Office Mojo’s 2016 report four out of the top five are Disney property. Now the 2017 film year is still young but Disney has hit it out of the park with the Marvel smash hit Logan. This single movie has grossed close to $88,4111,916 towering over the other movies below it on Box Office Mojo’s March 3-5, 2017 list. Thus Disney is clearly taking advantage of the Marvel machine that has dominated Hollywood for the past decade. Even with the impressive Marvel numbers the real eye opener is Star Wars: The Force Awakens. It ranked #1 in revenue for both 2015 and 2016 according to Box Office Mojo. These are unprecedented numbers and shows that popular brands can become film powerhouses. Disney has nailed the blockbuster formula, big brands with big actors. With more Star Wars sequels and plenty more Marvel movies in the future Disney is geared up to continue their recent success.
ReplyDeleteSo with Disney controlling the blockbuster scene how do other movies break through? Well this is where the second trend I observed comes in. Animated movies seem to be the some of the top movies each year. Now Disney usually has smash hits with Pixar and recent success with Zootopia winning an Oscar, but movies like the Angry Birds Movie grossing hundreds of millions shows that other companies can profit from the animation craze. Last year could have been seen as a “talking animal takeover,” with many of the highest grossing animations featuring a lovable talking creature (Mandell 1). These types of movies seem to gross a lot as they have a large target audience as children and parents flock to theaters together. These movies pander to the immaturity of the children and also have a couple of adult jokes in there so the parents can survive. Shrek is a great example of a groundbreaking film in terms of it’s duel audience appeal. Also these movies are heavily advertised and usually become part of a new toy line or video game. This only further draws in the child audience.
Overall the top movies are going to be the summer blockbusters and animated hits, but with the increasing threat of Netflix and the rise of the indie scene can these trends last? I say it can for now. With many sequels coming out for recent hit films, I believe that the traditional Hollywood formula can last for a little longer. Disney and other big players in the film industry should be cautious of these smaller threats as the movie market is seeing continual segmentation.
ReplyDeleteWork Cited
"2015 DOMESTIC GROSSES." Box Office Mojo. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2017.
"2016 DOMESTIC GROSSES." Box Office Mojo. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2017.
M, Andrea, and Ell. "7 Standout Movie Trends of 2016." USA Today. Gannett Satellite Information Network, 26 Dec. 2016. Web. 20 Mar. 2017.
"Weekend Box Office Results for March 3-5, 2017." Box Office Mojo. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2017.
Angie King
ReplyDeleteAfter analyzing the top office hits from last weekend, last year and the previous, there are some prevalent trends. The first trend unveiled in the data was that sequels and remakes aren’t going anywhere. The stories we love are being retold in Hollywood for a second, and maybe third time. Although it’s hard to know what movies will dominate 2017, the top film out of last weekend’s box office was Logan, grossing over $88 million (Weekend Box Office Results). Logan just happens to be the third film in Fox’s Wolverine series as well. Out of the top five grossing films in 2016, four of them were either sequels or remakes. The top grossing film in 2016 was Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Joining Star Wars in the top five was Finding Dory, Captain America: Civil War, and the Jungle Book (2016 Domestic Grosses). Not to mention all four of these films were produced by Buena Vista, which is the brand name for divisions and subsidiaries of The Walt Disney Company. The massive media conglomerates that have been running Hollywood for 100 years dominate the trend of sequels and remakes. They have the rights to these stories and characters, and they are going to make a profit off them. In 2015 the story was no different. Out of the top five grossing films in 2015, four were either sequels or remakes. The top grossing film in 2015 was Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Joining Star Wars was Jurassic World, Avengers: Age of Ultron, and Furious 7 (2015 Domestic Grosses). Three of these movies were produced by Buena Vista. Universal Studios is known for their Furious franchise. By evaluating the domestic grosses, Buena Vista and Universal have dominated the sequel and remake game. It looks like the trend of retelling franchise stories is not going away anytime soon.
