Steve’s Box Office Report: January 2014
Top 10 Films for the Month of January:
1. Ride Along – $134,938,200
2. Lone Survivor – $125,095,601
3. The Nut Job – $64,251,541
4. Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit – $50,577,412
5. August: Osage County – $37,738,810
6. Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones – $32,462,372
7. That Awkward Moment – $26,068,955
8. Her – $25,568,251
9. I, Frankenstein – $19,075,290
10. The Legend of Hercules – $18,848,538
Honorable Mentions:
1. Nebraska – $17,654,912
2. Devil’s Due – $15,821,461
3. Labor Day – $13,371,528
4. Inside Llewyn Davis – $13,235,319
January Winners: Ride Along, Lone Survivor, the Nut Job, and Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones
We enter a brand new year in 2014 and after a strong 2013, it was going to be interesting to see how 2014 was going to do as the year had plenty of big films set to come out, and not only that there were some smaller films that looked to break out as well. Typically, January can be a weak month since it is mainly carried by the holdovers from the end of 2013, but this month looked to buck the trend as there were some big films coming out this month. The first film from this month that makes it into this category is the buddy cop film Ride Along, a film about a security guard who partners up with a police office trying to impress him enough so he can marry his sister. The film would receive negative reviews from critics who felt it was a weak film that didn’t do enough, but it would end up finishing with over $134 million which I will delve into a bit later in the recap. The next film that makes it into this category is the war film Lone Survivor, loosely based on the nonfiction book of the same name of the failed Operation Red Wings. The film would receive positive reviews from critics who felt the performances helped carry the film, and it would finish with over $125 million as it just missed taking the top spot of the month by a few million. The next film that makes it into this category is the animated film the Nut Job, a film about a squirrel who breaks into a nut store to save his fellow park critters while also witnessing a bank robbery. The film would receive negative reviews from critics who felt it was a weak animated film that wouldn’t appeal to audiences, and it would finish with over $64 million which was a fine showing for an animated film that was going up against Frozen which was still doing strong. The last film from this month that makes it into this category is the horror film Paranormal Activity: The Markes Ones, a film about a group of friends who try to help their friend who’s been possessed while being connected to those from the other films. The film would receive mixed reviews from critics who felt it was a fine entry though questioned how much more juice the franchise had, and it would finish with over $32 million which I will delve into later in the recap. The films that were released this month were pretty strong though it’s pretty clear the top 2 films carried things, but compared to other years this was a good showing for the month of January.
January Losers: I, Frankenstein and the Legend of Hercules
Since I started doing this project, the month of January usually had more losers than winners or at least the same number in both, but this is one of the few years where we do have more winners than losers for the month. Having said that, those that made it into this category could be such bad losers that they could end up dragging the month down though we will see if that holds serve. The first film from this month that makes it into this category is the sci-fi action film I, Frankenstein, a film which sees Frankenstein’s monster travel the world to stop evil demons as well as their leader. The film would receive harsh reviews from critics who felt it was a poor adaptation of the classic monster, and it would finish with over $19 million and ended up being the first big bomb of the year. The other film from this month that makes it into this category is the action fantasy film the Legend of Hercules, which tells the story of the rise of Hercules towards his destiny as leader of his kingdom. The film would also receive harsh reviews from critics who felt it was a poor film that would be hurt further by another film about Hercules coming out later that year, and it would finish with over $18 million which also led it to be a bomb. Sadly, the prediction that I had made did in fact happen as these two films failed so bad that it could actively hurt the month though we will see if that ends up happening.
The Surprise/Story of January 2014: Ride Along drives its way to the top spot of January 2014 edging out Lone Survivor
As we know, January typically doesn’t see a ton of major films come out as it is mainly holdovers from the end of 2013 while also seeing more award contenders go wide after limited runs and try to get some momentum going. This month seemed to be no different as there were a few films coming out this month that looked to do well, but weren’t seen as major films compared to others coming out this year and it seems like this month saw more award contenders than any. It seemed like the month was for the taking for Lone Survivor as it was getting some good buzz and positive reviews, but Ride Along ended up becoming a big hit with the audience despite the negative reviews from the critics. In the end, both films did extremely well as both finished with over $100 million and Ride Along ended up edging Lone Survivor out by about $9 million, and it was clear that they were the two films that are best remembered for the month as the rest of the films were fairly innocuous. While there is no question that the performance of those two films is enough to carry the month higher than previous Januarys, there is a possibility that this month could’ve done better if one or two more films overperformed.
Overachiever of January 2014: Ride Along
As I mentioned earlier, Ride Along was looking like quite the unique film as it was not getting positive reviews from critics and with the holdovers from 2013 still going strong, it seemed like this film would end up falling by the wayside and just come and go with the wind. However, it was obvious to everyone that Kevin Hart was starting to hit the peak of his popularity around this time and he was becoming a strong draw for films, and it would end up resonating with audiences as it opened at number one with over $41 million and eventually finishing up with over $134 million. This was a prime example of the mainstream audience clearly not agreeing with the critics as they flocked to this film and it will be interesting to see if this leads to a potential sequel, and because of it there is no question that this film deserves to be the overachiever of the month.
