Lets' start with the animated titles:
Kicking off the year was the latest Studio Ghibli entry, The Secret World of Arrietty, which did better than what some were expecting. The only traditionally-animated film of 2012 opened to near $9 million over the four-day President's Day Weekend, and while it crashed to just $19 million afterwards, it still was the largest-grossing foreign animated title in the U.S. to date. Add in critical acclaim and a low budget, and you have a minor success story. The movie was also a strong success overseas, with over $145 million worldwide.
But that film's performance was far overshadowed by what was a much bigger-than-expected hit, Dr. Suess' The Lorax. The latest from the marketing geniuses at Illumination Entertainment (Despicable Me, Hop) broke records on its' opening weekend, earning $70 million (the highest opening weekend for an animated movie this year). The movie would go on to gross around $215 million domestic, ranking just outside the Top 10 for 2012. While it didn't live up to Despicable Me in the long-term (overseas wasn't very strong either, with the worldwide gross at $350 million), but with a small budget ($70 million), it easily became the most-profitable animated movie of 2012. No sequel is in the works, but Illumination is in development on an adaptation of The Cat in the Hat.
Then came Aardman's second entry for Sony Pictures Animation, The Pirates! Band of Misfits, which struggled domestically. The stop-motion movie earned only $12 million for its' debut and just over $30 million for its' run. Thank goodness overseas grosses propelled it to over $120 million worldwide, but its' still one of the least-grossing efforts for animation this year, that's for sure.
I had mentioned this in the "Sequels" section, but the first animated movie of the Summer turned into this year's biggest surprise. The well-received Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted wasn't expected to do well after 2011 had sequels doing 25% less business than their predecessors. But zero competition for families drove a $60 million opening and a $215 million finish, becoming the largest-grossing title in the series. Overseas, it became the biggest-grossing DreamWorks Animation movie internationally, with over $500 million overseas, for a worldwide total approaching $750 million, making Madagascar the fifth (or sixth after Hobbit finishes) biggest movie of 2012 worldwide. No sequel is planned, but there is a spin-off for the Penguins coming in March 2015.
I mentioned this in the "Heavy-Hitters" section, but the top-grossing animated movie in the U.S. was, as expected, Pixar's Brave. Doing better than expected, the movie opened north of $65 million, on its' way to nearly $240 million alone domestically, continuing Pixar's near-impeccable streak. It didn't connect as well overseas, becoming the first Pixar movie since WALL-E to miss the $300 million mark overseas, but it still packed a punch at close to $540 million worldwide, ranking just outside the Top 10 for the year internationally. Brave is expected to be nominated for one or two Oscars next month, and already is nominated for one Golden Globe in the "Best Animated Feature" category.
The next month brought another major animated sequel (a fourquel), Ice Age: Continental Drift. Expected to open huge, it didn't quite live up to expectations, opening in the mid-40's millions, on its' way to a $160 million finish (in line with last year's Kung Fu Panda 2). Yes, that's the lowest gross so far for an Ice Age movie in the U.S., but the budget was just $90 million, meaning it was more profitable than what Cars 2 and Kung Fu Panda 2 were last year (it retained better than those sequels as well). Overseas was massive, Continental Drift set a new international record for an animated film, collecting about $715 million overseas, for a total of $875 million worldwide, ranking as the fourth-biggest movie of 2012 internationally. With that amount of money made, I wouldn't be surprised in about 3-5 years time we see another film.
And that leads us to our trio of animated spookfests. Garnering some of the best reviews of the year for an animated flick but one of the "less kid-friendly" pics of 2012, ParaNorman did do OK, earning $14 million on its' opening on its' way to near $60 million domestic and about $100 million worldwide. While its' performance wasn't particularly impressive, ParaNorman did remind us with its' modest performance that audiences haven't lost interest in stop-motion animation.
Easily the victor among all three major spookfests was the more cartoony Hotel Transylvania. Boasting strong starpower and a good marketing effort, the movie broke the September opening weekend record with $42 million, and wound up with close to $150 million domestic (a new record for Sony Pictures Animation). Despite it not expected to do well, Transylvania proved that it could succeed in a normally-challenging time of year to do so. Worldwide, the movie passed $300 million recently, and a sequel is on the storyboards for a release just less than three years down the road.
Faring the worst was Frankenweenie, in which most audiences didn't care about its' black-and-white animation. The Tim Burton flick opened to just $11 million, on its' way to roughly $35 million domestic and $65 million worldwide. In the end, it was a push for Disney, but it fell far short of typical Burton expectations despite a good marketing effort for the Mouse House. It just seemed like it was too creepy for younger audiences.
However, Disney would rebound the very next month with its' animation studios' entry, Wreck-it Ralph. Originally expected to only do modestly, the movie opened with nearly $50 million, and with an expected finish of $180 million, it ranks fourth among animated titles in 2012 (in the U.S.), behind Brave, Madagascar 3 and The Lorax. Ralph's surprisingly high performance is in a way similar to Madagascar 3, in which both weren't expected to do well, but were both huge surprises both in box office performance and critical reception (it was nominated for a Golden Globe recently and stands a chance at being a major contender for the Best Animated Film Oscar). Unfortunately, it hasn't done well overseas (some markets are still yet to open), as its' only expected to top out at over $300 million worldwide. But that's not a really big problem.
However, its' not the same story for DreamWorks Animation's other animated flick, Rise of the Guardians. While impressing critics, Guardians suffered from just mild anticipation, and was only able to earn $32 million for the five-day Thanksgiving weekend. Since then, its' shown good legs, but even with just an expected $100 million finish, its' still a huge disappointment, considering its' from a usually-strong DreamWorks Animation. At least its' set to probably finish with near $300 million worldwide, and it's a contender for the Best Animated Film Oscar.Finally, Disney re-released Beauty and the Beast, Finding Nemo and Monsters, Inc. in 3D. They all paled in comparison to The Lion King, but they added on to their already-big lifetime grosses. Beauty fared the best with close to $50 million, while Nemo earned $40 million and Monsters is set to close with at least $10 million less than that.
As for other family films, I've already covered Journey 2: The Mysterious Island and Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days in the "Sequels" section. One surpassed its' predecessor, the other came just short. Big Miracle was the first movie aimed at families in 2012, but missed its' mark with just a $20 million finish. Mirror Mirror fared much better, but suffered from a high budget, and managed just $65 million in North America. But at least it hit the average range for live-action family films. The Farrelly Brothers' adaptation of The Three Stooges was a push, earning $50 million worldwide on a $30 million budget, becoming a minor success. Disney's latest nature doc Chimpanzee opened to record numbers for a nature doc, with $10 million, and ultimately earned close to $30 million. Fellow Disney pic The Odd Life of Timothy Green got off to a soft start ($16 million in five days), but saw strong legs and finished north of $50 million, or twice its' $25 million budget. I'm not going to mention how bad The Oogieloves bombed...
The Fall entries for family films didn't fare as well. Here Comes The Boom fared the best with a modest $45 million, which was the lowest-grossing Kevin James movie to date. Won't Back Down and Chasing Mavericks were not given enough attention in promotion, and only grossed $5 million each. Awards season hopeful Life of Pi is doing solidly, with a finish of around $100 million domestic and much more overseas. Cirque Du Soleil: Worlds Away isn't drawing sizable crowds, while Parental Guidance is off to a solid start (probably highest case scenario would be a $75 million finish).