Another trend that can be detected in the box office charts is the popularity of animated films. Animated films even provided for record-breaking numbers last year. In 2016, the revenue at the North American box office reached $11.36 billion, “setting a new high-water mark and up 2.1 percent from last year’s record $11.14 billion” (McClintock). Animated family films, mostly thanks to Disney, were part of this trend. These films took the industry by surprise in 2016. The Secret Life of Pets produced by Illumination and Universal was the fourth title, making $364 million. Looking at the box office trends, animated films are a safe and successful bet. Other recent animated successes are The LEGO Batman Movie, Moana, Finding Dory, Zootopia, Sing, Inside Out, and Minions. Historically Disney has dominated the animation game, but other producers are getting in on the success. The animation trend will continue well into the coming years for two reasons. One reason is that most of the big name animated films are successful and make money. However, the more important reason is that other companies like Netflix and Amazon are creeping into film production. Companies like Disney will need to combat their competition by holding onto their animated characters and storylines that produce films, attraction parks, and merchandise.
Works Cited
“2015 Domestic Grosses.” Box Office Mojo. Web. 20 March 2017.
“2016 Domestic Grosses.” Box Office Mojo. Web. 20 March 2017.
McClintock, Pamela. “2016 Box Office Hits Record $11.4B in North America Despite Angst.”
The Hollywood Reporter. 01 January 2017. Web. 20 March 2017.
“Weekend Box Office Results for March 3-5, 2017.” Box Office Mojo. 06 March 2017. Web.
20 March 2017.
Thought the past couple of years’ movies have been in question on their profitability. And through those years the trends money and popularity of movies have been slowly declining. Looking at trends through the years can show you this. This is a big problem for movie studies and movie creators because if people stop going to the movies and movies stop making a profit what would the point in making them be? If you compare the top three movies from 2015 which were Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Jurassic World, and Avengers: Age of Ultron you can see many different trends compared to the top three movies in 2016 which were Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Finding Dory, and Captain America: Civil War. The First trend is except for Rogue One each of the movies from 2015 lasted longer in the theaters each of those movies lasted between five and six months, in 2016 the other movies with the exception of Rogue One only lasted for about 4 months. So as you can see that shows a drop in popularity. (Box Office Mojo, 2017) (Box Office Mojo, 2017)
ReplyDeleteThe second trend that is shown between the two years is the amount of money that movies made is that movies from 2015 made more money overall between the top three then the top three in 2016. The final thing that these charts show is that BV studios and Universal were the most successful on capitalizing on these trends as most of the top movies from each year came out of their studios. (Box Office Mojo, 2017) (Box Office Mojo, 2017) However, in the past couple of weeks it looks like Universal is the only company that really is staying on top as BV doesn’t even have one movie in the top ten whereas Universal has three. So as you can see thought all of this Universal is not only really the only company thriving in the movie market but the only consistent one in the top charts. (Box Office Mojo, 2017)
Despite all of the information and seeing how well Universal has been doing the trend and amount of money being made by movies has decreased over the past year and unfortunately I only see it decreasing more and more each year. If movie studios want to start profiting on movies again they are going to have to do something to start bringing people into the theaters rather than letting people wait till the movie gets released on DVD and starts getting played on TV. To be honest in the next 3-5 years I am scared to see what the movies will look like and how the movie profits are because it could be bad for movie theaters movie makers and movie goers.
DeleteWork Cited
2015 DOMESTIC GROSSES. (2017, March 7). Retrieved March 20, 2017, from http://www.boxofficemojo.com/yearly/chart/?yr=2015&view=releasedate&view2=domestic&sort=gross&order=DESC&&p=.htm
2016 DOMESTIC GROSSES. (2017, March 7). Retrieved March 20, 2017, from http://www.boxofficemojo.com/yearly/chart/?yr=2016&p=.htm
Weekend Box Office Results for March 3-5, 2017. (2017, March 7). Retrieved March 20, 2017, from http://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/?view=main&yr=2017&wknd=09&p=.htm
In reviewing the box office hits from last weekend, last year (2016), and the previous year (2015), there are a few things that stick out to me. Looking over the data, it is clear to see that animated family films has had a great impact on the box office lately, as mentioned by Pamela McClintock in her article “2016 Box Office Hits Record $11.4B in North America Despite Angst.” This trend can be found in 2015’s total grosses of all movies released in 2015 with Inside Out and Minions coming in the top 5 of the list. This is then followed up in 2016 with Finding Dory coming in at number 2, The Secret Life of Pets at number 4, and Sing at number 10. All these movies made the top 10, showing what an impact animated films have had in recent years. More recently, looking at last weekend box office hits, we can see Beauty and the Beast coming it at the top of the box office as well.
