‘Hidden Figures’ Has Now Made More Money Than the Latest ‘Star Trek,’ ‘X-Men’ and ‘Bourne’ Films
Real-life heroes are beating out fictional heroes at the box office
Jeremy Fuster | March 13, 2017 @ 5:12 PM
Last Updated: March 15, 2017 @ 9:32 AM
Fox
“Hidden Figures” and its retelling of the true story of NASA’s black female mathematicians was the big box office success of this year’s awards season, so much so that its domestic box office total has now passed last year’s installments of some long-running blockbuster franchises like “X-Men” and “Star Trek.”
As of this past weekend, “Hidden Figures” has a domestic box office total of $162.8 million, edging it past the $162.4 million that “Jason Bourne” earned back in August. Other 2016 movies “Hidden Figures” has passed in the U.S. include “X-Men: Apocalypse,” which made $155.4 million, and “Star Trek Beyond,” which made $158.8 million.
While those summer tentpole releases had a much larger worldwide gross than “Hidden Figures” because of their wider overseas releases, it’s still a major victory for Fox and Chernin Entertainment’s inspirational biopic — and a sign of the growing profitability of movies with diverse casts and perspectives.
“The fact that ‘Hidden Figures’ outgrossed some very high-profile summer franchise films proves that brand recognition can only get you so far, and that it ultimately takes a great movie to generate the kind of sustained interest and momentum to deliver a movie to the box office promised land,” said comScore analyst Paul Dergarabedian.
A UCLA study released last month showed that the median global box office in 2015 for films with casts that were from 21 percent to 30 percent minority was $105 million, compared to $42 million for films with casts that were 10 percent or less minority.
In another triumph for diverse filmmaking, “Get Out” hit $111 million domestically this weekend and made Jordan Peele the first black writer-director to pass the $100 million milestone with his first movie. “Moonlight,” meanwhile, has set a new box office record for its scrappy indie studio A24, making $27 million domestically while becoming the first movie with an all-black cast to win the Oscar for Best Picture.
Oscars 2017: What's Next for This Year's Winners? (Photos)
For every filmmaker, winning an Academy Award is the peak of their careers. But as soon as the after-parties are over, it's right back to work, as Hollywood's biggest winners often already have their next projects in the works. For winners like Damien Chazelle, Viola Davis and the stars of "Moonlight," this year is no different. Here's where you can catch them next.
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Best Actress winner Emma Stone will return to the big screen later this year in "Battle of the Sexes," a comedy biopic based on Billie Jean King's famous 1973 tennis match against Bobby Riggs. Linus Sandgren, who won Best Cinematography for "La La Land," is also on board.
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Viola Davis, of course, will head back to Shondaland to film Season 4 of "How to Get Away With Murder." She will also play the legendary abolitionist Harriet Tubman in a biopic about the Underground Railroad.
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Mahershala Ali had a mammoth 2016 with two very different but equally praised performances: his Oscar-winning supporting role in "Moonlight" and his performance as the devious Harlem kingpin Cottonmouth on Netflix's "Luke Cage." He will have a chance to dive back into the world of graphic novels next year in James Cameron's adaptation of the manga "Alita: Battle Angel."
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After winning Best Actor for playing Lee Chandler in "Manchester by the Sea," Casey Affleck is moving on to write, direct and star in "Light of My Life" about a father and daughter lost in the woods. He will also play famed explorer Meriwether Lewis in next year's HBO miniseries about the Lewis and Clark expedition.
TheWrap
Though he was on the business end of that envelope flub, Damien Chazelle was still a big winner having received the Best Director Oscar for "La La Land." Next, he'll work again with Ryan Gosling on the biopic "First Man," which tells the story of Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong.
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Barry Jenkins was floored when "Moonlight" won Best Picture and Adapted Screenplay. Now he's going to continue to tell stories about African-American characters by directing episode 6 of Netflix's "Dear White People," due out later this year.
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Kenneth Lonergan moved audiences to both laughter and tears with his Oscar-winning screenplay for "Manchester by the Sea." Later this year, he will jump from original writing to adapted, as he turns E.M. Forester's novel "Howards End" into a Starz miniseries. The novel tackles the clash between social classes in early 20th century England, as three families with different levels of wealth cross paths.
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Ezra Edelman made Oscar history with his nearly eight-hour ESPN documentary "O.J.: Made in America." He's next slated to work with Leonardo DiCaprio and Jonah Hill on "The Ballad of Richard Jewell," a biopic about an American security guard who saved thousands from being killed by a bomb at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, only to be falsely accused of terrorism by the press and public.
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Byron Howard and Rich Moore earned Disney yet another Oscar with "Zootopia," and now they are moving on to new projects for the Mouse House. Moore will work on the sequel to his video game comedy "Wreck-It Ralph," while Howard is working on a yet-to-be-named project with Lin-Manuel Miranda, who will likely be making another run at that EGOT.
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Asghar Farhadi made the biggest political statement of the night, boycotting the event in protest of Donald Trump's travel ban. Now, after winning his second Oscar with "The Salesman," he is planning a new, yet-to-be-titled film starring husband-and-wife, Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz.
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For Damien Chazelle, Emma Stone and Viola Davis, it’s right back to the set after their Oscar victories
For every filmmaker, winning an Academy Award is the peak of their careers. But as soon as the after-parties are over, it's right back to work, as Hollywood's biggest winners often already have their next projects in the works. For winners like Damien Chazelle, Viola Davis and the stars of "Moonlight," this year is no different. Here's where you can catch them next.
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