Sony Sees Reversal in Box Office Fortunes Thanks to 'Jumanji' and 'Venom'

Just two years after Sony Pictures got slimed with $719 million in losses thanks to misfires like “Ghostbusters,” the studio has recovered with a banner $1.2 billion year at the domestic box office.

Due to the end-of-2017 hit “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” and the Spider-Man spinoff “Venom,” the studio leapfrogged ahead of 20th Century Fox in market share to 10.7 percent, its biggest slice of the North American box office since 2014.

That’s the best performance under chairman Tom Rothman since he took over in 2015 and among the studio’s best annual results since 2012, when it had a trifecta of franchise hits with the James Bond entry “Skyfall,” “The Amazing Spider-Man” and “MiB 3.”

Also Read: Despite 'Deadpool 2,' Disney-Bound 20th Century Fox Exits Without a Roar

“Sony has a knack for aligning with the right stars and picking the perfect franchises to draw huge crowds, and they hit the jackpot with this strategy in 2018,” comScore analyst Paul Dergarabedian said.

He points to last December’s “Jumanji” reboot as an example of Sony’s resurgent franchise-building, as the Dwayne Johnson blockbuster earned more than half its $404 million domestic gross in 2018 after pushing the studio’s 2017 domestic total past the $1 billion mark in the final week of the year.

The studio then continued to find success with the family films “Peter Rabbit,” which earned $115 million domestically on a $50 million budget, and “Hotel Transylvania 3,” an $80 million animated sequel whose $527 million worldwide take defied the franchise odds by topping its predecessor by $50 million.

Also Read: Despite 'Deadpool 2,' Disney-Bound 20th Century Fox Exits Without a Roar

Sony also had modest success with two summer action sequels, the Denzel Washington-led “Equalizer 2,” which grossed $190 million globally on a $62 million budget, and “Sicario: Day of the Soldado,” a $35 million film that grossed $75 million worldwide.

“Sony’s been looking for franchises to keep up with the other top studios, and now they have them,” Exhibitor Relations analyst Jeff Bock said earlier this month.

The studio also gambled on extensions of its lone Marvel Comics franchise, Spider-Man. Tom Hardy’s “Venom,” the first in a planned series of Spidey spinoffs unconnected to Marvel Studios, overcame bad reviews (and a 29 percent Rotten Tomatoes score) to become the fifth-highest grossing film of 2018 worldwide, with $854 million earned. That includes $212 million in the North America and a studio-record $270 million in China.

Also Read: 2018 Box Office Sets Domestic Annual Record With Over $11.38 Billion

Then came the studio’s next Spidey spin-off, “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” a $90 million animated film centering on a post-Peter Parker version of the webslinger. It opened to a strong $35 million, and a sequel has already been announced.

Just two weeks before the “Venom” opening, the Japan-based conglomerate showed confidence in Rothman’s leadership by extending his contract as head of the Motion Picture Group. And in January, Steve Bersch replaced longtime exec Clint Culpepper as head of the studio’s low-budget genre division Screen Gems.

Rothman has taken some lumps too. “The Girl in the Spider’s Web,” a $43 million attempt to revitalize the “Dragon Tattoo” series with Claire Foy as goth hacker Lisbeth Salander, took in an abysmal $34 million worldwide.

Also Read: Inside Disney's 'Insane' Multibillion-Dollar Year: Fox, Killer Box Office and 'Black Panther'

And the studio stumbled trying to turn Hugh Jackman’s “The Front Runner” into a limited-release awards contender; the film topped out at $2 million domestically.

But Bock pointed to the 2019 slate for signs that Sony’s winning streak might continue. “Next year they’ll have more Spider-Man and another ‘Jumanji,’ and they’ll be banking on audiences coming back for more of those,” Bock said.

