Steve’s Box Office Report: February 2015
Top 10 Films for the Month of February:
1. Fifty Shades of Grey – $166,167,230
2. The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water – $162,994,032
3. Kingsman: The Secret Service – $128,261,724
4. Focus – $53,862,963
5. Jupiter Ascending – $47,387,723
6. McFarland, USA – $44,482,410
7. The DUFF – $34,030,343
8. The Lazarus Effect – $25,801,570
9. Still Alice – $18,754,371
10. Seventh Son – $17,223,265
Honorable Mentions:
1. Hot Tub Time Machine 2 – $12,314,651
February Winners: Fifty Shades of Grey, the SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, Kingsman: The Secret Service, McFarland, USA, The DUFF, and the Lazarus Effect
We move on through the year of 2015 and after a fairly decent January that was dominated by one film, we head into February where there were a few films that looked like they could have a solid run. There was enough this month to cater to all sorts of audiences and we do have quite a number of films that make it into this category which is sometimes unusual for February. The first film that makes it into this category is the erotic romantic drama Fifty Shades of Grey, based on the novel of the same name of a young intern who becomes involved in a sadomasochistic relationship with a young businessman. The film would receive negative reviews from critics who felt the film didn’t live up to the hype given the source material, but it did finish with over $166 million which was strong to continue with adapting the rest of the books. The next film that makes it into this category is the animated film the SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, based on the cartoon of the same name where SpongeBob and his friends head to the surface to recover the Krabby Patty formula. The film would receive positive reviews from critics who liked the perfect mix of live action and animation, and it would finish with over $162 million which assured this wouldn’t be the last SpongeBob film. The next film that makes it into this category is the spy action film Kingsman: The Secret Service, based on the comic book of the same name of a new spy recruit who attempts to stop an eco-terrorist from wiping out humanity. The film would receive positive reviews from critics though they did feel it was a bit over the top, but the film would finish with over $128 million and we will see if this leads to a new franchise. The next film that makes it into this category is the sports drama McFarland, USA, based on the true story of the McFarland High School cross country team winning the state championship in 1987. The film would receive positive reviews from critics who felt it was a fine formula film, and it would finish with over $44 million in a good little showing for the film. The next film that makes it into this category is the teen comedy film the DUFF, based on the novel of the same name of a girl who attempts to become more social to finally talk to her crush. The film would receive positive reviews from critics who felt it was a perfectly acceptable teen romance, and it would finish with over $34 million which was a fine showing for the film. The last film that makes it into this category is the sci-fi horror film the Lazarus Effect, a film about a woman who is brought back to life and obtains supernatural abilities. The film would receive negative reviews from critics who felt it was too dull and recycled from previous horror films, but it would finish with over $25 million which was a fine showing for a February horror film. Again, having this many films in this category is not common for the month of February and there is no question that this helps carry the month to a higher level than previous Februarys.
February Losers: Jupiter Ascending and Seventh Son
Unlike most Februarys where we have more losers than winners, this was an instance where we had far more winners than losers which again proves how strong that this month was. It was good to have many films in the previous category and they all had a hand in carrying the month as opposed to last month where it was dominated by one film, but we have to see how poorly the films in this category did. The first film that makes it into this category is the sci-fi action film Jupiter Ascending, a film about a girl who learns that she is royalty and is helped by an interplanetary warrior to achieve her destiny. The film would receive negative reviews from critics who felt that while the effects were impressive, the story was lacking and it would finish with over $47 million making it one of the bigger disappointments of the year. The other film that makes it into this category is the action fantasy film Seventh Son, a film about a young man who becomes an apprentice of a witch hunter called a “Spook”. The film would receive negative reviews from critics who felt the cast was wasted by the material, and it would finish with over $17 million making it one of the other big disappointments of the year. While these two films were some of the bigger disappointments of the year, they weren’t complete bombs so we will see how much they do end up hurting the month.
The Surprise/Story of February 2015: Grey slightly edges out yellow as “Fifty Shades” sneaks past “SpongeBob” to take top spot of February 2015
Going into the month of February, there was quite a number of different types of films coming out and one of the interesting points is the real lack of romance films, and given that this month has Valentine’s Day in it does make it a bit weird that we don’t have more romance films which has been one of the hallmarks of the month. Having said that, it was clear that Fifty Shades of Grey was the main film of the month even though it wasn’t your standard romance film, and by coming out on Valentine’s Day weekend, it more than delivered despite the poor reviews with its strong performance. We should also give some love to the SpongeBob movie as even though February typically doesn’t have a big family film, this film overdelivered as it almost overtook Fifty Shades of Grey with only a few million dollars separating the two films. Coupled with a strong performance by Kingsman: The Secret Service and these three films were basically the ones carrying the month, and we will see how high they are able to carry the month especially with how fairly decent the remaining films did.
