Are You with Us?
2011 in Review
By Ryan Mazie
January 9, 2012
BoxOfficeProphets.com
The Mission: Impossible franchise
Let’s start out with the latest release first. Hatched over 15 years ago, the Tom Cruise-led popcorn action franchise made a return to theaters this Christmas, five years after the last. Looking back, this franchise actually has a slow churn-out rate, with a four to six year interim. I was surprised that Paramount greenlighted another sequel in the seemingly defunct franchise; however, I couldn’t have been happier with their decision, as I loved jaw-dropping action in Ghost Protocol (a title not a "ghoulish" as it thinks it is … and open to puns). Under the directorial eye of Pixar genius Brad Bird (the underrated Ratatouille and the sequel-begging The Incredibles), the IMAX-shot Burj Khalifa sequence was one of the best stunt scenes of the year, and the plot wasn’t too shabby either. After a ho-hum month of December at the box office, M:I-GP is this year’s Christmas miracle, still being with us.
Horror Remakes
Some scary films released this year were horrifying … but not for the right reasons. I love this spooky genre like many others, but audiences were not given much to scream about. The ‘80s remakes of Fright Night 3D (which I highly enjoyed in 2D) and The Thing (the only scare is that you were suckered into paying $10 for the piece of garbage) were DOA, grossing less than their originals … even with the aid of 20-plus years of inflation. Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark was underwhelming in quality and grosses while the horror quasi-sequels Scream 4 and Final Destination 5, didn’t find much of an audience that enjoyed them besides myself, making the least in their respective franchises. The only horror remake that killed at the box office was The Roommate (I shudder just thinking about how bad it was), which reaped $37.3 million against a budget the size of an average college tuition. While new scares are always welcomed (Paranormal Activity 3 and Insidious were big hits), rehashing the same old ghosts is just not with us.
Fractured Fairytales
While The Princess Bride, Enchanted, and Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland won over audiences in the past, 2011 told a much “Grimm”-er tale. Beastly, a tween-driven Beauty and the Beast, grossed a rather ugly $27.9 million, and Red Riding Hood (aka Twilight without vampires) was left alone in the woods with sub-$40 million. Even combined, their grosses couldn’t match the totals, much less attendance, of the first three films mentioned (same goes for their Rottentomatoe-meter scores). This doesn’t bode well for 2012, which brings us two Snow White re-dos, a Jack and the Beanstalk re-invisioning, and an action-packed Hansel and Gretel. This genre might be a favorite of studio execs who can ride off of known names that come for free thanks to the public domain, but at the box office, they do not end up so happily ever after, being not with us.
Colons and Hyphens
We are the generation that will go to our Netflix queues and will not know which film in a popular franchise came first, second, third, and so on… Numbers were used in the past to clarify the chronology of a series; nowadays studio executives are absolutely terrified to add numbers in the title for fear it will make the film sound tired. The only numbers put in movie titles this year were to signify part one or part two, or if the film was in 3D (which was annoyingly, practically everything). Do you want to see Planet of the Apes 7 or The Ape Saga: Rise of the Planet of the Apes: On Stranger Tides – Part 2 in 3D? While there are eight sequels in this year’s top 10 grossing films, only three of them have numbers in them (excluding numbers to represent part one or two). While colon-izing a title does not always provide box office success (ie. Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son and Spy Kids: All the Time in the World – though they did fairly better than expected/deserved), elongated titles are certainly with us.
(The) Fast & (The) Furious Franchise
Can you believe it was ten years ago when Vin Diesel’s Dominic Toretto first vroomed onto the screen? Despite Fast Five’s increasingly ludicrous plot, the testostrone-heavy flick is the epitome of summer fun. Having the shortest title in the top 10 grossing films this year, the short and sweet (and explosive) action movie not only made the most money out of any film in the series, but in a rare move, sold the most tickets too. With a sixth one on the way (want to take bets that it will be called, F6st?), this is a series that’s with us.
The ‘80s
Who doesn’t love watching I Love the ‘80s on VH1, John Hughes movies, and ‘80s sitcoms on Nick at Nite? I do. When it comes to the movie theater, any property established or set in the era barely resonates. While I already declared the 2011 redo of ‘80s hits The Thing and Fright Night to be not with us, the same thing goes for the entire decade in terms of movie-going. Footloose failed to inspire my generation to cut loose, Conan the Barbarian raped and pillaged (in 3D!!!) a smidge above $20 million, and Take Me Home Tonight’s audience stayed home, grossing $6.9 million (that’s not an accounting error) in over 2,000 theaters, being not with us.
R-rated Comedies
Audiences flocked to the ribald and raunchy R-rated laughers this summer. While stoner comedies still haven’t found an audience outside of Cheech & Chong (Your Highness, Harold and Kumar 3D, and 30 Minutes or Less ranged from up in smoke to disappointing in receipts), non-drug based funny flicks were one of the year’s most reliable genres. The Hangover: Part II, Bridesmaids, Horrible Bosses and Bad Teacher all had me laughing out loud while lining the pockets of the studios, making beyond $100 million. No Strings Attached, Friends with Benefits and 50/50 also were mid-range hits in comparison with their budgets. Granted, not everything slapped with the rating that requires ID or a parent for a ticket was a hit. Only $14 million-worth of people asked What’s Your Number? and The Change-Up and The Sitter failed to spark interest. However, with the hits outweighing the flops, this subset of comedy was certainly with us.
Talking Animals
Maybe if Steven Spielberg had made Tintin’s Snowy and War Horse’s Joey talk, they wouldn’t have been box office disappointments. A tried-and-true, and largely hated (I can’t stand it) genre of film, talking animal flicks are box office gold. Talking pandas (Kung Fu Panda 2), cats (Puss in Boots – honestly, my favorite animated movie this year), lizards (Rango), birds (Rio), rabbits (Hop), chipmunks (Chipwrecked), and gorillas (Zookeeper) all lured audiences by the droves. While some made less than expected, they all at the very least broke even. The only flop was the chatty penguins in Happy Feet Two (should have had been hyphenated…). Although I may never understand the appeal of animals that make stupid puns (Scooby-Doo better say “G-g-g-g-ghost Protocol” if they make another installment), the genre is certainly with us.