Steve’s Box Office Report: February 2014
Top 10 Films for the Month of February:
1. The LEGO Movie – $257,760,692
2. Non-Stop – $92,168,600
3. The Monuments Men – $78,031,620
4. Son of God – $59,700,064
5. RoboCop – $58,607,007
6. About Last Night – $48,637,684
7. 3 Days to Kill – $30,697,999
8. Endless Love – $23,438,250
9. Pompeii – $23,219,748
10. Winter’s Tale – $12,600,231
Honorable Mentions:
1. Vampire Academy – $7,791,979
2. The Wind Rises – $5,209,580
February Winners: The LEGO Movie, Non-Stop, Son of God, and About Last Night
We come to the second month of 2014 and after what was a fairly decent January, February looks to try and build on that. Looking at the slate of films released this month, there was at least one film that was highly anticipated and it was just a matter of how the rest of the films performed that will determine how good or bad the month is. The first film that makes it into this category is the animated film the LEGO Movie, a film set in the LEGO Universe of an everyman who tries to save the world from a tyrannical businessman. The film would receive critical acclaim from critics and would finish with over $257 million which I will delve into later in the year. The next film from this month that makes it into this category is the thriller film Non-Stop, a film about an Air Marshall who must save a plane full of passengers from someone who is killing people at select intervals. The film would receive mixed reviews from critics who felt Liam Neeson carried the film as good as he could, and it would finish with over $92 million which was still a strong showing for the film. The next film that makes it into this category is the epic biblical film Son of God, a telling of the life of Jesus Christ. The film would receive negative reviews from mainstream critics though it did receive positive reviews from Christian publications, and it would finish with over $59 million which was a great showing for this film. The last film from this month that makes it into this category is the romantic comedy About Last Night, a film about two couples who try to make their relationships work in the real world. The film would receive positive reviews from critics and finished with over $48 million which was a strong showing given the Valentine’s Day tie-in. It’s not often that February has multiple films in this category so having this many films is a good showing, and as mentioned we will see how if plays out in the success or failure of the month.
February Losers: RoboCop, Pompeii, Winter’s Tale, Vampire Academy, and the Wind Rises
While we had quite a few films make it in the previous category, it was now going to be interesting to see how many films make it into this category to counter it. Typically, having fewer films in this category helps while having more hurts a month, but this month didn’t have a lot of films that had much potential so we will see what happens. The first film that makes it into this category is the sci-fi action film RoboCop, a remake of the 1987 film of the same name of a detective who is turned into a cyborg police officer. The film would receive mixed to negative reviews from critics and finished with over $58 million which I will delve into later in the review. The next film that makes it into this category is the romantic disaster film Pompeii, a film about a gladiator who seeks revenge for his family’s death against backdrop of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. The film would receive negative reviews from critics who felt the film relied more on effects instead of story, and it would finish with over $23 million which made one of the bigger losers of the month. The next film that makes it into this category is the romantic fantasy Winter’s Tale, based on the novel of the same name about a burglar who has the ability to bring people back to life and he tries to save an heiress who dies in his arms. The film would receive negative reviews from critics who felt it was a poor adaptation of the film, and it would finish with over $12 million making it one of the bigger bombs of the year. The next film that makes it into this category is the fantasy film Vampire Academy, based on the novel of the same name of a trio of vampires who return to boarding school after being on the run. The film would receive negative reviews from critics who felt it was a poor film to fill the young-adult void, and it would finish with over $7 million which would lead to a potential franchise being axed. The last film that makes it into this category is the animated film The Wind Rises, a film about a young man who builds planes while also falling in love. The film would receive positive reviews from critics who considered it a good final film for director Hayao Miyazaki, and it would finish with over $5 million during it’s limited run in the US. It’s too bad that there ended up being more films in this category than in the previous one, and that doesn’t bode too well for the month in the long run.
The Surprise/Story of February 2014: Everything is Awesome for the LEGO Movie as it easily takes the top spot of February 2014
Going into the month of February, there were several films that catered to numerous audiences though for the most part, February doesn’t see a lot of animated films come out as they are typically reserved for March around Spring Break. But as we see, an animated film can succeed if done correctly and that happens here with the LEGO Movie easily dominating the month and no other film from this month came even close to matching it much less topping it. On the flip side, given this was the month of Valentine’s Day, there weren’t many romance films coming out this month and the ones that did come out were fairly tepid in their performances. Having said that, there were a few films that did pretty decent with Non-Stop nearly cracking the $100 million mark, and the rest of the films in the top 5 did well enough to help the month stay relatively well. Coming off a fairly tepid January, this month feels like it’s about on par with that month which will make it a bit tougher for March to bring some momentum to the box office.
Overachiever of February 2014: The LEGO Movie
On paper, a movie about Legos seems like a bit of a stretch even though it still remains one of the most popular toys in history, and even though there have been some video games of famous franchises done in Lego form that have succeeded, doing a full film about it always seemed like a risk. However, the film did have plenty going for it including a strong cast and an interesting premises, and having it also include a bit of live-action was unique for an animated film as it was necessary to help drive the plot along. As mentioned, February usually doesn’t have a big animated film come out since it didn’t seem like it would fit, but this showed that an animated film can easily succeed in this month if it is marketed correctly. In this case, this film easily succeeded by making well over $250 million and we will see if this leads to a potential Lego Universe in film, and there is no question that this film is the easy choice for the overachiever of the month.
Underachiever of February 2014: RoboCop
Looking at the list of films from this month, nothing had really stood out to be the underachiever of the month though upon closer inspection, there really was only one choice and that is RoboCop. The original 1987 film is still highly regarded as one of the best films of the decade which spawned its own franchise, so the decision to do a remake seemed fairly logical even though I don’t think many were crying out for a remake. Despite that, this could’ve worked if there was enough interest for it, but ultimately there wasn’t as even though it did finish in the top 5 for the month, it was only able to make just over $58 million. In addition, it was compared very unfavorably to the original despite the mixed reviews for this film which nixed a potential sequel, and there is no question that this film is more than deserving to be the underachiever of the month as we will see how it fares against the other underachievers from the year.
February 2014 Awards Watch: The LEGO Movie, Pompeii, and the Wind Rises
As it usually is with February, this is where the previous award cycle ends and the new one begins, so typically this month either has very few or a lot of films make it into this category and in this case, we do get a few films that make it from this month though not too many. The first film that makes it into this category is the LEGO Movie which was nominated for one Academy Award (Best Original Song) though it didn’t win, and it was also nominated for one Golden Globe Award (Best Animated Film) which it didn’t win. The next film that makes it into this category is Pompeii which was nominated for one Golden Raspberry Award (Worst Supporting Actor) which it didn’t win, and the last film that makes it into this category is the Wind Rises which was nominated for one Academy Award (Best Animated Film) which it didn’t win as well as one Golden Globe Award (Best Foreign Language Film) which it didn’t win. This is usually typical for February and we will see how future Februarys do in terms of award contenders.
Overall Thoughts of February 2014:
Overall, the month of February 2014 ended up being a pretty average month that was about on par with January. There was no question that these first two months didn’t have the strongest slate of films as each month had at least one or two films that had potential, but the rest for the most part were pretty standard to low earning. While we did have one film from this month that did extremely well by making over $200 million, it wasn’t enough to carry the month on its own due to the rest of the films being fairly weak in terms of earnings. 2014 has not gotten off to the best start as it is still going better than other years, but coming off a strong 2013 it was still pretty disappointing and we will see if March can turn things around. As for this month, it is a decent month compared to other Februarys though it could’ve been so much more.
Final Grade: C-
