Steve’s Box Office Report: September 2014
Top 10 Films for the Month of September:
1. The Maze Runner – $102,427,862
2. The Equalizer – $101,530,738
3. No Good Deed – $52,543,632
4. The Boxtrolls – $50,837,305
5. Dolphin Tale 2 – $42,024,533
6. This is Where I Leave You – $34,296,320
7. A Walk Among the Tombstones – $26,307,600
8. The Drop – $10,724,389
9. The Identical – $2,827,666
10. Atlas Shrugged Part III: Who is John Gait? – $846,704
Honorable Mentions:
None
September Winners: The Maze Runner, the Equalizer, and No Good Deed
We continue on through the year 2014 and after what was a pretty hot summer, the fall now is upon us and this is typically a time where the momentum can either continue or if it grinds to a halt. Obviously, most of the focus will be on the holiday season in a few months with the rest of the major films coming out then, but we do have a few films that do fairly well this month even if its not the heights of the summer. The first film that makes it into this category is the dystopian sci-fi film the Maze Runner, based on the novel of the same name of a group of teenagers who try to find their way out of a dangerous maze while also establishing their own society. The film would receive mixed reviews from critics who felt it was a fine enough film amongst other YA films that were coming out, and it would finish with just over $102 million which I will delve into a little bit later in the recap. The next film that makes it into this category is the action film the Equalizer, based on the TV series of the same name where an ex-Marine protects a trafficked victim from the Russian mafia. The film would receive positive reviews from critics who felt the film was carried well by star Denzel Washington, and it would finish with over $101 million which I will also delve into later in the recap. The last film that makes it into this category is the thriller film No Good Deed, a film about a mother who helps a seemingly random stranger only to learn he is an escaped convict who threatens her and her family. The film would receive negative reviews from critics who felt it was a generic thriller that wasted its stars, but the film would finish with over $52 million which was a solid earning for the film despite the reviews. While these three films did well, they definitely felt a lot tamer than we were used to over the summer and it will be interesting to see how the month ends up playing out.
September Losers: None
Since I started doing these recaps 8 years ago, it has been very rare that we have a month where no film makes it into either this category or the previous category as typically there is always one film in each one. However, we have another instance of that here where amazingly enough, there was no film from this month that makes it into this category which is quite remarkable given the totals of the rest of the films from this month. Now the only question is whether this helps the month or actually hurts the month in that the films in the previous category were not hot enough to carry the month to a high level, but there are no losers to drag it down and right now, it looks like the month was set to be fairly mediocre compared to the rest of the year.
The Surprise/Story of September 2014: “The Maze Runner” takes top spot of September 2014 in an effort to launch a new YA franchise
Since Harry Potter ended back in July 2011, we have been looking for another YA franchise to try and fill the big shoes that it left behind, and that void was now even bigger when the Twilight franchise ended back in November 2012. While the Hunger Games franchise was pretty hot to this point with the release of Catching Fire coming this November, there was still a need to have a good second franchise though to this point, many of the YA adaptations that have come out have underdelivered and not drawn in that audience. This month, we have another franchise attempting to start with the Maze Runner and while the material is not as well known, there was enough there that it was able to make over $102 million and take the top spot of the month though the Equalizer nearly stole it away. Ultimately, the film did well enough to continue the franchise though it will be interesting to see how the franchise fares going forward.
Overachiever of September 2014: The Equalizer
Looking at the list of films from this month, it was almost tempting to just leave this category blank as there didn’t appear to be any film from this month that deserved to be the overachiever. But upon deeper analysis, the Equalizer did much better than I think was expected of it considering that many probably don’t know that it was based off a TV series from the 80s, and the reviews for it were not that sparkling though they were more positive than negative. Obviously, one of the drawing factors of the film was Denzel Washington who was the latest in a series of older actors portraying a tough badass on screen, and as mentioned the film would receive over $101 million and was only a few million away from stealing the top spot away from the Maze Runner. We will see if this ends up leading to a potential franchise going forward, but ultimately the film does deserve the title of overachiever of the month.
Underachiever of September 2014: Dolphin Tale 2
Much like the previous category, I wasn’t sure if there was any film from this month that is deserving of being the underachiever of the month because the majority of the films from this month did just enough not to be losers. But again upon further review, there was one film that stood out and that was the sequel to Dolphin Tale with Dolphin Tale 2, which sees the crew at Clearwater Marine Aquarium work to find a new companion for Winter. With a lack of films aimed at families released this month, this film had potential to be a surprise hit after the first film did very well even going against the re-release of the Lion King. The film also received positive reviews from critics who felt it was about on par with the previous film, but it only finished with over $42 million which was a considerable step down from the previous film. While it was able to make it into the top 5, there was a feeling that it should’ve done better because as mentioned, there weren’t many options from this month that were geared at families and as a result, the film ends up being the underachiever of the month.
September 2014 Awards Watch: The Boxtrolls and Atlas Shrugged Part III: Who is John Gait?
Usually, September is a pretty lean month when it comes to films coming out that make it into this category, and while there have been a few times where we get a good amount of films that make it into this category, most of the time we only get one or two. This is one of the main instances where we only have two films that make it into this category which shows how light the month was in terms of major contenders. The first film that makes it into this category is the animated film the Boxtrolls, a film about a boy who is raised by trash-collecting trolls and he tries to save them from an exterminator. The film would receive positive reviews from critics and it would finish with over $50 million which was a solid outing for the small company Laika, and it would be nominated for one Academy Award (Best Animated Film) which it wouldn’t win as well as one Golden Globe Award (Best Animated Film) which it wouldn’t win though getting the nod was a big feat. The other film that makes it into this category is the third film in the Atlas Shrugged trilogy with Who is John Gait?, which sees the mysterious Gait try to fend off being captured by the government. The film would receive harsh reviews from critics and finished with just over $800 thousand making it the lowest grossing film in the trilogy, and it would be nominated for one Golden Raspberry Award (Worst Prequel, Remake, Ripoff, or Sequel) which it wouldn’t win. Given that there were only two films that made it into this category, it shows that the month was again fairly tepid and that most of the heavy hitters were still to come.
Overall Thoughts of September 2014:
Overall, the month of September 2014 ended up being a pretty dull month which is disappointing given how hot the summer was, but in fairness it wasn’t a terrible month either as there have been other months that have been much worse. There was just enough here to keep this from receiving a failing grade, but it can only go so high and it ends up leveling off at a pretty low level. We did have two films that made over $100 million though both just barely did and the rest of the films from the month were very tepid and non-descript. 2014 has been an interesting year to this point as it started fairly well, then the summer was very hot as I mentioned, but the box office cools down considerably here and we will see how October ends up fairly. As for this month, it is a pretty dull and tepid month that is very forgettable.
Final Grade: D+