Overachiever of February 2015: Kingsman: The Secret Service
Going into this month, one of the films that had plenty of eyes on it was Kingsman: The Secret Service as I’m sure there weren’t many people that knew that it was based on a comic book, and the trailers were very unique in that it offered a fast-paced action film coupled with a strong cast. As mentioned, the film did receive positive reviews from critics who praised the style and the black humor of the film though some had reservations that the violence was over the top, but that didn’t completely detract audiences as it did finish with over $128 million which was a major win for the film. While it didn’t quite reach the same level as Fifty Shades of Grey or the SpongeBob Movie, that fact that this film easily made it into the top 3 showed how well it did and it appears we have a new franchise on our hands, and as a result there is no question that this film is easily the overachiever of the month.
Underachiever of February 2015: Hot Tub Time Machine 2
5 years ago, we saw the release of Hot Tub Time Machine which did fairly well when it came out due to its unique premises, but back then I had said that it could’ve done better and deemed it the underachiever of March 2010. Now almost five years later, we finally get the sequel with Hot Tub Time Machine 2, which sees the friends use the hot tub to travel to the future to prevent one of them from being murdered. Unlike the first film which did receive positive reviews, the reviews for this one were not as positive as many felt this was just a cash-grab and it took too long to get the sequel out. Audiences agreed as this film made just over $12 million which was a major drop from the first film and this film couldn’t even make it into the top 10, and any murmurings of a potential third film were quickly silenced as there is no question that this film joins its predecessor by being named underachiever of the month.
February 2015 Awards Watch: Fifty Shades of Grey, Jupiter Ascending, Still Alice, Seventh Son, and Hot Tub Time Machine 2
As we usually see in the month of February, we do get quite a number of films that get nominated for awards as it is the end of one year while the beginning of another. With that, we do have quite a few films from this month that makes it into this category though perhaps not as many as potentially thought. The first film that makes it into this category is Fifty Shades of Grey which was nominated for one Academy Award (Best Original Song) which it didn’t win, and it would also be nominated for one Golden Globe Award (Best Original Song) which it didn’t win. However, it would win 5 Golden Raspberry Awards (Worst Picture, Worst Actor, Worst Actress, Worst Screen Combo, and Worst Screenplay) while being nominated for one more (Worst Director), and I believe this is the first instance where a film got nominations for all three big awards. The next film that makes it into this category is Jupiter Ascending which would win one Golden Raspberry Award (Worst Supporting Actor) while being nominated for five more (Worst Picture, Worst Director, Worst Actor, Worst Actress, and Worst Screenplay), and the next film that makes it into this category is the drama film Still Alice, a film about a linguistics professor who is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease shortly after her 50th birthday. The film would receive positive reviews from critics and finished with over $18 million as it would win one Academy Award (Best Actress) as well as one Golden Globe Award (Best Actress), and this was more of a testament to the performance of Julianne Moore. The next film that makes it into this category is Seventh Son as it received one Golden Raspberry Award (Worst Supporting Actress) which it didn’t win, and the last film that makes it into this category is Hot Tub Time Machine 2 which was nominated for two Golden Raspberry Awards (Worst Supporting Actor and Worst Remake, Rip-Off, or Sequel) though it didn’t win either. This was an interesting month in that almost all the films only got nods for the Golden Raspberry Awards which isn’t the best look for the month.
Overall Thoughts of February 2015:
Overall, the month of February 2015 ended up being a pretty solid month that was slightly better than January, though it is about on par with previous Februarys as there was really nothing that pushed it to the next level. As I mentioned, unlike the previous month which was carried by one film, this month was carried by a few films though even that was barely enough to get the month to where it ended up. We did have three films that made it over $100 million while the rest were fairly decent though nothing else really broke out, and even the three films on top could only do so much to carry the month to the level it did. 2015 has to this point been an interesting year as we started fine enough with January and went up a bit this month, and we will see if March can elevate it higher or if we start to level out prior to the summer. As for the month of February 2015, it is a pretty solid month that’s about on par with previous Februarys.
Final Grade: C
