Are You With Us? 2012 in Review
By Ryan Mazie
December 24, 2012
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Ensemble action films: In the past, one star’s name could draw an audience in to a big blow ‘em up film. Nowadays, you need to call in the cavalry. I loved all of the films I am about to mention below (besides a certain one starring werewolves and vampires) and audiences sure did too. The superhero roll call that is The Avengers soared to neck-craning heights at the box office, raking in $623.4 million. A group of 24 children and teenagers battled to the death (led by the lovely Jennifer Lawrence) in The Hunger Games, which outgrossed every Harry Potter film in its first outing at $408 million. One can even argue that The Dark Knight Rises, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2, and Skyfall are ensemble efforts (even though Batman, Bella, and Bond are the clear leads, respectively, the expansive cast of characters helped bolster attention). And as a fun fact, as of right now (December 22nd), these five films make up the top five earners of the year, making the concept of jam-packing a movie with interesting characters definitely with us.
Romantic comedies: While romantic dramas fared well with audiences, adding in laughter to films with kisses proved to be an unwise combination. An invincible genre that has driven date night couples to the movies for years proved to be mortal this year with the shoulder shrugs audiences gave to high-profile flicks such as: Playing for Keeps (while still in theaters, it is unlikely to make much more than the $12 million it has already grossed), What to Expect When You’re Expecting ($41.1 million), The Five-Year Engagement ($28.7 million), Wanderlust ($17.3 million) and This Means War ($54.8 million – although technically a spy comedy, with the strong romantic undertones, this Valentine’s Day release was expected to soar much higher). The only saving grace in this genre was the successful Think Like a Man, which earned $91.5 million and a sequel. However, five out of six disappointments is enough to say that this genre is not with us.
Channing Tatum: Already a star, Tatum secured his place on the A-list, starring in three back-to-back-to-back $100 million+ grossing films. While winning over the female population with the stripper flick Magic Mike ($113.7 million total) and the romance drama The Vow ($125 million), Channing proved that he could appeal to men too, showing off his comedic skills with the absolutely hilarious TV adaptation of 21 Jump Street ($138.5 million). An impressive year with three more potential hits for 2013, Channing is with us.
Tim Burton: A not terribly prolific director, Tim Burton surprisingly treated audiences to two films this year. Unfortunately, audiences rejected both flicks. Released in May, the Johnny Depp-starring film adaptation to the soap opera Dark Shadows grossed a poor $79.7 million against a budget almost double that amount. His short film-turned-feature length black-and-white stop motion movie Frankenweenie fared worse, making only $34.4 million against its $39 million production budget (and however many millions of dollars that were poured into its pervasive marketing campaign). While the reviews for the zombie dog flick have shown that Burton hasn’t lost his touch, to audiences in 2012, he is not with us.
Found footage movies: Like the torture porn sub-genre of horror films in the early ‘00s, found footage films are cash cows. However, the omnipresence of them drove the genre into the ground. While still having a pulse of life, I believe that 2012 is the year that found footage movies have hit their downturn. Regardless, their dirt-cheap budget will keep the genre around for a couple more years. For every Chronicle ($64.6 million) that shows that found footage works with the right concept (one of my favorite films from the first quarter of the year), there is a Chernobyl Diaries ($18.1 million). Paranormal Activity 4 is the most obvious example of the genre’s downturn, raking in $53.8 million in total while only a year earlier, the third film in the series opened to a similar amount. Still a moneymaker, I don’t think it is too early to say that this genre is not with us.
Snow White: I remember Snow White and the Seven Dwarves as being one of the Disney movies of my childhood, with the titular princess being graceful yet captive. However, today’s young audiences will certainly have a different impression of the pale-skinned princess. Kristen Stewart made her into a rebel warrior against Charlize Theron in the entertaining yet misguided Snow White and the Huntsman, which generated $155.1 million (or enough to greenlight a sequel). On the lower end of the spectrum, a more PG-take on the tale starring Julia Roberts, Mirror Mirror, still drew the biggest crowd for a live-action kiddy flick ($64.9 million). After last year’s Red Riding Hood and Beastly flopped, Snow White proved that she is a fairytale still with us.
Taylor Kitsch: Like another Abercrombie & Fitch model turned actor on this list, Taylor Kitsch also headlined three films. Quality-wise, I think Kitsch has had a stellar year. He amazed me in the epic sci-fi of John Carter. He made Battleship a fun popcorn summer explosion movie. And by the beginning of July, he starred in Oliver Stone’s return-to-form thriller, Savages. The only problem is that combined, the three films raked in $185.6 million. The combined production cost is $504 million. In what could have been his breakout year, Kitsch most likely got himself blacklisted from headlining any other nine-figure production for quite some time, making him not with us.
3D: Have audiences had it with paying an additional $3 being tacked onto their ticket price to see in an extra dimension? As of right now, only four of the top 10 grossing films of the year have been shown in the surcharge-adding format. Compare that to five films in 2011 and six in 2010, with the addition of theaters offering the format, the numbers seems to be inverse. And out of the four films, it is hard to tell the percentage of the audience opting for the 2D showings (the usual seems to be roughly 50%). With plenty of films still being offered in three dimensions and the use of it being fine-tuned (Life of Pi is a recent highlight to show the power of adding an extra dimension), the “with us”-ness of 3D is TBD.