ReplyDeleteThe second trend that spans throughout the box office hits of last weekend, last year, and the previous year is the presence of Marvel as a top runner. Looking over 2015’s box office hits, Avengers: Age of Ultron is one that sticks out, coming in at number 3 (Box Office Mojo). We then see in 2016, Captain America: Civil War comes in at number 3, Deadpool at number 6, and Doctor Strange at number 13 (Box Office Mojo). This is continued in more recent data, with Logan coming in at the top of the box office. Marvel has remained a steady top runner at the top of the list with the release of new films recently.
Reviewing all of this data, it is clear to see that Marvel and Disney have been some of the most successful in capitalizing on these trends. They have managed to create movies that are bringing people to the box office. As mentioned in an article discussing the top runners of 2016, Disney is responsible for six out of the top ten highest earning movies. These movies include Finding Dory, Captain America: Civil War, The Jungle Book, Zootopia, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and Doctor Strange (Agar). Marvel has had some of the top runners throughout the past years until recently with movies like Avengers: Age of Ultron, Deadpool, and the most recently released Logan.
It is interesting to see how successful animated family films have been throughout the past years until recently. This is definitely something that I feel may remain a trend throughout the next 3-5 years. Being that animated films have been amongst the top 10 lists throughout the past years goes to show that they are doing there best to stay at the top. This is something I can see continuing. With Disney recreating classic fairytale stories like Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast, I feel they will keep their place at the top as they have proved to be amongst some of the top grossing movies when they are first released. I can also see Marvel continuing to stay at the top of the list. There are a lot of new movies coming out and spin-offs of films that I feel Marvel will be able to remain at the top of the list in coming years.
Works Cited
Agar, Chris. “2016 Box Office Recap: Biggest Stories and Trends.” ScreenRant.com. 31 Dec. 2016. Web. 20 Mar. 2017.
McClintock, Pamela. “2016 Box Office Hits Record $11.4B in North America Despite Angst.” The Hollywood Reporter. 1 Jan. 2017. Web. 20 Mar. 2017.
“2015 DOMESTIC GROSSES :Total Grosses of all Movies Released in 2015.” Box Office Mojo. Web. 20 Mar. 2017.
“2016 DOMESTIC GROSSES :Total Grosses of all Movies Released in 2016.” Box Office Mojo. Web. 20 Mar. 2017.
Danial Donnelly
ReplyDeleteAfter looking at the box office sales from 2015, the top 5 movies listed are Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Jurassic World, Avengers, Inside Out, and Furious 7. In 2016, the top 5 movies were Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Finding Dory, Captain America: Civil War, Secret Life of Pets, and the Jungle Book. Going through these 10 movies, the one thing that stands out to me the most is the nostalgia factor of movies. At least 7 of those top 10 movies from the past two years are sequels, or remakes that play a factor on an older movie. Star wars is obviously going to have its devoted fan base, so it is no surprise that they take the top spot. But that is only the beginning for older movies being the most successful, as most of those movies rely on the past for their success. Don’t get me wrong, I thought Jurassic World was a great movie, but I did not think it would be second on the list. The reason it was so successful is because everyone who saw the older Jurassic Park movies wanted to go see this one as well. All can be said for the sequels too. I don’t anybody really needs anymore Fast and Furious movies, but we have all come too far to not watch the new ones. Even further down the list are movies like Spectre, which is popularized for being the new James Bond movie, and Minions which is a spinoff from Despicable Me.
