Steve’s Box Office Report: August 2015
Top 10 Films for the Month of August:
1. Straight Outta Compton – $161,197,785
2. War Room – $67,790,117
3. Fantastic Four – $56,117,548
4. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. – $45,445,109
5. The Gift – $43.787,265
6. Sinister 2 – $27,740,955
7. No Escape – $27,288,872
8. Ricki and the Flash – $26,822,144
9. Hitman: Agent 47 – $22,467,450
10. Shaun the Sheep Movie – $19,375,982
Honorable Mentions:
1. American Ultra – $14,440,985
2. Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’ – $8,008,363
3. We Are Your Friends – $3,591,417
August Winners: Straight Outta Compton, War Room, the Gift, and No Escape
We continue on through the year of 2015 as we come to the last month of the summer season, and we have seen August be a real hit-or-miss month as some years are great while other years are weak. This year had a unique slate of films come out with a bunch of them having some real potential, and now we have to see how the month ends up faring based on how many films end up in this and the next category. The first film that makes it into this category is the biopic Straight Outta Compton, a film about the creation of the rap group N.W.A. in the 1980s. The film would receive positive reviews from critics who felt it was a faithful look at the group, and it would finish with over $161 million which I will delve into more later in the recap. The next film that makes it into this category is the Christian drama film War Room, a film about a seemingly perfect family who look to solve their problems through faith and prayer. The film would receive mixed reviews from critics with Christian media critics being more positive, and the film would finish with over $67 million which was a major win for this small film. The next film that makes it into this category is the thriller film the Gift, a film about a couple who is tormented by a former classmate. The film would receive critical acclaim from critics who felt it was an incredibly done film with plenty of twists and turns, and it would finish with over $43 million which easily got it into the top 5 for the month. The last film that makes it into this category is the action thriller film No Escape, a film about an engineer and his family who are trapped in a country during a violent uprising. The film would receive mixed reviews from critics who felt it was a fine film though could’ve been more, and the film would finish with over $27 million which was a fine showing for the film. Given how many films from this month were geared towards in essence the same audience, the fact that we had four films make it into this category was a strong showing for the month.
August Losers: Fantastic Four and the Man from U.N.C.L.E.
As mentioned in the previous category, almost all the films from this month were geared towards the same audience, that being adults with nothing really geared towards families or kids. Because of that, there were going to be some films that got lost in the shuffle and they are the ones that wind up in this category. The first film that makes it into this category is the Marvel film Fantastic Four, a reboot of the 2005 film where a group of teenagers obtain superpowers from traveling into space. The film would receive negative reviews from critics who felt it was a worse adaptation of the comics than the 2005 and 2007 films, and it would finish with over $56 million which I will delve more into later in the recap. The other film that makes it into this category is the spy film the Man from U.N.C.L.E., based on the TV series of the same name where a CIA and KGB agent are forced to work together to prevent a nuclear war. The film would receive mixed reviews from critics who felt it was a fine thriller film though not up to the standards of the TV show, and it would finish with over $45 million which was one of the bigger bombs of the year. The fact that the only films in this category were superhero films does make you wonder if the superhero genre was starting to get played out, or if these two films were just anomalies in a month where they failed to break out.
The Surprise/Story of August 2015: Hip-Hop dominates superheroes and horror as “Straight Outta Compton” easily takes top spot of August 2015
Looking at this month, there was a wide range of different genres as we had two superhero films, a few horror films, and others as adults had plenty of choices to pick from as the summer was coming to an end. But in the end, probably the most unlikeliest film ended up being the top film of the month and that was Straight Outta Compton as it not only took the top spot, but it also easily took the top spot of the month almost $100 million. If that wasn’t enough, the second spot went to a small Christian film which overdelivered against bigger films with much bigger budgets with other films falling in line with their expectations. Considering how hot the summer was, this was a fine way to end the season as it was in essence carried by one film which did well enough not to tank the summer.
Overachiever of August 2015: Straight Outta Compton
Going into this month, Straight Outta Compton was an interesting film in that it was a biopic about one of the most influential groups in the history of rap music, but at the same time rap is a bit of a niche genre of music that has a certain type of listener and doesn’t feel as mainstream as other genres. But the N.W.A. was an easy group to identify due to the mainstream notoriety of Dr. Dre and Ice Cube, and the film also delves into serious topics like race and the long standing tension between police and civilians especially in Los Angeles in the 1980s. It also served as perfect counterprogramming to the superhero and horror films that came out this month and it also made a point to reach out to all audiences, not just focusing on the black audience. Despite some worries about what would happen when the film came out, those fears proved to be unfounded as the film dominated the month with over $161 million and earned near critical acclaim despite some inaccuracies and omitted aspects of the subject matter. Nonetheless, there is no question that this film deserves to be the overachiever of the month and it has a strong case to be the overachiever of the year.
Underachiever of August 2015: Fantastic Four
10 years ago in 2005, we had the first film adaptation of the Fantastic Four after being teased with it in 1994 though the film was not well received when it came out, and then we got the sequel in 2007 which was better received though still didn’t fare well and plans for a third film were scrapped. Now in 2015, we get the first reboot of the Fantastic Four as they go into an almost darker version of the group, but unfortunately the reception for this one was even worse than the other two and many consider this film one of the worst superhero movies in history. In addition, it’s small take of $56 million led to being one of the bigger bombs of the year and once again, any plans for a sequel were quickly squashed and it would be exactly 10 years before the Fantastic Four appeared on the big screen again, this time as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As a result, there is no question that this film deserves to be underachiever of the month and also has a strong chance of being the underachiever of the year.
August 2015 Awards Watch: Straight Outta Compton, Fantastic Four, and Shaun the Sheep Movie
As we have seen over the years, August is a month that either has a lot of award contenders or none at all, though at times the month also has one or two films that make it into this category as it just depends on the year. For this year, we actually had a decent amount of films that make it into this category which falls about in the middle. The first film that makes it into this category is Straight Outta Compton which was nominated for one Academy Award (Best Original Screenplay) which it wouldn’t win, but it was a strong win for the film just to get that nomination. The next film that makes it into this category is Fantastic Four which would win 3 Golden Raspberry Awards (Worst Picture, Worst Director, and Worst Prequel, Remake, Ripoff, or Sequel) while being nominated for 2 more (Worst Screenplay and Worst Screen Combo), and this just solidifies the film’s standing as one of the worst of the year. The last film that makes it into this category is the animated film Shaun the Sheep Movie, based on the TV show of the same name where Shaun and his fellow animals try to save their farmer while avoiding an animal control worker. The film would receive critical acclaim from critics who considered it one of the best animated films of the year and it would finish with over $19 million, and it would be nominated for one Academy Award (Best Animated Film) which it didn’t win as well as one Golden Globe nomination (Best Animated Film) which it didn’t win. It is funny that the two films that got the Academy Award and Golden Globe nods only had one each while the one that got the Golden Raspberry nods got multiple, but it just shows how unique the month is.
Overall Thoughts of August 2015:
Overall, the month of August 2015 ended up being a pretty solid month though it is a bit of a step down from the other months of the summer. Typically, August is the one down month of the summer with kids going back to school and most of the films released during this month targeting adults, but this August ended up being one of the better ones in recent history. We did have one film make it over $100 million and that film ended up carrying the month as we did have a few films from this month that underachieved or were bombs. 2015 has been a pretty strong year to this point as it started good, held well during the spring, and the summer has been very hot going into this month. As we now head into the fall, we will see if we hit the doldrums before the holiday season or if the box office can stay hot. As for the month of August 2015, it is a pretty solid month to conclude what was a red hot summer.
Final Grade: B+
