First in a series of studio scorecards from TheWrap. Also included:
UNIVERSAL: Studio Grows Some Green Shoots
FOX: For Fox, a Hot Start to 2010 Goes South
LIONSGATE: Stallone, 'Exorcism' Fuel Lionsgate's Low-Cost Hit Streak
DISNEY: For Disney, Big Hits, But Also Big Bills
Sony
Grade: A-
A painful December, when the bombing of James L. Brooks' dramedy "How Do You Know" blemished an otherwise great year.
***
In 2010, Sony left the likes of "Iron Man" and "Twilight" to others, and bet on that rarest of Hollywood commodities these days: original, star-driven vehicles.
It's not a strategy currently in vogue -- with rivals such as Warner Bros. loudly proclaiming that its focus will shift to releasing more tentpoles and fewer films overall. But the surprise is that it seems to be working, enabling Sony to pass $2.5 billion at the worldwide box office this year.
They may not have cut a broad swath through the box office, but films such as “Salt,” “The Other Guys” and “Grown Ups” racked up impressive grosses, mostly by marrying concept with star power.
True, sometimes the gambit didn’t pay off -- audiences recently declined a trip with Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie in “The Tourist” -- and the last couple of months have seen several other costly disappointments. But for the most part the studio managed to turn its releases into, at the very least, respectable doubles.
“If you put the right people in the right roles, like Angelina Jolie in an action move, it works,” Jeff Blake, Sony’s chairman of worldwide marketing and distribution, told TheWrap.
Sony’s best streak was over the summer, when “Salt,” “The Other Guys,” “Takers,” “The Karate Kid,” “Resident Evil: Afterlife” and “Grown Ups” all opened at or near the top of the heap.
“We are really proud of our summer slate. In a summer without a franchise tentpole, we went six-for-six with all-original hits,” Blake said. (Well, "Karate Kid" was based on a franchise, but the last film in the series was released over 20 years ago).
Perhaps the biggest surprise was “The Social Network.” Bolstered by glowing reviews, Sony turned the Facebook drama and its unloveable protagonist into an $190 million hit.
While the studio'’s summer and fall slate received a warm reception, its winter films have gotten the cold shoulder from audiences. Despite the combined star wattage of Depp and Jolie and a budget in the $150 million range, “The Tourist” only grossed a limp $16.4 million. (That film, however, was financed by Graham King's GK Films, and marketed and distributed by Sony.) Likewise, Cher’s “Burlesque” has eked out $33 million worldwide, a paltry total for the $55 million musical.
“The story is not written on ‘Burlesque.' It hasn’t had much of an international launch and we expect the other territories to come through,” Blake said.
