Universal

To understand the success that Universal has kept up over the past decade, you need only look at the production budgets and genres for the studio’s three highest grossing films in 2018: $170 million for the dinosaur blockbuster “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom,” $75 million for the animated Dr. Seuss adaptation “The Grinch,” and $10 million for a belated installment in the venerable horror series “Halloween.”

The result was a domestic annual total of more than $1.7 billion, 17 percent more than 2017’s total gross. And that gross jumps to $1.9 billion if you factor in Universal’s indie distribution wing, Focus Features. “The most consistent performers are obviously Disney, that has been in a league of its own, Universal and Warner Bros. have been back-to-back 2 and 3,” said Tuna Amobi, media analyst at CFRA Research.

Universal’s big moneymaker was “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom,” a sequel that proved the 2015 revival of “Jurassic Park” was so much more than just a single megahit. “Fallen Kingdom” was the only film in the top five highest-grossing movies of the year not based on superheroes, an it grossed an impressive $1.3 billion worldwide. Add the first “Jurassic World” to that total, and you have a global total of $2.97 billion, putting this dino series alongside “Fast & Furious” as Universal’s biggest global moneymaker.

“Universal has made its mark this year by consistently offering up a diverse slate of films that have left no audience segment in the cold,” comScore analyst Paul Dergarabedian said.

The lack of a “F&F” film or a “Despicable Me” did lead to a drop in Universal’s overseas grosses compared to 2017, but with sequels for those films in development, there’s reason to believe there will be a rebound.

Meanwhile, Illumination continues to build its status as a name-recognition studio with family audiences in the U.S., as “The Grinch” outgrossed sequels to “Wreck-It Ralph” and “Fantastic Beasts” with more than $250 million domestic gross. With Universal adding DreamWorks Animation to its slate next year, 2019 should see the studio continue to bring in families with sequels to “How to Train Your Dragon” and ‘The Secret Life of Pets.”

And then there’s Jason Blum’s Universal-based Blumhouse, which has had the biggest year in its 18-year history thanks to a rare Oscar screenplay victory for Jordan Peele’s horror film “Get Out.” He followed in October with “Halloween,” a widely praised return of the classic horror franchise that earned $253 million worldwide. (Star Jamie Lee Curtis also scored the biggest opening weekend for a movie starring a woman over the age of 55.)

Universal also had some solid mid-budget success with other films starring women, including the $29 million Tiffany Haddish comedy “Night School,” which took in $102 million worldwide, against a $29 million budget) and the $75 million ABBA musical sequel “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again,” which snagged $393 million.

Meanwhile, indie wing Focus Features had another strong year on the awards circuit, starting with an awards campaign for “Darkest Hour” and “Phantom Thread” that led to 12 Oscar nominations and three wins. This year’s Oscar contenders include some genuine art-house hits like Spike Lee’s “BlacKkKlansman” ($48.2 million) and Morgan Neville’s Mister Rogers doc “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” ($22.6 million). In total, Focus grossed $155.7 million so far this year, up from $115 million in 2017.

Not everything has connected with audiences. Despite a major campaign that included IMAX support, Universal hasn’t been able to make “First Man” into a serious awards contender. And the Neil Armstrong biopic has only just reached $100 million worldwide — well below the $446 million made by Damien Chazelle and Ryan Gosling’s previous collaboration, “La La Land.”

The year also ended with the Peter Jackson-produced fantasy “Mortal Engines” flopping at the box office, opening to just $42.3 million worldwide against a $100 million-plus budget.

The #MeToo wave also hit Universal’s management, as accusations of sexual misconduct led to the ouster of two VPs as well as Worldwide Marketing President Josh Goldstine. Marketing co-president Michael Moses was promoted to Goldstine’s position, with former Sony marketing head Dwight Caines brought in as the new co-president.

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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