A year ago we said the 2010 box office news at the movies wasn’t good.
Last year it was worse.
Overall attendance in 2011 dropped to 1.28 billion in North America, down 4.6 percent from 2010 and the lowest since 1995. The drop in revenues, to $10.17 billion, wasn’t quite as bad (3.7 percent) because the average ticket price rose from $7.89 to an all-time high of $7.96.
That might be a reflection of 3-D ticket sales, which usually cost about $3 more. Seven of the top 10 movies were available in 3-D.
The downturn in attendance can probably be attributed to more and more electronic movie delivery systems, home theaters, high prices and gripes about the overall quality of new movies.
The available pie was carved up by more movies last year. A total of 598 new movies were released in 2011, the highest since a modern peak of 631 in 2007.
Not surprisingly, nine of the top 10 box office finishers were sequels or prequels of familiar franchises. That continues a well-established trend.
The number that made it into the $100 million club, 29, was about equal to last year’s total of 30 — especially since this year’s No. 30, “Gnomeo and Juliet,” finished at $99.9 million. “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” at nearly $95 million, could still get there.
A whopping three movies made it to the $1 billion club this year, joining just six movies before them in movie history that grossed over $1 billion globally. The three financial overachievers: “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2,” $1.32 billion; “Transformers: Dark of the Moon,” $1.12 billion; and “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,” $1.04 billion.
Note that they’re all movies that rely heavily on action, translating well across cultural lines.
Escape is still a big seller. Six of the top 10 were fantasies driven by digital effects, one was a cartoon, two more were action thrillers and one was an action-driven gross-out comedy.
The top 10 domestic box-office finishers for 2011:
1. “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2,” $381.0 million
2. “Transformers: Dark of the Moon,” $352.4 million.
3. “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 1,” $280.2 million
4. “The Hangover Part II,” $254.4 million
5. “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,” $241.0 million
6. “Fast Five,” $209.8 million
7. “Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol,” $197.3 million
8. “Cars 2,” $191.4 million
9. “Thor,” $181.0 million
10. “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows,” $178.3 million
Though last year’s top 10 all wound up making over $200 million, that’s not going to happen this year. Only four of the top 15 are still taking in revenues. The latest installments for “Twilight Saga,” “Mission Impossible” and “Sherlock Holmes,” plus “The Help,” are still making a bit of money.
Other 2011 movies that made it into the $100 million club, in order of their finish and starting with No. 11: “Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” “Captain America: The First Avenger,” “The Help,” “Bridesmaids,” “Kung Fu Panda 2,” “Puss in Boots,” “X-Men: First Class,” “Rio,” “The Smurfs,” “Super 8,” “Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked,” “Rango,” “Horrible Bosses,” “The Green Lantern,” “Hop,” “Paranormal Activity 3,” “Just Go With It,” “Bad Teacher” and “Cowboys & Aliens.”
“Puss in Boots,” the Chipmunks movie and “Paranormal” also are still taking in revenue and could rise in the pecking order.
The gap between what does well at the box office and what gets honored in movie award season remains. While digital dazzlers like “Harry Potter,” “Transformers,” “Real Steel” and “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” scored Academy Award nominations in technical categories like visual effects, makeup, sound mixing and sound editing, they won’t be found in the list of major-category nominees announced Tuesday.
The highest-ranking best-picture nominee at the box office is “The Help,” at $169.6 million. The 1960s story of segregation in the Deep South exceeded all expectations in both its money-making capacity and its popularity with critics.
Here’s how other best-picture nominees have done at the box office so far, noting that many will make more money after Oscar smiles on them:
“Moneyball,” $75.5 million; “War Horse,” $72.3 million; “Midnight in Paris,” $56.4 million; “Hugo,” $55.8 million; “The Descendants,” $51.3 million; “The Tree of Life,” $13.3 million; “The Artist,” $12.1 million; and “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close,” $10.7 million.
