io9 have composed a nice list of the biggest hits and flops at the Box Office this summer.
See the list in full here, or below.
Box Office Wins
The Avengers.
Amazingly, 769 people, or 3 percent of respondents, thought Avengers would be a surprise flop. Instead, it’s grossed nearly $1.5 billion worldwide, or $617 million just in the United States. This movie was responsible forDisney beating all its profit projections for the third quarter. (Cue mental image of Scrooge McDuck bathing in cash.)The Dark Knight Rises
Fauxcused predicted this film wouldn’t do as well as The Dark Knight — and appears to have been right. But a total of 1,179 commenters thought this movie would be a flop — and they were wrong. Thus far, TDKRhas $835 million in worldwide box office, which is still quite respectable but not quite the previous film’s total. It’s definitely not quite hitting The Dark Knight‘s numbers domestically, possibly partly thanks to that horrible incident on the opening weekend.Amazing Spider-Man
Over 3,000 of you predicted this movie would be a surprise flop — but it actually performed pretty well, taking in $62 million in its opening weekend in the U.S. and winding up with a total box office of $691 million. Many people thought it was too soon for a new Spider-Man series, but moviegoers apparently didn’t feel that way. (On the other hand, the L.A. Times says this movie cost about $230 million to make, way more than we’d previously believed.)
Ted
And this is the summer’s biggest sleeper hit — this modestly budgeted comedy about a teddy bear that’s come to life did gangbusters, making $210 million in the U.S. alone. (It was also the rare film that did way better in the U.S. than overseas.) Only 583 people predicted that Ted would be the summer’s biggest surprise hit. But apparently Ted 2 is now pretty much a sure thing.Brave
This movie has done respectably, rather than great — it made around $374 million worldwide, on a reported budget of $185 million. And apparently, it also contributed to Disney’s record profits. Only 575 people thought this movie would be a surprise flop.Snow White and the Huntsman
This is also a modest hit — it made around $390 million with a production budget of over $170 million, with only about $155 million of that coming from the United States. This showing was good enough to put a sequel into production (before the scandal involving Kristen Stewart and director Rupert Sanders hit) according to the Hollywood Reporter. Over 3,000 of you predicted Snow White would fail.Prometheus
This is another movie that did way better overseas than in the United States — it made only about $125 million, less than its $130 million production budget, Stateside. ButPrometheus made around $310 million worldwide, strong enough that we’re supposedly going to see Prometheus 2. Hollywood Reporter says this movie’s receipts put it “right on the franchise bubble.” Some 1,161 of you thought Prometheus would falter. “As it’s not clearly identified as an Alien prequel to the general audience, it has no built in audience like virtually everything else,” warned AngriestGeek. “Plus, I hate Ridley Scott and the very idea [of] “prequels” and want it to fail.”Men in Black 3
This movie also did well enough overseas to rescue a somewhat weak domestic box office — MIB3 made around $177 million in the United States, less than its reported nearly $250 million budget. But worldwide, it made an impressive $620 million. But there’s a problem — according to the L.A. Times, this film has a number of “profit participants” taking a share of the revenue, including Will Smith, producer Steven Spielberg and others. Plus profits from overseas theaters are often lower than for domestic runs. So it’s hard to tell how much Sony will actually wind up making from this film. This movie actually won the “surprise flop” poll, getting over 5,300 votes.Bourne Legacy
So far it’s doing respectably, although not as great as the previous Bourne movies.Safety Not Guaranteed
I’m going to go ahead and call this film the other sleeper hit of the summer — according to Box Office Mojo, it’s made $3.6 million domestically, and will probably have a pretty great life on DVD. No clue how much this film cost to make, but it had funding from the Washington Filmworks Film Incentive Program. I’m betting it ends up making a decent profit. Around 350 of you thought this would be a sleeper hit.
Box Office Losses
Battleship
Congrats to the 3,790 of you who predicted this movie would go down in flames — your pegs landed totally right. This movie cost over $210 million to make and grossed just $65 million in the United States, making it almost a John Carter-sized misfire. Battleship did wind up with over $300 million worldwide, but that’s still a huge loss. “I want this to fail so bad, but people will go see ‘Transformers at sea!'” said Brainlock. Meanwhile, Argh predicted Battleship would flop because “Ron Paul.”Dark Shadows
Tim Burton’s adaptation of the cult supernatural soap opera made just $80 million in the United States, on a reported budget of around $150 million. The film’s total worldwide take was around $236 million. The film massively underperformedin its opening weekend, appealing mostly to an older demographic. Almost 1,700 of you voted for Dark Shadows to be a surprise disaster, while 382 of you thought it would be a surprise smash hit. But many people seemed to think any collaboration between Johnny Depp and Tim Burton was a guaranteed hit, not a sleeper.Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter
This was not a good summer for Tim Burton, who also produced this film. With a reported production budget of $69 million, this film took in just $37 million domestically and $78 million worldwide. (But Variety seems to think it may break even with home video and other revenue sources.) Some 30 percent of you thought that this movie would be a sleeper hit, and reported enthusiastic applause whenever the movie’s trailer appeared in theaters. But Bobby Muldoon worried it was the new Snakes on a Plane, a film that’s “trying too hard.”The Watch
This “neighborhood watch” comedy with aliens was already kind of damaged, because it changed its name and marketing after the Treyvon Martin killing. It had a really soft opening weekend, taking in just $12 million domestically, on a reported $68 million budget. Just 175 of you thought this movie would be a sleeper hit.
Total Recall
It only just came out a couple weekends ago, but after a really weak opening weekend gross, people are already calling this a pretty massive flop. It also dropped a pretty tragic 69 percent in its second weekend, and doesn’t appear to be having the kind of overseas box office that would save it. This movie came in second in the “surprise flop” poll, with 4,847 of you predicting disaster. Said falseprophecy:Looks stylish, but the last few years has seen a trend of stylish thrillers based around a supposedly philosophical high concept idea, that are actually superficial and don’t really cut away from the chases and explosions long enough to examine the logical conclusions of their premises. Expecting much the same here.
The one bright spot: apparently this movie’s budget wasn’t the massive $200 million that was being reported beforehand, but a more reasonable $125 million.Seeking a Friend for the End of the WorldThis makes me sad, because I kind of liked this film — but it disappeared from theaters after just two weekends, and it only made $7 million domestically, less than its $10 million budget. The term “bomb” was being tossed around. Apparently, it made almost nothing overseas, too. Maybe it’ll have a beautiful new life on DVD.
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