Warner Bros. continues to play catch-up to Disney in the box office derby, but the new division of AT&T is on track for a domestic box haul of about $1.8 billion in 2018 — just ahead of Universal to claim the No. 2 slot in market share, behind Disney, for the third straight year.
The domestic ticket sales represent a slippage from 2017, when the studio crossed the $2 billion threshold on the strength of monster hits like “Wonder Woman” and “It.”
This year, Warner’s box office success is led by two unlikely mid-budget hits — the August rom-com “Crazy Rich Asians” and Bradley Cooper’s musical reboot “A Star Is Born” — as well as the end-of-year superhero blockbuster “Aquaman,” which is on track to earn nearly $200 million in North America by New Year’s Day.
“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,” Tuna Amobi, media analyst at CFRA Research told TheWrap. “Those are the studios that have really outperformed the other studios. It’s all about consistency.”
How is this for consistency? “A Star Is Born,” which cost $36 million to produce and is expected to be a serious awards contender, just crossed $200 million at the domestic box office (and $376 million worldwide).
“Crazy Rich Asians,” a rom-com featuring an all-Asian cast that cost $30 million to produce, sits at $238 million worldwide. “The Meg,” a summertime popcorn movie without superheroes or big stars, cost $130 million to produce and grossed an impressive $527 million worldwide. The $22 million horror movie “The Nun” scared up $365 million worldwide. And “Ocean’s 8,” a $70 million reboot of the starry heist franchise featuring an all-female cast, sits at $296 million worldwide.
Among the disappointments, audiences may be showing signs of Dwayne Johnson fatigue as the $120 million “Rampage” barely topped $101 million in North America (while earning $327 million abroad). The Alicia Vikander-led attempt to reboot the “Tomb Raider” franchise had a $94 million budget but earned just $58 million domestically (though it did earn $216 million overseas).
There are also some danger signs for Warner’s wizarding franchise based on J.K. Rowling’s fantasy world. “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald,” the $200 million-budgeted second spinoff sequel to the “Harry Potter” series, made $613 million worldwide — $200 million less than the first “Fantastic Beasts” earned in 2016. (The drop in North America alone was $80 million.)
That decline has to give the studio pause as it prepares to begin production this summer on the third film in what it has promised will be a five-film series.
On the business side, the studio watched as AT&T managed to complete its $85 billion acquisition of parent company Time Warner — despite legal efforts to block the deal by President Trump’s Department of Justice — and to announce plans for a three-tiered streaming service to compete with both Netflix and Disney’s upcoming Disney+ service.
And the studio saw some corporate shuffling on the eve of the merger, with Toby Emmerich promoted to chairman of the motion picture group, and Blair Rich replacing Sue Kroll as president of worldwide marketing while Ron Sanders took over as head of worldwide distribution.
Walter Hamada, who oversaw the “Conjuring” series at New Line, was promoted to president of the DC Films production unit, working closely with DC Entertainment’s President and CCO Geoff Johns — a move that followed the mixed critical and box office reception for DC’s 2017 superhero mashup “Justice League.”
But there’s an important distinction to be made: The soft landing of “Justice League,” which topped out at $657.9 million, helped depress WB’s expected 2017 take. It’s looking like “Aquaman” will do the opposite.
Speaking of superheroes, 2018 will also go down as the year the studio got its DC Films unit back on track. “Aquaman” is expected to propel the studio into second place in market share for the third year in a row by the end of 2018. The diversity of 2018 slate seemed to be the best strategy for the studio.
Every DC Comics Movie Ranked, Including 'The Suicide Squad'
Films based on DC properties go back nearly a century to those ancient Batman and Superman serials. That's a lot of history -- how does James Gunn's violent and hilarious "The Suicide Squad" stack up against everything that's come before?
39. "Jonah Hex" (2010)
Despite the efforts of Josh Brolin and Michael Fassbender, this is one of the worst comic book movies of the modern era.
38. "Superman IV: The Quest for Peace" (1987)
Christopher Reeve is by far the best Superman. But "Superman IV" is a bomb in every sense -- partly because of its heavy-handedness about bombs. Nuclear bombs. The film finds Superman trying to eliminate the world's nuclear threat, but his best intentions run afoul of a silly, badly dated villain named Nuclear Man.
