Steve’s Box Office Report: January 2015
Top 10 Films for the Month of January:
1. American Sniper – $350,126,372
2. Taken 3 – $89,256,424
3. Paddington – $76,271,832
4. The Wedding Ringer – $64,460,211
5. Selma – $52,076,908
6. The Boy Next Door – $35,423,380
7. The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death – $26,501,323
8. Project Almanac – $22,348,241
9. Black or White – $21,571,189
10. Strange Magic – $12,429,583
Honorable Mentions:
1. Foxcatcher – $12,096,300
2. Inherent Vice – $8,110,975
3. Mortdecai – $7,696,134
4. The Loft – $6,002,684
January Winners: American Sniper, Taken 3, Paddington, the Wedding Ringer, Selma, and the Boy Next Door
We enter a brand new year with 2015 and after what ended up being a very solid 2014, it was going to be interesting to see how this year plays out. There were a lot of big films set to be released this year and many of them had major potential to be huge, but as we have seen, the month of January is typically devoid of them though this month does have a bit of potential. The first film from this month that makes it into this category is the war drama film American Sniper, based on the life of sniper Chris Kyle which details his time serving in Iraqi while struggling to adjust to life back home. The film would receive positive reviews from critics who praised the acting though it wasn’t without some criticism, and it would finish with over $350 million which was an insane amount for a January release. The next film that makes it into this category is the third and final film in the Taken series which sees Bryan Mills framed for the murder of his ex-wife and he fights to clear his name. The film would receive negative reviews from critics who felt it ended the trilogy on a low note, but it would finish with over $89 million though it would end up being the lowest grossing film in the trilogy. The next film that makes it into this category is the family film Paddington, based on the children’s books of the same name of a bear from Peru who moves to London and seeks adoption while trying to avoid a taxidermist. The film would receive critical acclaim from critics who felt it was a breath of fresh air in terms of family films, and it would finish with over $76 million as we will see if this leads to a potential franchise. The next film that makes it into this category is the romantic comedy the Wedding Ringer, a film about a “best man services” provider who looks to help a man needing groomsmen for his wedding. The film would receive negative reviews from critics who felt that the stars of the film didn’t mesh well enough to carry the film, and it would finish with over $64 million which was a nice win for the film. The next film that makes it into this category is the drama film Selma, based on the 1965 marches from Selma to Montgomery led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to secure voting rights for blacks. The film would receive critical acclaim from critics who considered it one of the best films of the year, and it would finish with over $52 million which was a fine showing for the film. The last film that makes it into this category is the thriller film the Boy Next Door, a film about a teenager who has a one-night stand with his teacher and he becomes obsessed with her. The film would receive negative reviews from critics who felt the film did not deliver entirely on its premises, and it would finish with over $35 million which was a fine showing for a low-end horror film. It is very uncommon that the month of January has this many films make it into this category, and we will see if this becomes the norm going forward or if this month just happens to be an outlier.
January Losers: Strange Magic and Mortdecai
As we have seen in previous years, January usually has more films in this category than in the previous category, but this year bucks that trend as we have a bunch of films in the previous category while we only have two in this category. As I said earlier, the previous category typically is pretty light so seeing that many films in it was refreshing, and it does help the month as a whole since January is one of the weaker months of the year. The first film that makes it into this category is the animated film Strange Magic, a film about mythical creatures with the leader of the Dark Forest on a mission to destroy primroses due to his hatred of love. The film would receive negative reviews from critics who felt the story lacked despite the visuals, and it would finish with over $12 million which made it one of the bigger bombs of the year. The other film that makes it into this category is the action comedy film Mortdecai, based on the novels of the same name of an art dealer who tries to recover a stolen painting. The film would receive negative reviews from critics who felt it was the lowest point for star Johnny Depp, and it would finish with over $7 million making it another bomb for the year. While there were only two films in this category, the fact that they were both major bombs could be a hindrance for the month.
The Surprise/Story of January 2015: “American Sniper” snipes through the competition and easily takes the top spot of January 2015
As we have seen over the last few years, January has been carried by any award contenders that come out in December on a limited scale and then get released wide in January, meaning that the films that are released this month officially are almost forgotten about unless one of them breaks out and has a great run. However, that is not the case here as American Sniper, which was released on a limited scale back on Christmas Day 2014, easily takes the top spot for the year and it wasn’t even close. While it has been rare to see a film from January make over $100 million, this film broke all the norms by making well over $300 million which is completely unheard of as many films from March don’t even make that much. Nothing else from this month came even close to competing with the film with the film being in the second spot, Taken 3, doesn’t even reach $100 million and the remaining films are pretty much on par with each other. Again, we will see if this becomes more common for January going forward or if this was just an outlier, but it is still a solid start for the year of 2015 which is something previous years haven’t been able to say.