2018's Biggest Box Office Bombs, From 'Gotti' to 'Solo' (Photos)

2018 was a great year for the box office, with plenty of record-breaking hits, but even a good year has its bombs. Here are ten of the most notable disappointments this year, including one from the biggest blockbuster franchise of all time.
"London Fields" -- Budget: $8 million, Global gross: $295,435

This critically panned noir film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2015 and has spent the past three years mired in lawsuits between the producers and lead star Amber Heard and director Matthew Cullen. After the Heard lawsuit was resolved, the film was released in October and suffered the second-worst wide release opening in box office history.
GVN Releasing
"Nutcracker and the Four Realms" -- Budget: $120 million, Global gross: $151.9 million so far

Two days after Halloween, Disney released this dark fantasy loosely based on the famous Russian ballet synonymous with Christmas. But critics weren't impressed by much beyond the film's dance sequences, and families saved their money to go see "The Grinch" and another Disney film, "Ralph Breaks the Internet," later in the month. With a $20 million opening weekend, "Nutcracker" suffered Disney's worst start since "The BFG" in 2016.
Disney
"Early Man" -- Budget: $50 million, Global gross: $54 million

How far has stop-motion animation fallen? Nick Park and Aardman Studios, creators of "Wallace & Gromit," earned praise from critics for this prehistoric comedy. But Lionsgate released it in the U.S. the same weekend as "Black Panther" and it was ignored in the U.S. with only $8.2 million grossed. The only country where the film made more than $10 million is Aardman's homeland, the U.K., with $15 million.
Lionsgate
"Annihilation" -- Budget: $40 million, Global gross: $43 million

It was an intelligent sci-fi tale with profound existential themes. It had an all-star female cast led by Natalie Portman. It was made by the director of "Ex Machina." And it failed to make its budget back with $32 million domestic and $10 million from China, with Paramount selling distribution rights for the rest of the world to Netflix. Maybe it will achieve "cult classic" status someday...
Paramount
"The Darkest Minds" -- Budget: $34 million, Global gross: $41 million

YA novel adaptations continue to fall flat in this post-"Hunger Games" world, as this tale of superpowered teens on the run got little marketing support from Fox and fell flat after being released in August.
"The Hurricane Heist" -- Budget: $35 million, Global gross: $31 million

Some films are based on concepts the general public just has no interest in thanks to recent events. Take this disaster thriller from "The Fast and the Furious" director Rob Cohen about two brothers who are caught up in a heist to steal millions from a federal facility during a Category 5 hurricane. With hurricanes destroying entire towns in real life on an annual basis now thanks to climate change, this probably wasn't many moviegoers' idea of a fun time at the movies.
Entertainment Studios
"Death Wish" -- Budget: $30 million, Global gross: $48 million

Charles Bronson's 1974 revenge film may have become a cult classic, but an Eli Roth-directed, Bruce Willis-starring remake is probably not what Americans are looking for at a time when deadly shootings are an almost daily occurrence. MGM moved the release date from November 2017 to March 2018 not long after last year's Las Vegas shooting... only for it to come out three weeks after the Parkland High School massacre.
MGM
"Gotti" -- Budget: $10 million, Global gross: $4.1 million.

The ill-fated mafia biopic started development in 2010 and weathered problems such as the replacement of lead Joe Pesci with John Travolta (sparkign a lawsuit), having Lionsgate drop the film two weeks before release, and getting picked up by the struggling MoviePass. The film was finally released in June to a unanimous critical drubbing. It failed to make back its budget, and MoviePass, a subscription service that pays for its users tickets, accounted for 40 percent of tickets sold.
Vertical Entertainment
“The Happytime Murders” — Budget: $40 million, Global gross: $27 million

Melissa McCarthy’s 2018 will be best remembered for her Oscar-contending performance in “Can You Ever Forgive Me?”, which is good, because she also starred in this panned crime parody of the Muppets, which failed to make back its budget and was one of several films that struggled for distributor STX
"Solo: A Star Wars Story" -- Budget: $250 million, Global gross: $392 million

Disney broke box office records left and right this year, but it also had the most high-profile bomb of the year with this "Star Wars" anthology film that told the origins of Han Solo. Its release was preceded by a famously troubled production: original directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were fired over creative differences with just under a month left in filming; they were replaced by Ron Howard; the budget inflated as roles were recast and much of the film was entirely re-shot. Upon release, "Solo" became the first "Star Wars" film ever to fail to gross $400 million worldwide. With "Episode IX" still a year away, Disney execs have said that they're taking another look at how they handle future films in this hallowed series.
Lucasfilm

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It’s been a good year for the box office, but not for these movies

2018 was a great year for the box office, with plenty of record-breaking hits, but even a good year has its bombs. Here are ten of the most notable disappointments this year, including one from the biggest blockbuster franchise of all time.

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2018's Biggest Box Office Bombs, From 'Gotti' to 'Solo' (Photos)

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