37. "Supergirl" (1984)
We had a female-superhero movie in 1984, and it was pure cheese. But hey, at least they tried. The best thing I can say about it is there are worse things in life than this movie.
Best known as "the one Shaq was in back when he tried acting," "Steel" is pretty bad. But the fun kind of bad.
34. "Justice League" (2017)
The Joss Whedon cut of "Justice League" is a disaster on so many levels before we even talk about Superman's weird CGI mouth.
33. "Man of Steel" (2013)
Could have been worse, I guess. But it's still morally gross and has a plot that doesn't make sense. That it's very pretty to look at doesn't override those things nearly enough to make it watchable.
32. "Joker" (2019)
This is not a good characterization of the Joker as a human being, and aside from that it's just a soulless, meaningless experience.
31. "Catwoman" (2004)
Thoroughly horrible, but somehow amusing even so. Sad that it's seemingly been swept into the litter box of history.
30. "Batman & Robin" (1997)
Rightly hated, but it's tremendously entertaining here and there. Uma Thurman and Arnold Schwarzeneggar are going so far over the top I can't help but admire them.
29. "Superman III" (1983)
Featured a brilliant corporate rip-off -- one later referenced in "Office Space" -- but the attempt to funny things up with the addition of Richard Pryor didn't gel. There was also a weird bit about a weather satellite creating bad weather, which isn't what weather satellites do. Seeing Clark Kent fight Superman was pretty cool, though.
28. "Green Lantern" (2011)
Overreliance on cartoony visual effects during a period when big blockbusters were moving away from that aesthetic meant this was a movie nobody liked. Not that it was especially horrible. It just looked like a dumb cartoon and is hard to watch.
27. "The Dark Knight Rises" (2012)
Probably wasn't intended to be a grim and gritty Shumacher Batmovie, but that is indeed what it is. This is Nolan going full Hollywood, smashing plot points into place by sheer force of will rather than because they make sense. An extremely theatrical Tom Hardy as Bane is amusing front to back, and a nuke with a countdown clock on it will never get old.
26. "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" (2016)
A total mess that hates Superman and turns Batman into a total maniac. None of those things are good. Ben Affleck can't save the thing, but he's excellent nonetheless and gives it a huge bump it probably doesn't deserve.
25. "Watchmen" (2009)
I have no particular affection for the revered "Watchmen" comic the way a lot of other nerds do, so my distaste for this adaptation isn't personal. It just doesn't add up to nearly as much as it thinks it does.
24. "V for Vendetta" (2006)
Felt nothing watching this. I tried, OK. It's impeccably made, though, and very watchable.
Giving this its own slot because it fundamentally changes the narrative of the movie and the character of Superman in the DC Extended Universe. This version is still not great (especially at three freaking hours), but it's a monumental improvement over the theatrical version.
21. "Red 2" (2013)
Did you even know these were comic book movies? Whatever, it's a great cast in a serviceable action movie and everybody's having a good time. Hard to remember, but fun.
20. "Red" (2010)
Better than its sequel, but they're basically the same.
19. "Batman" (1989)
Fondly remembered mostly because it was the first Batmovie in a couple decades. It isn't actually very good, though. The reveal that a younger version of the Joker killed Bruce Wayne's parents is as hamfistedly dumb as it gets in a "Batman" movie.
18. "Superman Returns" (2006)
Actually a pretty decent attempt by Bryan Singer to do a Christopher Reeve "Superman" movie in the present day, but Brandon Routh couldn't pull off the charisma it takes to be the Man of Steel. It was his first movie, so that's not surprising. But it's a shame, because Routh has gotten much better in the years since.
17. "Batman: Mask of the Phantasm" (1993)
Remember that time they released a "Batman" cartoon theatrically? It gets lost amongst all the live-action ones, but "Mask of the Phantasm" is better than most of them.
16. "Superman II" (1980)
Made kids everywhere cry as they watched Superman give up his powers for a normal life with Lois Lane (Margot Kidder). There are different edits of this movie, and we frankly can't keep them straight. But the sight of a powerless Clark getting beat up in a diner made Superman as sympathetic as he's ever been.