Overachiever of January 2015: American Sniper
Going into the end of 2014 and beginning of 2015, American Sniper was one of the more anticipated films coming out as there was plenty of buzz behind it and it was a strong award contender, and the source material was quite interesting taking a look at Chris Kyle and his time in Iraqi as a sniper. With the reviews for the film being pretty positive, there was a belief that the film would do well, but I don’t think anyone could’ve guessed how well the film would do given that it was an R-Rated war film which is a genre that can be really hit or miss. In the end, the film ended up finishing with over $350 million which was an absolutely insane amount for the film, and as I said it is rare for a January film to be this dominant and it will be interesting to see if anything else from this year can actually top it. But as for now, there is absolutely no question that this film easily deserves to be the overachiever of the month and is a strong contender for overachiever of the year.
Underachiever of January 2015: The Boy Next Door
As we have seen over the last few years, January typically has at least one or two horror films come out which is pretty interesting since the last few horror films that came out this month have been fairly subpar. Going into this month, there were a few horror films coming out though the one that had the most eyes on it was the Boy Next Door, and there was a lot of intrigue behind it given that it would put its star Jennifer Lopez in a fairly unfamiliar position. There was some good hype behind almost on the same level of Jennifer’s Body from back in 2009, but much like that film failed to live up to the promise, this film also fails as many believed it didn’t bring the campy thrills it promised. While finishing with over $35 million was not the worst we’ve seen, there was a feeling that it could’ve done better even with other films from this month targeting adults, and as a result this film is more than deserving of being the underachiever of the month.
January 2015 Awards Watch: American Sniper, the Wedding Ringer, Selma, the Boy Next Door, Foxcatcher, Inherent Vice, and Mortdecai
As we start a new year, we as usual dive head first right into awards season and this is typically the month where the majority of the award contenders come out, and this year is no different as we have quite a number of films make it into this category. The first film that makes it into this category is American Sniper which would win one Academy Award (Best Sound Editing) while being nominated for 5 more (Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Film Editing), and this solidifies its position as one of the top films of the year. The next film that makes it into this category is the Wedding Ringer which would win one Golden Raspberry Award (Worst Supporting Actress) while being nominated for one more (Worst Supporting Actor), and the next film that makes it into this category is Selma which would win one Academy Award (Best Original Song) while being nominated for one more (Best Picture). The film would also win one Golden Globe Award (Best Original Song) while being nominated for three more (Best Picture – Drama, Best Actor – Drama, and Best Director) which also solidifies this film as one of the best of the year. The next film that makes it into this category is the Boy Next Door which was nominated for one Golden Raspberry Award (Worst Actress) which it didn’t win, and the next film that makes it into this category is the sports film Foxcatcher, based on the true events of John du Pont’s recruitment of the Schultz brothers. The film would receive positive reviews from critics and finished with over $12 million as it would be nominated for five Academy Awards (Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Makeup and Hairstyling), and it would also be nominated for 3 Golden Globe Awards (Best Picture – Drama, Best Actor – Drama, and Best Supporting Actor) though it didn’t win. The next film that makes it into this category is the neo-noir film Inherent Vice, a film about a private detective who investigates a series of cases connected to his ex-girlfriend. The film would receive positive reviews from critics and finished with over $8 million as it was nominated for two Academy Awards (Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Costume Design) though it didn’t win either, and it was also nominated for one Golden Globe Award (Best Actor – Musical or Comedy) which it didn’t win. The last film that makes it into this category is Mortdecai which was nominated for 3 Golden Raspberry Awards (Worst Actor, Worst Actress, and Worst Screen Combo) though it wouldn’t win any. Even though there were a bunch of films in this category, there weren’t that many wins as almost all of them struck out on winning any awards with only a few winning just one.
Overall Thoughts of January 2015:
Overall, the month of January 2015 ended up being a pretty decent month in that it was pretty much carried by one film while the rest of the films were fairly standard in terms of what January usually is. For the most part, January is fairly average with nothing standing out and if anything does, it is still on the lower end when compared to the rest of the year, but this month has that main outlier and helps carry it to a bit of a higher ground than it maybe would’ve without it. We had one film that not only made over $100 million, but made way over $300 million while the rest again were pretty standard for the month of January, and we did also have a few films that were pretty bad that kept the month from going higher. After a pretty strong end to the year of 2014, 2015 is off to an interesting start and we will see how things continue on with February. As for the month of January 2015, it is a pretty decent month that is better than other Januarys we have seen, but we will see how it stacks up to the rest of 2015.
Final Grade: C-
