Steve’s Box Office Report: June 2014

Steve’s Box Office Report: June 2014

Top 10 Films for the Month of June:

1. Transformers: Age of Extinction – $245,439,076

2. 22 Jump Street – $191,719,337

3. How to Train Your Dragon 2 – $177,002,924

4. The Fault in Our Stars – $124,872,350

5. Edge of Tomorrow – $100,206,256

6. Think Like a Man Too – $65,182,182

7. Jersey Boys – $47,047,013

8. Begin Again – $16,170,632

9. America: Imagine a World Without Her – $14,444,502

10. Snowpiercer – $4,563,650

Honorable Mentions:

None

June Winners: Transformers: Age of Extinction, 22 Jump Street, How to Train Your Dragon 2, the Fault in Our Stars, and Think Like a Man Too

We now head into the summer of 2014 and coming off a pretty strong May, June had potential to be a great month given the films that were coming out this month. There was quite a collection of films coming out this month that catered to numerous audiences and most of the films this month did very well despite some strong competition amongst themselves. The first film that makes it into this category is the fourth film in the Transformers franchise with Age of Extinction, which sees Optimus team up with an inventor and his daughter as they awaken the mysterious Dinobots to save the Autobots from a group of humans looking to turn them into drones. The film would receive negative reviews from critics who felt the franchise was starting to get diminishing returns and it would finish with over $245 million which I will delve into later in the review. The next film that makes it into this category is the comedy action film 22 Jump Street, the sequel to 21 Jump Street which sees Schmidt and Jenko go undercover at a college to find the supplier of a new drug. The film would receive positive reviews from critics who felt it was on par with the first film and it would finish with over $191 million with it outgrossing the first film. The next film that makes it into this category is the animated film How to Train Your Dragon 2, the sequel to the first film where Hiccup finds his long-lost mother while he and his village deal with a madman who wants to use the dragons to conquer the world. The film would receive positive reviews from critics who felt it was a step up from the first film, and it would finish with over $177 million which was slightly lower than the first film though ensured the franchise would continue. The next film that makes it into this category is the romance film the Fault in Our Stars, based on the novel of the same name where a pair of cancer patients meet during a support group and fall in love. The film would receive positive reviews from critics who felt it was perfect counterprogramming to the major films of the month, and it would finish with over $124 million which I will delve into later in the review. The last film that makes it into this category is the romantic comedy Think Like a Man Too, the sequel to the first film where the couples converge on Vegas for a wedding and continue to deal with their issues. The film would receive negative reviews from critics who felt it was a step down from the previous film, but it would finish with over $65 million which was a fine showing for the film. Obviously, the bulk of these films did very well and will help carry the month as high as it can go, but we will see how high as we continue through the review.

June Losers: Edge of Tomorrow and Snowpiercer

Typically when a film has as many winners as this month did, we usually don’t get a lot of losers as we would sometimes get one or two, and on occasion we would get none as no film would do bad enough that any belong in this category. Sadly, this month is not that lucky as we do have two films that do make it into this category. The first film that makes it into this category is the sci-fi action film Edge of Tomorrow, loosely based on a Japanese novel where a solider is caught in a time loop and must use that knowledge to help defeat an alien race invading Earth. The film would receive positive reviews from critics who like the unique concept and praised the performances of the stars, but it would finish with just over $100 million which was a major disappointment given the positive reviews. The other film that makes it into this category is the sci-fi action film Snowpiercer, based on the graphic novel of the same name of a group of lower-class citizens rebel against the elite on a train that saved them from a climate apocalypse. The film would receive critical acclaim from critics who considered it one of the best films of the year, but lack of exposure would lead to it making just over $4 million and it disappeared quietly from theaters. In the end, the success of the films in the previous category are more than enough to overcome the failures of the two films in this category, but we will see how the overall results of the month are affected by these films.

