Steve’s Box Office Report: April 2014
Top 10 Films for the Month of April 2014:
1. Captain America: The Winter Solider – $259,766,572
2. Rio 2 – $131,538,435
3. Heaven is for Real – $91,443,253
4. The Other Woman – $83,911,193
5. Draft Day – $28,842,237
6. Oculus – $27,695,246
7. Transcendence – $23,022,309
8. Brick Mansions – $20,396,829
9. Bears – $17,780,194
10. A Haunted House 2 – $17,329,486
Honorable Mentions:
1. The Quiet Ones – $8,509,867
April Winners: Captain America: The Winter Solider, Rio 2, Heaven is for Real, the Other Woman, and Oculus
We continue through the year of 2014 and to be honest, it has not been that strong as March had some fairly weak entries and coming off what was a strong 2013, the momentum that we had has been stunted to a certain degree. However, it does appear that we are starting to finally turn the corner as this month had some big films come out that seemed would finally prop the box office up. The first film that makes it into this category is the next film in the MCU with the second Captain America film, the Winter Solider which sees Steve Rogers learn that his friend Bucky Barnes is still alive while dealing with a threat from inside S.H.I.E.L.D. The film would receive positive reviews from critics who felt it was a strong follow-up to the first Captain America film as well as a strong entry in the MCU, and it would finish with over $259 million which I will delve into later in the recap. The next film that makes it into this category is the animated film Rio 2, the sequel to the first film which sees Blu and his family visit the Amazon as he tries to be accepted by the native macaws. The film would receive mixed reviews from critics who felt it was a slight step down from the previous film, but it would finish with over $131 which was a strong showing given the lack of animated films that were out around this time. The next film that makes it into this category is the Christian drama Heaven is for Real, based on the novel of the same name of a young boy who claims to have visited Heaven during surgery. The film would receive mixed reviews from critics who felt it was a too bit heavy-handed, but it did finish with over $91 million which I will get into later in the recap. The next film that makes it into this category is the romantic comedy the Other Woman, a film about three women who are in a relationship with the same man and they plot to get revenge on him. The film would receive negative reviews from critics who felt the film wasted the talents of the three leads, and it would finish with over $83 million which showed the audience liked it far more than critics. The last film that makes it into this category is the horror film Oculus, a film about two siblings who try to prove that a haunted mirror is the cause for the death and misfortune of their family. The film would receive positive reviews from critics and benefitted from a lack of horror films around the time, and it would finish with over $27 million which was a solid showing for a lower-end horror film. There is no question that this month easily tops the previous three and after a really slow start to the year, things seem to finally be turning around which is good going into the summer season.
April Losers: Transcendence
The last few months from this year has typically seen either the same amount of films in both this and the previous category, or even worse this category would have more than the previous category though that changes here as we only have one film from this month that makes it into this category. That film ends up being the sci-fi thriller film Transcendence, a film about a group of scientists who work to complete an artificial intelligence project while dealing with a radical anti-technology organization. The film would receive negative reviews from critics who considered it one of the worst films of the year and was another poor entry for star Johnny Depp, and it would finish with over $23 million which leads it to being one of the biggest bombs of the year. With only one film in this category, it is a solid outing for the month especially given that the films in the previous category did extremely well, and now we will see if the momentum can continue going into the summer.
The Surprise/Story of April 2014: No “Winter” blues for the MCU as the second Captain America film easily takes top spot of April 2014
To this point, the month of April usually doesn’t have a major blockbuster come out though the last few year have seen the Fast and Furious franchise release films to major successes, and now the MCU decides to follow the same suit by having the second Captain America film come out this month. The end result was that the film was able to dominate the entire month and by finishing with over $259 million, it easily outgrossed the first Captain America film and is currently the second-highest grossing film of Phase 2 of the MCU, and even crazier is that it is currently in the top 5 of the MCU though that will probably change very quickly. Coupled with a strong showing from Rio 2 and fine showings from a few others, and the month of April was looking far better than the other months from this year to this point.
Overachiever of April 2014: Heaven is for Real
One thing that has been constant throughout this year to this point is the fact that the last three months has had a faith-based film come out and do extremely well, and despite the fact that all the films were not well-received from critics, it didn’t stop the mainstream audience from connecting with these films as Son of God and God’s Not Dead each took the title of overachiever the previous two months. We see that trend continue here as Heaven is for Real does far better than anyone ever expected in that it nearly came close to reaching $100 million, and one does have to wonder if the Winter Solider didn’t come out this month if this film would’ve reached the $100 million mark without the strong competition. I do think that this is where the streak does come to an end as looking ahead, there don’t appear to be any faith-based films coming out though we will see what happens in the months to come, but for now there is no question that Heaven is for Real easily deserves the title of overachiever of the month.
Underachiever of April 2014: Draft Day
Looking at this month, there wasn’t really any film that stood out in terms of being considered for underachiever of the month, but upon closer inspection there was one film that did stand out given the time that it came out. That film is the sports drama film Draft Day, a film which follows the Cleveland Browns and their GM as they debate on who to take with the first pick in that year’s draft. The film would receive positive reviews from critics who felt it was a fine sports film especially given the tie-in with the NFL Draft taking place in April, and it finished with just over $28 million which was enough to finish in the top 5 for the month though it still relatively underperformed. Again, it made sense to release the film this month as opposed to the fall during the football season, but I think they overestimated how well the film could do given that the NFL Draft is not as popular. Because of that, there is no question that the film deserves the title of underachiever of the month though it will be interesting to see how this stacks up against the other underachievers from the year.
April 2014 Awards Watch: Captain America: The Winter Solider and the Other Woman
We saw the end of the previous award season the last month and now we are full on into the current award season, and usually the month of April could either have very few films make it into this category or we could have a bunch. For this month, we do end up having two films make it into this category with the first one being Captain America: The Winter Solider which was nominated for 1 Academy Award (Best Visual Effects) though it wouldn’t win. The other film from this month that makes it into this category is the Other Woman which was nominated for one Golden Raspberry Award (Worst Actress) though it didn’t win. Usually, the month of April is fairly innocuous in terms of award contenders and this was a prime example of that with only two films getting a single nod for one of the big three awards.
Overall Thoughts of April 2014:
Overall, the month of April 2014 ended up being a solid month that feels like it was much better than what we’ve seen to this point, but in reality it wasn’t as good as I thought it was as it was only slightly better than the other months from this year. For the most part, the years previous have had at least one really good month, one really bad month, and either one or two months on par to this point, but this year feels weird in that all the months have been on par with each other and they’ve all been fairly average. We did have two films from this month make it over $100 million with one reaching well over $200 million, and we had two other films come close to $100 million while the rest were pretty standard for the month of April. 2014 has been a pretty standard year to this point as it had some momentum come out of 2013, but we have seemingly plateaued to this point and we will see if the summer season can turn things around. As for the month of April 2014, it is a pretty standard month and to this point, the best of the year which isn’t saying too much.
Final Grade: C+
