Universal and Disney drew out the crowds this summer.
The blockbuster season was the second biggest of all time, it’s been revealed, coming second after summer 2013, where films like Iron Man Three helped ensure box office receipts totalled a $4.85bn record.
In terms of distributors, Disney and Universal clearly lead the way with some of the most critically and commercially successful films of the year. Jurassic World (2015), the belated fourth instalment in the twenty-year-old franchise, is the highest grossing film of the year so far with $1.65bn, which also cements it as the third most lucrative film of all time behind James Cameron’s Avatar (2009) and Titanic (1997).
Also from Universal are Minions (2015) and Furious 7 (2015), both of which have also crossed the $1bn mark globally, and Pitch Perfect 2 (2015), which is the fifth highest grosser of the year. Recently adding to the studio’s string of success was Straight Outta Compton (2015), which domestically got more than $1.5bn in ticket sales, ensuring that Universal became the first studio to ever boast $6bn in global box-office revenue.
Disney’s numerous offerings lead to an equally impressive $1.09bn at the North American domestic box-office.Currently the seventh biggest film of all time, Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) closely follows Jurassic World as the no.2 title of the season with global takings amounting to $1.51bn. The critically adored Inside Out (2015), Disney Pixar’s first film in two years, has currently garnered over $735 million.
Several films that failed to receive either the anticipated critical or commercial levels of success from a variety of other studios meant that the year failed to match 2013’s juggernaut takings, although attendance numbers were reportedly up five per cent. These include Sony’s video game mash-up Pixels (2015), 20th Century Fox’s troubled superhero reboot Fantastic Four (2015) and Warner Bros.’ remake of sixties TV highlight The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (2015) from Guy Ritchie.
Disney also saw a major loss in original property Tomorrowland: A World Beyond (2015), directed by Brad Bird and starring George Clooney based on a screenplay by Damon Lindelof. Made on a budget of over $190 million, the film underperformed to the tune of just over $93 million at the US box-office, though this initial disappointment was augmented by its appeal overseas, where its grosses were upped to over $200million.
About the summer’s record-breaking box-office, Rentrak’s Paul Dergarabedian said: “The summer of 2015 has to go down as one of the more interesting on record, with an incredible mix of films from virtually every genre. Notable records were broken, and a couple of studios truly dominated the landscape by offering the perfect slate of films that had audiences literally coming back for more — and happy to get the word out, good and bad, through social media like never before in the history of the industry.”
Sources: The Hollywood Reporter, Screen International, Box Office Mojo
By Edward Frost