Another trend that is consistent with the top grossing movies for the year are kids movies. Children movies such as Zootopia and Finding Dory are scattered through this list. It makes sense because it is easy to take a kid to the movie, and honestly most kid’s movies that have been made recently are actually pretty good.
Looking at the box office from this past weekend box office, the top five movies are Logan, Get Out, The Shack, The LEGO Batman Movie, and John Wick. I have not seen any of these movies except fro Get Out, which has been in theaters for a long time so it is surprising to see that it is still doing well in theaters. Even more surprising is that the LEGO Batman movie did not do as well as the original LEGO movie.
The studios that have been the most successful overall are Universal and BV (Buena Vista or Walt Disney Studios). BV owes its success to Star Wars for the top spot, but also have other movies like Inside Out, Finding Dory, and the Avengers including Captain America. Universal Studios had Jurassic World and Furious 7.
DeleteIf there is one main trend I expect to continue for the next few years, it would be that studios continue to remake movies and sequels. They have proven to work and I do not see the trend slowing down. Beauty and the Beast is only the beginning, and I imagine they will run through all of the old princess movies and childhood movies that we would watch on VHS growing up.
Works Cited
"2016 Domestic Grosses." Box Office Mojo. Accessed 7 March 2017. Web.
"Weekend Box Office March 3 - 5." Box Office Mojo. Accessed 7 March 2017. Web.
"2015 Domestic Grosses." Box Office Mojo. Accessed 7 March 2017. Web.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteSomething that comes to my immediate attention when comparing the data between top grossing movies of 2015 and 2016 is that Disney seems to constantly emerge as the top benefit from both years. There were many who had doubts about the continuation of the Star Wars franchise, but with grossing numbers of $936,662,225 and $529,8900,569, it seems as though Disney dominated, and deciding to continue the franchise was a smart move on their behalf.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing to take notice on is the amount of animated movies/ childrens movies that has dominated the charts over 2015 to 2016, and it is because of this that I believe that Disney will continue to dominate the movie releases. In a recent article entitled “Why animated movies are dominating the box office in 2016” by Matt Pressberg, he claims that animated movies due so well due to the fact that “animated movies play well overseas- especially in China, the worlds second-biggest movie market- and have a much wider appeal even at home than the sequels and niche movies Hollywood has been churning out lately” (Presserg). Animated movies are so popular internationally because when converting them into different languages, it is much easier to match the animated mouths and movements to the different languages rather than changing the language of a live-action film and not have it match up. When families go to the movies, there are often multiple family members going to see these animated movies, as the animated movies are now appeasing both the younger audience such as the children and the adults, like the parents. Usually these animated movies have a larger market seeing as corporations are able to spin off multiple lines of products from these animated movies, and so in turn, they are making the most money off of them.
However, although animated movies are on the high, they could be threatened by SVOD platforms that also offer for example, “Netflix Original” spin-offs of childrens favorite animated movies. For example, the “How to Train Your Dragon” films released a 3 movie franchise, but seeing as how the series was so popular, they allowed Netflix to create a Netflix original spin-off series so that children can still get new content of their favorite characters and shows, and not have to attend the movies to get this new content.
"2015 DOMESTIC GROSSES." Box Office Mojo. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2017.
"2016 DOMESTIC GROSSES." Box Office Mojo. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2017.
"Weekend Box Office Results for March 3-5, 2017." Box Office Mojo. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2017.
Pressberg, Matt. "Why Animated Movies Are Dominating the Box Office in 2016." TheWrap. TheWrap, 16 Aug. 2016. Web. 21 Mar. 2017.
The film industry places a very high importance on movie franchises. They bring in the most revenue because of the many different ways to make money off of the expected hits. Franchises normally do very well in this industry in my opinion because studios tend to take movies with large audiences and expand upon that to create an even larger audience the next time around.
