Welcome to Beyond The Trailer’s annual breakdown of the year’s top films, from their box
office performance to my personal preference to yours!
Yes, be sure to vote in Beyond The Trailer’s poll for the Top Ten Movies of 2014!
The link is in the video description, and you can vote through January 4th - then look
for the results right here.
So today we’re going to focus on box office, first domestic and then worldwide - where
foreign audiences are saving more and more Hollywood movies.
And of course, the box office for 2014 hasn’t totally settled - and we should all keep an
eye on The Hobbit Battle of the Five Armies and Into the Woods.
But otherwise, this list IS pretty set.
So, why does Hollywood make so many sequels?
Because audiences love ‘em.
Six of the top ten grossing movies stateside this year are sequels, while the other four
are all part of or the beginnings of new franchises.
BUT, originality in Hollywood ain’t exactly dead either, as Interstellar, Gone Girl, Neighbors
and Ride Along all managed to make it into the Top Twenty domestically.
So by far and away the most successful film of the year, in the United States, was Guardians
of the Galaxy.
This has been a huge win for Marvel Studios, establishing audience trust, creative freedom,
several instantly popular new characters, and opening the door to the Cosmic arm of
the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Then while Catching Fire was the top movie stateside last year, this year Katniss and
company had to settle for second place with over one hundred million LESS.
If Guardians of the Galaxy has provided the other studios a game plan for what TO do,
Mockingjay Part 1 has provided a game plan for what NOT to do.
Audiences are clearly hip to business-fueled tactics which favor profit over story, aaaaand
make sure your movie has enough action.
Yeah, audiences said no to the slow burn.
Then Disney is back again in third place with Captain America The Winter Soldier, another
impressive win considering how this sequel had to rebound from the tepid first entry
- which, by the way, didn’t make the top ten back in 2011, domestically or worldwide.
But maybe Cap should consider cracking a FEW jokes, as once again a funny lothario upstaged
him at the box office.
And he even made Hydra an awesome meme, providing even more hours of fun for us all!
Tsk, tsk, tsk...
Fourth place finds The LEGO Movie, once again proving Batman’s box office might - and
that Warner Bros needs to launch more superhero picks if they want to become competitive in
the box office arena.
They’re also planning to launch plenty more LEGO picks, not to mention probably pick up
some gold to go with all that cash - The LEGO Movie is currently the frontrunner for Best
Animated Feature.
Then, just as The Hunger Games slipped a few spots, Transformers did as well.
Transformers 3 took second place domestically in 2011, yet this year Transformers 4 only
made it to number five.
But don’t feel too bad for Optimus Prime and company, as you’ll discover shortly.
And while Unbroken seems to be, well, broken at the box office and for awards season, Angelina
Jolie can claim far more success with Maleficent.
So far all of Disney’s live action fairy tales have placed in the top ten, which means
we shouldn’t underestimate 2015’s Cinderella and The Jungle Book - but with two such pictures
from Disney, plus Pan from Warner Bros, will they end up oversaturating the live action
fairy tale market?
Then Fox has back to back hits with X-Men Days of Future Past and number seven and Dawn
of the Planet of the Apes at number eight.
An X-Men movie hasn’t been in the top ten domestically since 2006’s The Last Stand,
while Rise of the Planet of the Apes also failed to make it into the top ten.
As these franchises go into overdrive, particularly X-Men with Apocalypse and Deadpool, expect
competition to get into the top ten to become even more fierce.
At number nine we have The Amazing Spider-Man 2, whereas The Amazing Spider-Man placed at
number seven back in 2012.
But neither come close to the original Spider-Man AND Spider-Man 3’s FIRST PLACE finishes
back in 2002 and 2007, while Spider-Man 2 managed to take second place in 2004.
Now are you getting a better idea as to why Sony wants to hit restart again?
Then finally, the Godzilla reboot just managed to edge out 22 Jump Street for the number
ten spot.
If the movie had been as good as the trailer it certainly would’ve been higher, something
for Legendary to think about as they prep Godzilla 2...
So that’s the domestic top ten!
By studio, Disney is in the lead with three entries, while Warner Bros and Fox each have
two.
Lionsgate, Paramount and Sony are all on board with one apiece.
Now let’s take a quick look at the worldwide line-up.
As you can see, China was a game changer for Transformers 4, where it earned a whopping
three hundred million - more than in any other country including the United States!
Let’s put up the ratios here to give even more perspective.
As you can see, almost all the films here earned seventy percent or more of their money
overseas.
Mockingjay clearly still needs to work on its overseas appeal, as do Godzilla and The
LEGO Movie which both didn’t make it into the top ten as a result.
Their spots went to Interstellar and How To Train Your Dragon 2, which both did very big
business internationally.
It’s also worth noting that Big Hero 6, which has yet to open in many countries, could
eventually break into the top ten - unseating Dragon 2 from competitor Dreamworks Animation.
But still, Big Hero 6 is no Frozen, which explains why Disney’s next princess movie,
Moana, has been fast-tracked.
And as for how original films fared worldwide, besides Interstellar, Lucy, Edge of Tomorrow,
Noah and Gone Girl all made it into the Top Twenty.
Not bad, but clearly foreign audiences like sequels and franchises as much as we do.
So those are top ten movies of the year at the box office, both domestic and worldwide!
Any you’re happy to see?
Any disappointments?
Any surprises?
Be sure to leave your thoughts down below, and don’t forget to vote for your Top Ten
via the link in the video description.
I’m Grace Randolph and this has been a Movie Byte!
You can watch more, right now!