Superhero And Action Films Underwhelm....
The superhero films felt like they were decaying as the summer went on, and besides a few gems, the action genre hasn't fared well either....
One of those gems is Fast Five. The latest installment in the hugely-successful series drove the franchise to new heights with a turbo-boosting $86.2 million opening, which is the years' third-largest debut weekend so far. It also saw decent legs for a major blockbuster, going on to gross $209.8 million domestically and over $600 million worldwide, ranking fifth for 2011. Its' rare an action pic gets to those kind of heights, and Fast Five proved that Hollywood could make a movie open huge at the end of April. In response to the success, a sixth Fast and Furious is in the works for a release around the same time in 2013.
Kicking off the huge superhero punch this year, Thor was the highest-grosser out of all four superhero pics this summer. The Marvel hero opened with $65.7 million, and while that's certainly a number that would make a big studio happy, it was just over half of Iron Man 2's record-breaking $128.1 million start the same weekend last year. It ended up with $181 million domestically and close to $450 million worldwide. That's a strong number, but nowhere near how much the Top 10 movies of 2010 grossed worldwide. However, it was still successful enough that a sequel has been announced for a July 26, 2013 release, marking the third time the Norse God has appeared in cinemas (since he will be in The Avengers next year).
Trying to replicate the success of its' predecessors, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides didn't do the best job domestically, though it did gross the second-highest opening of the year with $90.2 million, and has earned $240.7 million domestically by far. While that was far away from the other three Pirate films, it still carried a massive fleet overseas, earning nearly $800 million, and becoming the eighth highest-grossing movie of all time at $1.039 billion (also the second-highest grossing film in the series worldwide).
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X-Men: First Class didn't get the reboot success it was hoping for. The film opened to $55 million and ended up with $146 million domestically, which made it the lowest-grossing and least-attended flick in the entire franchise. It still did pretty well overseas though with $350 million worldwide total, but not getting anywhere near the previous flicks. Looks like we may be seeing the last of these superheroes.
Super 8 was one of the brighter successes of the summer. J.J. Abrams and Steven Spielburg led the sci-fi pic to a good $36 million opening, and has earned $125 million so far domestically, which at first may not sound like much, but if you're talking about a $50 million budget, you know its' become a huge hit. Overseas grosses have helped too, as the worldwide total has approached $250 million. Sure, it isn't Inception or E.T., but it certainly was successful in its' own right.
The biggest bust of the summer action season was Warner Bros. attempt to make Green Lantern a box office success. Instead, it only opened to a so-so $52 million, and crashed to $116 million domestically so far. Against a $200 million budget, it has barely surpassed it overseas, which means it won't be a huge disaster, but one things' for sure, this is only going to be one of those sought-after one hit wonders.
Now onto one of the true gems of the year. Transformers: Dark of the Moon continued to build its' franchise with huge numbers, opening to nearly $180 million in six days and has $350 million domestically by far, ranking 18th all time in the U.S. and Canada. While that was short of the final domestic tally of Revenge of the Fallen, its rare anyway we see threequels live up higher than their predecessors either in gross or attendance. But Moon has also been extremely successful overseas, with $750 million so far and a worldwide total of $1.1 billion (2011 has been a record-setter for the most movies to reach $1 billion), ranking as the fifth highest-grossing movie of all time.
The biggest gem of the year though has been Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II, the conclusion that every fan would want to get to over and over again. Breaking The Dark Knight's opening weekend record at $169.2 million, it just reached the $375 million mark domestically, and has reached the $900 million milestone overseas, and with a $1.3 billion worldwide total, it has become the third-highest grossing flick of all time, behind Avatar and Titanic. Harry Potter has gone down to become the highest-grosssing movie series ever, unadjusted for inflation.
Captain America: The First Avenger ended up doing fine, but it didn't live up to some of his superhero compadres with a $65.5 million opening and $172.3 million so far domestically. It looks to fall short of fellow Marvel avenger Thor by the time it is all said and done, but it still did better than other superhero flicks such as Fantastic Four and The Incredible Hulk. However, it hasn't seen a lot of traction overseas, as its' worldwide total is at $337 million, which is a relatively low number for a superhero flick.
Another major disappointment was the sci-fi western Cowboys & Aliens. Coming from the director of Iron Man, the film opened to only a so-so $36.4 million and almost lost to The Smurfs on its' debut. Since then, its' domestic total stands at $97 million, and will probably reach the $100 million barrier before its' all said and done, but considering it stars major celebrities like Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig and was produced for $163 million, you automatically know that it's a pretty big disappointment. However, worldwide grosses have already approached the $150 million barrier, and is still chugging, so, like Green Lantern, it won't be a disaster, but it will likely just be one of those movies to do well on DVD.
Some people may not consider it, but the final major action flick of the year also I believe is the summers' other major gem. The reason why is because its' been a huge sleeper hit, remake Rise of the Planet of the Apes opened to $49 million, which wasn't a huge number, but has since seen great legs and hasn't seen any drops higher than 45%. With $163 million so far, Apes will probably outgross Captain America before its' all said and done, and worldwide grosses have added up to nearly $350 million, which stands as one of the highest-grossing reboots ever. While it opened behind its' Tim Burton predecessor, Apes is about to beat that films' final domestic tally.