ReplyDeleteIn 2015 the biggest box office hits were action and superhero movies, which oftentimes gathers huge followings. The Star Wars franchise is one of the largest in film history so it was no surprise when Star Wars: The Force Awakens took the number one spot in the box office for the year. Jurassic World and Avengers: Age of Ultron followed in the second and third spot for the obvious reason that they are both parts of an existing movie series, which are likely to continue in the future.
In 2016, “Disney was the year's big winner and growth driver, capped by Disney and Lucasfilm's Christmas tent pole Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which will finish New Year's weekend with nearly $430 million in domestic ticket sales, the second-best showing of 2016 behind fellow Disney release, Pixar's Finding Dory ($486.3 million)” (McClintock 2017). For two years in a row, Star Wars became the highest grossing movie of the year, as expected. The trends of the box office continues in very similar patterns, making it easier for film companies to cater to the audiences that will bring in the most money.
2016 was also a very big year for sequels and animated films. There were 4 animated films in the top ten alone, which isn’t the most popular trend that has occurred in years past. Sequels, I believe are just as important in this industry because they ultimately have to prove if they are worthy enough to turn into a franchise.
DeleteThe movies in the box office right now are very interesting because it doesn’t seem like they are following any trends. “Legendary and Warners likely didn't count on Logan being such a sensation” (McClintock 2017). Logan and Get Out are two very popular movies at the moment and they are not part of a franchise. These movies are very new and original storylines that are probably so big because they are breaking away from the typical popularity of franchises.
I definitely feel that in years to come franchises will continue to dominate the box office, but the industry may be opening up to new trends. For example, Amazon released one of the biggest and award winning movies of this year, Manchester By The Sea, in addition to 14 other films. “But the company is just dipping its toes in an industry it knows little about. It has the personnel, the deep pockets and the sheer chutzpah to make its investment much, much bigger. And it will” (Galloway 2016). I definitely think the film industry could expand towards this direction, creating more new content and straying from what we already know.
Galloway, Stephen. "Galloway on Film: Challenges From Amazon and Netflix Signal the End of the Studio System." The Hollywood Reporter. The Hollywood Reporter, 01 Aug. 2016. Web.
McClintock, Pamela. "2016 Box Office Hits Record $11.4B in North America Despite Angst." The Hollywood Reporter. The Hollywood Reporter, 01 Jan. 2017. Web.
McClintock, Pamela. "Can 'Kong: Skull Island' Tower Over 'Logan'?" The Hollywood Reporter. The Hollywood Reporter, 09 Mar. 2017. Web.
Kevin Duane
ReplyDeleteWhen looking at the data compiled from 2016 it is very clear that Disney (Buena Vista Pictures) had a great year. Disney produced four of the top five grossing movies, and with huge hits such as “Rogue: A star wars story”, “Finding Dory”, and “Captain America: Civil War”. Warner Bros and Universal each produced two movies in the top ten, and Fox produced 1 to round out the remaining top 10 grossing movies of 2016(2016 Domestic Grosses). In 2016 Disney commanded a huge market share of more than 26 percent, while Warner's experienced a big bounce back year from 2015. In 2016 one of the big trends that Disney capitalized on was the popularity of animated films. Disney capitalized by producing two hit films in “Deadpool” and “Captain America: Civil War” (McClintock). I see this specific trend of animated films continuing for at least the next couple years as people seem to be very interested and intrigued by this type of content. I could also see producers continue to recreate content involving the Batman, Superman, and Spiderman series. It seems that other major players are following Disney’s success in the animated family films as well, with Warner’s creation of “Suicide Squad” and Warner Bros “Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice” (McClintock).
When taking a look at the data from 2015 it’s immediately noticeable that Universal and Disney had great years. Disney produced four of the top ten grossing movies, and Universal produced three of the top ten grossing movies. When looking at the list, it’s evident that the trend of animated movies that was so popular in 2016, clearly started and found early success in 2015. Animated films such as “Star Wars: The force Awakens”, “Jurassic World”, and “Avengers: Age of Ultron” all exist within the top 10 grossing movies (2015 Domestic Grosses).
