Steve’s Box Office Report: June 2013
Top 10 Films for the Month of June:
1. Man of Steel – $291,045,518
2. Monsters University – $268,492,764
3. World War Z – $202,359,711
4. The Heat – $159,582,188
5. This Is the End – $101,470,202
6. White House Down – $73,103,784
7. The Purge – $64,473,115
8. The Internship – $44,672,764
9. The Bling Ring – $5,845,732
10. 20 Feet from Stardom – $4,946,445
Honorable Mentions:
1. Much Ado About Nothing – $4,328,849
June Winners: Man of Steel, Monsters University, the Heat, This is the End, and the Purge
We continue on through the year 2013 as we now get into the summer and after how hot the month of May was, it was going to be a disappointment if the month of June ended up underperforming in any way. Thankfully, the month did do really well as we had a few films from this month do great and make it into this category. The first film from this month that makes it into this category is the first of the DC Extended Universe with Man of Steel, an origin story of Superman arriving to Earth and learning who he is while protecting the planet from General Zod. The film would receive mixed reviews from critics who felt it was a step up from the last Superman reboot back in 2006, but that it was still a weak kickoff to this new franchise though it would finish with over $291 million which was a good take for the film. The next film that makes it into this category is the animated film Monsters University, a prequel to the original film which sees Mike and Sully meet in college and becomes rivals before becoming friends. The film would receive positive reviews from critics who felt it was a fine prequel to the beloved original and it would finish with over $268 million which was a solid win for the film, but it would end a streak which I will get into later. The next film from this month that makes it into this category is the action comedy the Heat, a film about an FBI agent who is forced to team up with a Boston detective in trying to take down a mobster. The film would receive positive reviews from critics who felt it was carried completely by its stars, and it would finish with over $159 which was a big win and I will delve into it later in the review. The next film from this month that makes it into this category is the disaster comedy This is the End, a film about a group of friends who try to survive the apocalypse. The film would receive positive reviews from critics who felt it was a fresh take on the disaster genre, and it would finish with over $101 million which was a good win for the film and got it into the top 5. The fifth and last film from this month that makes it into this category is the horror film the Purge, a film about a family who must protect a stranger from a group of killers on the one night of the year where all crime is legal. The film would receive mixed reviews from critics who felt that not enough was done with the unique premises, but the film would finish with over $64 million which was a solid win for the film and ensured a potential sequel. These five films definitely did very well and helped carry the month to a strong showing, especially after how well the previous month did and the summer of 2013 is still going strong.
June Losers: White House Down
With the last category having a good number of films making it, it typically means that this category doesn’t have a lot of films make it whether it be a few or at times there could be no losers at all. But this month does end up having at least one film make it and that is the action film White House Down, a film about a U.S. Capitol police officer who must save the President and his daughter from a group of mercenaries who attack the White House. The film would receive mixed reviews from critics who felt it was a fairly generic action film, and it would finish with over $73 million which was not a good showing and I will go further into it later in the recap. While it would’ve been better if no film made it into this category, the fact that only one film did is still a fine showing for the month and keeps the momentum going.
The Surprise/Story of June 2013: The DCEU blasts off as “Man of Steel” takes top spot of June 2013
Going into the summer of 2013, it was going to be interesting because not only did you have the next phase of the MCU starting in May with Iron Man 3, we were also going to have DC take their own shot at a similar franchise and it would start with Man of Steel. Again, while the film received mixed reviews from critics, it still did very well by taking the top spot of the month and now the question was how the DCEU would do going forward as it would be a few years before we get the next film in the franchise. The other big story here is that after Pixar took the top spot of the month last year after Transformers ended it’s run in 2011, they don’t get to build on it as Monsters University finishes behind Man of Steel by a considerable amount. Coupled with some strong runs by a few other films and the month of June 2013 ends up being a pretty good month that I will officially wrap up later in the review.
Overachiever of June 2013: The Heat
Going into the month of June, there were a couple of big blockbusters coming out that were expected to do pretty well, and then there were a few films that could potentially serve as good counterprogramming to those big films and do fairly well. One of those films was the Heat as it was a unique play on the buddy cop comedy genre by having two women in that role, and they had the perfect pair of Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy who played off each other extremely well and this was around the time when McCarthy was breaking out as a star. As mentioned, the reviews for the film were fairly positive as most critics felt the plot was too predictable, but the pairing of Bullock and McCarthy was more than enough to carry the film with their performances. As a result, the film would do very well with audiences and finished with over $159 million which was a major success for the film and there is no question that this film is more than deserving of the title of overachiever of the month, and it will be interesting to see where it stacks up against the other overachievers from the year.
Underachiever of June 2013: White House Down
Looking at the slate of films coming out in 2013, it was interesting to see that there were going to be two films coming out with the same premise of the White House being attacked by a group of mercenaries. The first one was Olympus Has Fallen which was released back in February and the other one was White House Down which was released this month, and between the two it seemed like White House Down had more potential given that it was a bigger film than Olympus. It brought back memories of 1998 when two meteor destruction films, Armageddon and Deep Impact came out the same year and both of them ended up doing well. In this case, while Olympus ended up being a bit of a surprise hit amongst what ended up being a fairly weak February, White House Down had the misfortune of coming out against bigger films like Man of Steel, Monsters University, and World War Z. Coupled with the tepid reviews from critics and the higher expectations after Olympus did as well as it did, and sadly it was a perfect storm of disappointment for White House Down and it ends up being the underachiever of the month as it couldn’t even make it to $80 million, much less $100 million.
June 2013 Awards Watch: None
Since I started doing these 7 years ago, the month of June usually had at least one award contender listed as the summer would have some good contenders come out whether they be blockbusters or some smaller film served to be counterprogramming. But in what I believe is a first, we have no film from this month that ends up making it into this category which is crazy to think, but nothing from this month was bad enough to get a Golden Raspberry nod nor was anything really worthy of an Academy or Golden Globe nod. It has becoming fairly rare to have a month where there are no award contenders and we will see going forward if it happens again or not.
Overall Thoughts of June 2013:
Overall, the month of June 2013 ended up being a pretty great month even though it was a slight step behind the previous month, but it was still pretty hot and keeps the summer going on a strong note. While the previous month was such an amazing month, the expectations for this month were slightly too high for it to match it though it still did very well and didn’t drag the year down any. We had half of the films in the top 10 make over $100 million with the top 3 crossing $200 million as well, and the rest of the films from this month did just well enough that nothing dragged the month down at all. 2013 has been a pretty solid year to this point as it started a bit weak, but it has picked up considerably through these last two months and we will see how the rest of the summer plays out. As for the month of June 2013, it is a very good month and the summer of 2013 has been an extremely hot season to this point.
Final Grade: A
