Steve’s Box Office Report: April 2015
Top 10 Films for the Month of April:
1. Furious 7 – $353,007,020
2. Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 – $71,038,190
3. The Age of Adeline – $42,629,776
4. The Longest Ride – $37,446,117
5. Woman in Gold – $33,307,793
6. Unfriended – $32,482,090
7. Ex Machina – $25,442,958
8. Monkey Kingdom – $16,432,322
9. Little Boy – $6,485,961
10. True Story – $4,719,695
Honorable Mentions:
None
April Winners: Furious 7, Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2, Woman in Gold, and Unfriended
We continue on through the year of 2015 and it has been a very interesting year to this point coming off a strong 2014, and this month was really going to be interesting given that there appeared to be at least one film that was going to be dominant while the rest of the films of this month didn’t have much going for them. As expected, the one film that looked to dominate did just that and now it was only a matter of determining what other films did well enough to join it in this category. The first film that makes it into this category is the next installment in the Fast and Furious franchise with Furious 7, which sees Dominic Toretto and his team recruited to prevent a terrorist from obtaining a hacking program. The film would receive positive reviews from critics who felt there was still life in this franchise, and it would finish with over $353 million which I will delve into later in the review. The next film that makes it into this category is the comedy film Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2, the sequel to the first film where Paul Blart attempt to stop a heist at the Wynn casino during a security officer convention. The film would receive negative reviews from critics who felt it was inferior to the first film which wasn’t well liked as well, but the film did finish with over $71 million which was a good showing despite being far behind the first film. The next film that makes it into this category is the biographical drama film Woman in Gold, based on the true story of a Jewish woman who fights to reclaim a painting stolen from her family by the Nazis during World War II. The film would receive mixed reviews from critics who felt the film didn’t live up to its potential despite the star power, but it would finish with over $33 million which was a fine showing for the film even going against bigger films. The last film that makes it into this category is the found footage horror film Unfriended, a film about a group of friends who are tormented by the spirit of a girl they bullied into suicide. The film would receive positive reviews from critics who praised the style of filming which was very unique and unheard of, and it would finish with over $32 million which was a strong showing for the small film. Even though the month was dominated by just one film, the fact that we did have multiple films in this category was a good showing for the month and we will see how the month ends up doing in the rest of the categories.
April Losers: None
Looking at this month, at first it seemed like this month was going to have at least a few losers given that the majority of the focus was on Furious 7, and there was nothing else that came out this month that looked like it could break out and would end up being crushed under that weight. While there were some films from this month that didn’t end up doing well, there was nothing that was bad enough to make it into this category so it ends up being left blank which feels like the first time in a while where we’ve had a month where there were no losers. Now sometimes this is a positive though sometimes it can be a negative too, especially if the previous category doesn’t have many films in it, but we will see how this ultimately affects this month in the end.
The Surprise/Story of April 2015: Seventh installment of “Fast and Furious” easily slides into the top spot of April 2015
We seem to have gotten into a pattern over the last few years where the month of April has at least one major blockbuster and the rest of the films being about mid or lower tier, and I think it was a smart move to keep the March momentum going and to not have the box office be cold going into May when the summer season starts. Since 2009, April has belonged to the Fast and Furious franchise as three of the last four films, including Furious 7, were released in the month of April and they have basically dominated the month of April. That trend continues here as Furious 7 easily takes the top spot of the month and it wasn’t even close as the #2 film of the month is a far distant second by just under $300 million, and the rest of the films in the month were pretty standard though nothing bombed or underperformed. The momentum that the box office had from March is still going pretty strong and we will see how that translates into how the summer starts next month with May.
Overachiever of April 2015: Furious 7
As mentioned, since 2009, the Fast and Furious franchise has had a stranglehold on April with three of the last four films, including this one, have been released in April with Fast and Furious 6 being the outlier coming out in May 2013. However, there was a lot of interest going into this film due to the unfortunate passing of Paul Walker who died during filming of this film, and so there was more intrigue going into this film as he had become synonymous with this franchise and knowing this was his last film was going to probably add more eyeballs to it. In addition, there was a bit of a feeling that the franchise had peaked and was on the way down as there could’ve been franchise fatigue by this point, but on the flip side this film was the best reviewed film in the series to this point so it was going to be interesting to see how it did. In the end, the film did very well by making over $353 million which made it the highest-grossing film in the franchise, and it also has the highest-grossing opening weekend of any film in the franchise with over $147 million. Now one could argue that this was the peak of the franchise and that it should’ve ended here, but we will see what happens going forward with the franchise though there is no question that this film deserves to be the overachiever of the month.
Underachiever of April 2015: Ex Machina
Looking at the month, there didn’t seem to be a film that would belong in this category as aside from Furious 7, there was no film that looked like it would underperform or that would bomb that would put it in this category. However, upon closer inspection, there is a film that I felt deserved to be in this category and that is the sci-fi film Ex Machina, a film about a programmer who administers the Turing Test to a humanoid robot. The film would receive critical acclaim from critics who praised the performances of the actors as well as the visual effects, and the film would finish with over $25 million which was a fine showing for the film though there was a feeling that it could’ve done better given the positive reviews to it. With nothing else from this month breaking out, this could’ve been the perfect film to serve as counterprogramming to Furious 7, but instead it fell in line with the other films from the month and as a result, there is no question that this film deserves to be the underachiever of the month.
April 2015 Awards Watch: Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 and Ex Machina
As I’ve mentioned in previous reviews, the month of April is typically a quiet month when it comes to award contenders as March sees the previous season end and the new season begins. Usually, April doesn’t have that many films that make it into this category and that holds true here as only two films make it into this category, and the first film is Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 which was nominated for 6 Golden Raspberry Awards (Worst Picture, Worst Actor, Worst Director, Worst Screenplay, Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-Off, or Sequel, and Worst On-Screen Combo) though it wouldn’t win any as there were worst films than it. The other film that makes it into this category is Ex Machina which would win one Academy Award (Best Visual Effects) while being nominated for one more (Best Original Screenplay), and it would also be nominated for one Golden Globe Award (Best Supporting Actress) which it didn’t win. It is always good to have a few films from a month make it into this category even if it’s just a few, and we will see how the months going forward fare in this category.
Overall Thoughts of April 2015:
Overall, the month of April 2015 ended up being a pretty decent month though it is basically carried by one film and this is about the highest that it was able to reach. Coming off a pretty solid March, this month didn’t have much going for it aside from one film and that film was strong enough not to completely derail the momentum of the year. As mentioned, the month was carried by one film that made well over $300 million while the rest ranged from solid to below average though again nothing outright bombed or underperformed which was a help for the month. 2015 has been an interesting year to this point as it started off fairly strong and while it does take a bit of a dip here, we will see how it rebounds as we go into May and the beginning of the summer. As for the month of April 2015, it is a pretty solid month that is fine for the year of 2015.
Final Grade: C+
