Summer is an important time of the year for Hollywood. Teens are out of school roaming the streets without a single essay due the next day, parents are desperately looking for anything to distract their sugar-fueled children for even a few hours and the warm evening breeze smells like newly-printed dollar bills. Movie studios race to release the biggest, coolest, most exciting and expensive movie to bring in the popcorn-munching masses. It is the season of the Summer blockbuster. A time when studio executives battle it out in a bloody competition for your hard-earned cash.
But this last Summer, there seemed to be a slight slump in box-office earnings. Many media outlets reported on this slump like it was an omen of the end times for the Summer blockbuster or that Hollywood is simply out of touch with millenials. But let’s take a cold, hard look at the numbers and see if we can sort this Summer’s financial flops from the triumphs and see what it means for the movie industry as a whole.
So, how do we know if a movie has been a financial success? We will be taking a look at the production budget and gross earnings of a number of blockbuster movies this year. However, this does not take other factors into account. A production budget does not include expenses for marketing and advertising. There is also the fact that movie theaters take a share of the total earnings. With all of these factors and little data (studios don’t typically publish data concerning marketing) there is still a rough way to determine if a film flopped or triumphed. It is often said that a major blockbuster film needs to earn double its production budget to simply break even. Now, this only works for big, blockbuster movies. These are movies designed to be released internationally, bring in as large of an audience as possible, and have a budget that exceeds $100 million. There are many films that fall outside of this category. For example, "The Blair Witch" had a production budget of only $5 million, but we can be pretty sure that much more than $5 million was spent to advertise it.
Now, for the sake of simplicity, I am going to ignore the differences in the studio’s share of ticket sales in foreign countries, the effect of product placement deals, and anything to do with merchandising. Overall, don’t take this analysis as law. I mean it to be a simple launching pad for your own discussions, research, and opinions. Here we go!
"Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice"
Break-Even Goal: $500 million
US Earnings: $330 million
Worldwide Earnings: $868 million
Estimated profit of $368 million
Yep, probably the most hated and loved movie of the year, "Batman V Superman" was Warner Brothers first foray into the hugely profitable superhero cinematic universe. Something that has been almost entirely dominated by Marvel. Sadly, this film seems to be a pretty week debut. Despite mostly negative reviews, the film did make a decent profit, but remember that this is the platform on which Warner Brothers has decided to build an entire series of films. I think we can all agree that if Warner Brothers wants to create a cinematic universe that competes with Disney’s Marvel, then some serious course-corrections need to be made.
"Ben-Hur"
Break-Even Goal: $190 million
US Earnings: $26 million
Worldwide Earnings: $89 million
Estimated loss of $91 million
It seems that few people even knew about this remake of a 60 year old classic. "Ben-Hur" was the biggest failure this Summer in terms of profit. It seems likely that this Summer blockbuster has already been forgotten while the original will continue to live on. Maybe this flop will help slow the flow of uninspired and unoriginal remakes.
"Ghostbusters"
Break-Even Goal: $288 million
US Earnings: $127 million
Worldwide Earnings: $228 million
Estimated loss of $60 million
Oh, "Ghostbusters"...what a strange thing you were. Upon release, many media outlets seemed oddly desperate to convince the world that "Ghostbusters" was a success. I’m not sure what numbers they were looking at, because it seems quite obvious that this film failed financially, despite a high Rotten Tomatoes score. Sony really wanted this film to succeed. They even created a separate production company called Ghost Corps to helm the production of a "Ghostbusters" cinematic universe. I’m not sure that’s going to happen after this mess. It just seems strange that such a fanatic internet crusade was waged over this forgettable, corporate remake designed to sell pizza and twinkies.
"Warcraft"
Break-Even Goal: $320 million
US Earnings: $47 million
Worldwide Earnings: $433 million
Estimated profit of $113 million
Wait a second, wasn’t "Warcraft" just another video-game movie flop? It got horrible reviews and a really low Rotten Tomatoes score. Yeah, the film wasn’t very successful here in the US, but it was very successful internationally, especially in China. In fact, in China "Warcraft" outsold "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" by $100 million. For just another video-game movie, it sure did suprisingly well. Maybe studio executives here in the US just haven’t quite figured out what Chinese audiences want. For the horde!
"Captain America: Civil War"
Break-Even Goal: $500 million
US Earnings: $408 million
Worldwide Earnings: $1.5 billion
Estimated profit of $1 billion
Marvel has done it again. "Captain America: Civil War" is this year’s winner in terms of money gained. Still it wasn’t quite as successful as last year’s winner, "Jurrassic World", which made $1.6 billion with a slightly smaller budget. Rolling in the dough and consistently receiving praise from critics and audiences alike, Marvel must be doing something right.
"Finding Dory"
Break-Even Goal: $400 million
US Earnings: $484 million
Worldwide Earnings: $1 billion
Estimated profit of $600 million
This family-friendly animated film really did bring in the crowds. There seems to still be quite the market for PG-rated movies, especially when we look and see that "Zootopia", also a PG-rated movie released this Summer, made close to $900 million. Personally, I just like to see that creative, inspiring, and wholesome movies are so popular with both kids and adults.
"Star Trek Beyond"
Break-Even Goal: $370 million
US Earnings: $158 million
Worldwide Earnings: $336 million
Estimated loss of $34 million
I was honestly surprised by these numbers. "Star Trek Beyond" was well received by both critics and audiences. Still, it somehow didn’t manage to break even. It failed to bring in the same amount of cash as "Star Trek: Into Darkness." Overall, this news seems to be the big puzzle of this year’s Summer blockbusters. Does Star Trek simply not carry enough interest for a big-budget movie? Maybe the original fanbase feels alienated or just uninterested by the focus on action instead of the sci-fi ethical dilemnas that made the series so interesting and popular to begin with. The data I found just seems so... illogical.
"Independence Day: Resurgence"
Break-Even Goal: $330 million
US Earnings: $103 million
Worldwide Earnings: $388 million
Estimated profit of $58 million
One could argue, that the original "Independence Day" changed the way Summer blockbuster movies are made and advertised today. However, its sequel paled in comparison. Still, "Independence Day: Resurgence" made a profit, something that was not accomplished by several other films this Summer. You can argue that people are no longer impressed by these loud, obnoxiously fun, CGI fests, but it seems these types of movies will always have a small place in our hearts.
So, what do all these numbers tell us? Well, that’s mostly up to you. It does seem clear that a Metacritic or Rotten Tomatoes score has little to do with how financially successful a film will be. Many poorly reviewed movies made a profit, while some acclaimed by critics were financial failures in every definition of the word. After looking at these numbers, I’m quite skeptical of anyone who says that Hollywood or the Summer blockbuster is failing. Of the 23 films I looked at, only 6 had an estimated loss.
Well, when it comes to the movie industry, I hope you now know a little more, because knowing is half the battle. Just remember, when it comes to Hollywood you vote with your wallet.
Credits and Sources
The Numbers: http://www.the-numbers.com/
Box Office Mojo: http://www.boxofficemojo.com/
Red Letter Media: http://redlettermedia.com/half-in-the-bag-box-offi...