Another trend I see developing is the growth of kids movies. With movies like “The Spongebob Movie” and “The Peanuts Movie” doing well in 2015 followed by movies such as “Finding Dory” and “Sing” finding even larger success in 2016. I see this as another huge trend that will continue to develop and increase. These days it seems that little kids are the most driven to go to the movie theater and view movies, and as a result the major studios have started to cater to this. The success that studios such as Disney, Universal, and Paramount has experienced with children's movies will influence the rest of the field to start getting involved with this trend as well.
DeleteI would say I definitely see the trends towards animated movies and children's movies continuing and growing over the next three to five years. There’s tons of content that can be created as well as reproduced (as shown by the Spongebob movie). Another trend I think that could happen is the movement towards a more interactive movie experience. Instead of 3D, I see someone creating technology in the next few years that's more intense and life like. A technology that makes the movie experience more user oriented as well as makes viewers feel as if their part of the movie.
"Weekend Box Office March 3-5, 2017." Box Office Mojo . N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 17.
"2015 Domestic Grosses ." Box Office Mojo . N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 17 .
"2016 Domestic Grosses ." Box Office Mojo . N.p., 2016. Web. 21 Mar. 2017 .
The film industry now has no one sure shot winner amongst its players. One year this company is on top, making the most profits, the next year, another company. This can be shown if one looks at the box office mojo annual report. (However the servers for the site are down so I cannot get the exact data.) The annual report shows the highest earners each year to be one of the six or seven major studios each year, yet each year they shuffle around a bit. Despite the ferris wheel nature of major studios, I believe that The Walt Disney Corporation’s production company which is known as Buena Vista studios, will reign supreme as the king of the film world in the next three to five years. The Walt Disney Corporation began as simple animation and cartoon production. Then they suddenly became the king of amusement park industry. Finally, they jumped into the film industry and have produced classic after classic, blockbuster after blockbuster on their way up the ladder to the contend with the other major studios. Having established a household brand in the film industry they have the world’s attention. So what do they do? They release their scheduled films planned from 2016-2019. Most of them are sequels and/or adaptations of original films or comics, which has been highly successful. The biggest key to Disney’s future success is the two major franchises it recently purchased the rights to, Star Wars, and (most of) the Marvel Cinematic Universe. (Business Insider) Disney has already proven itself with tremendous releases for those already out on that list. With the release of the new Star Wars and now the release of the live action Beauty and the Beast, they have set box office records and having 4 of the top 5 domestic films. I believe that the releases up to 2019 will show much of the same and continue their dominance.
ReplyDeleteHowever, just as Disney crashed onto the scene in past decades and have risen to be an elite film studio contending for supremacy each and every year, there is a new entrant that has the potential to make a big splash in the industry. That company is Netflix. They have just begun their original film production in the past couple of years. Unfortunately, we can never tell exactly how successful or not a particular program from Netflix is, due to their policy of keeping records close to the chest. However, we know for a fact that their film “Beasts of No Nation” was nominated for a plethora of awards including a golden globe which speaks volumes. Netflix, like the studios of old, have control over production, and delivery (apps) but not yet the mobile devices. So they do not exactly have a monopoly as pure as they did “They didn’t just make the movies, they also owned the theaters where the movies played, and they were the middle men…” (Galloway) Additionally, Netflix spends $6 Billion on its content, more than any other film studio. They have changed the entire television industry, chocked basic cable and flipped it on its head. So what is stopping them from doing the same to the film industry?
Works Cited
Galloway, Stephen. "Galloway on Film: Challenges From Amazon and Netflix Signal the End of the Studio System." The Hollywood Reporter. N.p., 01 Aug. 2016. Web. 21 Mar. 2017
"2016 DOMESTIC GROSSES." Box Office Mojo. N.p., 7 Mar. 2017. Web. 21 Mar. 2017.
Acuna, Ian Phillips and Kirsten. "Disney announced all its movies coming in the next 4 years - here's what you have to look forward to." Business Insider. Business Insider, 26 Apr. 2016. Web. 21 Mar. 2017.