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(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.

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