Underachiever of January 2014: Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones
When the first Paranormal Activity came out back in 2009, it was a fresh take for the horror genre right as Saw was starting to come to its end and it would fill the void, and to this point we had four entries out which all had varying degrees of success though it seems like the most recent entry with Paranormal Activity 4 was starting to see diminishing returns. Despite that, we do get the fifth entry in the series with the Marked Ones which breaks from tradition by coming out in January and not October, but we have seen in previous years where a random horror film comes out this month to appeal to that crowd. Plus, this film seemed like it would take a fresh take on the franchise by focusing on different people while also referencing the previous films by having that be the catalyst for events in this film. Unfortunately, the diminishing returns continues here as this film with only $32 million makes it the lowest grossing film in the franchise to this point, and as a result it is the easy choice for the underachiever of the month as you have to wonder if this franchise should be allowed to die off.
January 2014 Awards Watch: Lone Survivor, August: Osage County, Her, the Legend of Hercules, Inside Llewyn Davis, and Nebraska
With the start of a new year, we are deep into award season as this month usually sees a bunch of films come out that make it into this category, and the number of films in this category usually goes back and forth between a few or a lot as this year has quite a number of films in this category. The first film that makes it into this category is Lone Survivor which would be nominated for two Academy Awards (Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing) though it wouldn’t win either, but it was a good showing for the film that it got a few nominations. The next film that makes it into this category is the tragic comedy film August: Osage County, based on the play of the same name of a dysfunctional family who come together after the patriarch disappears. The film would receive positive reviews from critics and finished with over $37 million as it would receive two Academy Award nominations (Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress) though it didn’t win either, and it was also nominated for two Golden Globe Awards (Best Actress – Musical or Comedy and Best Supporting Actress) though it wouldn’t win either. The next film that makes it into this category is the sci-fi drama film Her, a film about a man who falls in love with an A.I. virtual assistant personified by a woman’s voice. The film would receive critical acclaim from critics and finished with over $25 million as it would win one Academy Award (Best Original Screenplay) while being nominated for 4 more (Best Picture, Best Original Score, Best Original Song, and Best Production Design). It would also win one Golden Globe Award (Best Screenplay) while being nominated for two more (Best Picture – Musical or Comedy and Best Actor – Musical or Comedy) which solidified its status as one of the best films of the year. The next film that makes it into this category is the Legend of Hercules which would be nominated for 6 Golden Raspberry Awards (Worst Picture, Worst Actor, Worst Actress, Worst Director, Worst On-Screen Combo, and Worst Prequel, Remake, Ripoff, or Sequel) though it wouldn’t win any as there were other films even worse than this. The next film that makes it into this category is the black comedy film Inside Llewyn Davis, a film about the life of a folk singer who struggles to become famous while keeping his life in order. The film would receive positive reviews from critics and finished with over $13 million as it would be nominated for two Academy Awards (Best Cinematography and Best Sound Mixing) though it wouldn’t win either. It would also be nominated for three Golden Globe Awards (Best Picture – Musical or Comedy, Best Actor – Musical or Comedy, and Best Original Song) though it wouldn’t win any. The last film from this month that makes it into this category is the road film Nebraska, a film about a man and his son who take a road trip to claim a supposed million dollar sweepstakes prize. The film would receive positive reviews from critics and finished with over $17 million as it was nominated for 6 Academy Awards (Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Director, Best Supporting Actress, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Cinematography) though it wouldn’t win any. It would also be nominated for 5 Golden Globe Awards (Best Picture – Musical or Comedy, Best Actor – Musical or Comedy, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actress) though it wouldn’t win any as it was a pretty loaded year for award contenders. This has to be one of the more gold-laden months as most of the films in this category received multiple nominations for the awards, but also one of the biggest loser months with not a lot of winners from this month.
Overall Thoughts of January 2014:
Overall, the month of January 2014 ends up being a fairly decent month as it was better than other Januarys from previous years, but again there was a feeling that it could’ve done a lot more than we got. As mentioned, January usually doesn’t have a lot of major films as it was mostly lower-end films, holdovers, and award contenders, but there are times where there could be a few films that come out this month that do very well. To that point, we do have two films from this month that did cross the $100 million mark which is very rare for January, but the rest were fairly standard for the month and nothing else was good enough to push the month up. After what ended up being a pretty strong 2013, 2014 is off to a decent start and we will see how we continue on as we head towards the first big month with March. As for this month, it is a decent month to kick off what looks to be an interesting year with 2014.
Final Grade: C-