The Surprise/Story of June 2014: Transformers pulls a three-peat as “Age of Extinction” claims the top spot of June 2014

In July 2007, the first Transformers film came out and did extremely well to the point that you knew a franchise would come out of this, and sure enough that’s what we would get though starting with Revenge of the Fallen, the films would come out in June instead with Fallen taking the top spot for June 2009. Two years later, Dark of the Moon came out and took the top spot of June 2011 and now three years later, Age of Extinction comes out and continues the trend as it easily takes the top spot of the month giving the franchise a three-peat (technically a four-peat if you count the first one). Coupled with some strong showings from most of the other films released this month, most of them being sequels, and the momentum that the year had coming out of May continues strong here and now we will see how the month of July can keep the momentum going.

Overachiever of June 2014: The Fault in Our Stars

As I mentioned, most of the films coming out this month were sequels and most of them were also big-budget productions that were set to do very well this month, and it is typically that we have at least one or two films that try to act as counterprogramming to those big films. In this case, the top film that filled that role was the Fault in Our Stars which had the advantage of coming out at the beginning of the month, and as a result it ended up doing very well drawing in young audiences who knew the book and it also showed the continued growth of star Shailene Woodley who had experienced success earlier in the year with Divergent. The film also benefitted from doing a special screening featuring a Q&A with the cast and paired with strong reviews from critics, and the film surprised a lot by making over $124 million and as a result, there is no question that this film easily deserves the title of the overachiever of the month.

Underachiever of June 2014: Transformers: Age of Extinction

At first glance, it seemed like this month didn’t have any film that deserved the title of underachiever of the month, but upon closer inspection it is actually obvious that there is a film that deserves that title and that is Age of Extinction. While the Transformers franchise as a whole is not critically loved, the first three films still bucked that and were able to do very well as the audiences loved the action and the nostalgia surrounding it was enough to carry those three films. However, by the time we get to the fourth film, it is clear that the franchise is experiencing diminishing returns as while $245 million is nothing to sneeze at, it is a major step down from the previous three films. Obviously, bringing in a new cast didn’t help and the plot was weak as well in addition to there not being a lot of buzz regarding the Dinobots, and it will be interesting to see if the franchise continues on and if they will make any pivots to try and regain the momentum lost here. At the end of the day, there is no question that Age of Extinction deserves to be the underachiever of the month and we will see how it stacks up at the end of the year against the other underachievers.

June 2014 Awards Watch: Transformers: Age of Extinction, How to Train Your Dragon 2, Think Like a Man Too, and Begin Again

As we continue through the year of 2014, we now start getting the award contenders coming out as June can go from having a bunch in this category to having none at all, and this month does pretty well as we have a few films make it into this category. The first film that makes it into this category is Transformers: Age of Extinction which would win two Golden Raspberry Awards (Worst Director and Worst Supporting Actor) while being nominated for 5 more (Worst Picture, Worst Supporting Actress, Worst Screenplay, Worst Prequel, Remake, Ripoff, or Sequel, and Worst Screen Combo), solidifying its spot as one of the worst reviewed film of the year. The next film that makes it into this category is How to Train Your Dragon 2 which was nominated for one Academy Award (Best Animated Picture) which it didn’t win, but it would win one Golden Globe Award (Best Animated Picture) which was a big win considering what’s to come this year. The next film that makes it into this category is Think Like a Man Too which would win one Golden Raspberry Award (Worst Supporting Actor), and the last film that makes it into this category is the musical-comedy Begin Again, a film about a songwriter who partners up with a struggling record label executive to create an album. The film would receive positive reviews from critics and would finish with over $16 million, and it would receive one Academy Award nomination (Best Original Song) which it wouldn’t win. Even though there were only four films that made it into this category, there was a decent mixture of success with at least two of the films getting award wins.

Overall Thoughts of June 2014:

Overall, the month of June 2014 ends up being a pretty great month and continues the momentum that has been building really since April. Usually, the summer starts its run in May and continues on through the rest of the summer, but this was an instance where April started it and that would become a trend going forward with April getting more blockbuster releases in the coming years. We did have 5 films from this month cross over $100 million with one making well over $200 million, and the rest of the films were solid enough that they didn’t drag the month down though it wasn’t quite a perfect month. 2014 has been an interesting year to this point as it started a bit slow though has been on a great run to this point, and as we continue through the summer we will see if that momentum can continue. As for the month of June 2014, it is a great month and easily one of the best months of the year.

Final Grade: A-