15. "Shazam" (2019)
It’s just so much fun! It’s a blast to watch, and is just a really nice celebration of the good parts of humanity. “Shazam” is a movie that simply feels good to watch.
14. "Wonder Woman" (2017)
Has the standard origin movie problem of "too much story, not enough time." And the standard DC Extended Universe problem of "We gotta have a nonsensical CGI battle at the end." But despite those caveats it's an enormous delight, and a big step forward for the DCEU.
13. "Birds of Prey" (2020)
This film is sensory overload, but (mostly) in all the right ways. And it's got the best action we've ever seen in any DC or Marvel movie. This would be a top 5 DC flick easily if the storytelling wasn't such a huge mess.
12. "Wonder Woman 1984" (2020)
Patty Jenkins' has the same sort of qualities that made "Superman: The Movie" so appealing. It's earnest, sincere and serious, but not silly or gritty or full of irony.
11. "Zack Snyder's Justice League" (2021)
It's obnoxiously long and actually makes less sense than the theatrical cut. But this is still the quintessential Zack Snyder experience -- and thus it is just such a cool movie to watch. What it lacks in brains it makes up for with sheer audacity.
10. "Batman Forever" (1995)
Hits just the right tone for what Joel Shumacher was trying to do with the two films he directed. Tommy Lee Jones, as Two Face, is doing stuff in this movie that is hard to believe even today, given his perpetual sour face in nearly every other movie he's been in.
9. "The LEGO Batman Movie" (2017)
Funny, sweet and self-deprecating -- exactly what we needed in the wake of the disaster that was "Batman v Superman."
8. "The Dark Knight" (2008)
Should be way shorter, but Heath Ledger's Joker is far and away the best villain in any of these movies. Ledger elevates what would otherwise be just another self-indulgent Christopher Nolan exercise into an endlessly watchable picture.
7. "Superman: The Movie" (1978)
This is the gold standard of Superman movies, and was the best superhero movie bar none for many, many years. John Williams' score soars, and so does the believable and compelling romance between Superman and Lois Lane. The film convincingly blended camp (in the form of Gene Hackman's wonderful Lex Luthor), an epic origin story that actually felt epic, and funny lines. The scene in which Supes and Lois fly together is one of the most beautiful metaphors for new love ever captured on film.
6. "Batman Returns" (1992)
One of the best of the franchise because it's really just a political thriller. The Penguin emerges from the sewer and runs for mayor of Gotham! It's great stuff, especially as we continue to watch the rise of Trump in our world.
5. "Constantine" (2005)
A happy balance of serious and ridiculous, manages to find exactly the right tone for this weird religious fantasy and a cast led by Keanu Reeves. They all seem to get it.
4. "Batman: The Movie" (1966)
Has a timelessness that none of the other films do, and it's just a delight from beginning to end thanks to Adam West's winking Batman and the coalition of villains who can't stop cackling maniacally. Watching it again recently, I found it functions almost perfectly as a parody of the super-serious Christopher Nolan Batfilms, which is incredible.
3. "Aquaman" (2018)
It's not often that we get a comic book movie that is: full on ridiculous; loves how ridiculous it is; and is made with skill by a legitimately great filmmaker. James Wan's "Aquaman" is all of that, and it's just a wonderful experience.
2. "Batman Begins" (2005)
The most complete film, on its own, in the entire live-action franchise. It's just, like, a regular movie... except it's about Batman. It has actual characters and everything, and Christian Bale's Bruce Wayne even has emotions. It's weird.
1. "The Suicide Squad" (2021)
After Disney caved to a bad faith campaign to have director James Gunn fired, Gunn responded by making one of the best and most raw comic book movies ever. It's gross, funny, mean and heartfelt -- this is the work of a director at the very top of his game.
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James Gunn’s cynical action flick is a blast, but how does it stack up against the other great movies based on DC Comics?
Films based on DC properties go back nearly a century to those ancient Batman and Superman serials. That's a lot of history -- how does James Gunn's violent and hilarious "The Suicide Squad" stack up against everything that's come before?
