Disney - Grade: B : Disney was the first studio ever to have two billion-dollar grossers in one year ("Alice in Wonderland" and "Toy Story"), but huge production costs on lesser performers ("Prince of Persia," "Tangled," "Sorcerer's Apprentice") mitigated the outcome.
Warner Bros. - Grade: A : Once again, No. 1 in marketshare, finishing out the year with a bang that included yet another "Harry Potter" hit.
Fox - Grade: C : Take away the revenue that 2009 film "Avatar" made for the studio in the first half of calendar year 2010, and this could have been ugly. In fact, Fox didn't have a single film ranked in the top 20 domestic revenue earners this year (Shawn Levy-directed Steve Carell/Tina Fey comedy "Date Night" came closest, ranking 23rd with $98.7 million in North American receipts).
Sony - Grade: A- : A bad month of December, which featured the bombing of James L. Brooks dramedy "How Do You Know," blemished an otherwise great year at the box office.
Lionsgate - Grade: B : Its go-to "Saw" franchise finally ran out of teeth, but the smallest major had a hit with Sylvester Stallone action movie "The Expendables," while ultra-low-budget horror film "The Last Exorcism ($41 million domestic gross on a $1.8 million budget) was wildly profitable.
Universal - Grade: C+ : It was a rebound year for the U, which managed to establish an animation business with one movie ("Despicable Me"). But downer performances by "Scott Pilgrim," "The Wolfman" and "Green Zone" dinged the grade.
Paramount - Grade: B+ : The studio had only one dud for the whole year, Harrison Ford/Diane Keaton comedy "Morning Glory," while managing to pull off some nifty tricks (such as duplicating the uncanny success of low-budget horror film "Paranormal Activity"). But the studio released only 13 movies, producing only a few itself. At our school, taking a few risk counts, too.
There was a lot of competition among this year's class of Disney, Fox, Lionsgate, Paramount, Sony, Universal and Warner Bros. Some buried their heads in their work to get ahead and some took it a bit easier, but no one flunked. Check out all of TheWrap's Studio Report Cards here:
PARAMOUNT: For Paramount, It Was Low Risk and Shared Reward
DISNEY: For Disney, Big Hits Came With Big Bills
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
SONY: Sony Bets on Originals in Franchise-Heavy Market
