Best And Worst Of The 2018 Box Office

2018 was a more than a solid year for Hollywood at the box office. Domestic and global revenues hit record numbers even if individual ticket sales in the U.S. didn’t keep up. Disney was once again the champ for the third year in a row, but there was more than enough love to go around (unless you were Lionsgate who had their worst 12 months this decade). And considering the increasing use of Netflix, Amazon’s Prime Video and Hulu worldwide, the fact so many people are still flocking to the movies is a marvel.

As we look over the best and worst of the year at your local multiplex, a quick note about profitability. Traditionally, studios receive 50% of ticket sales with theater owners getting the rest. This is standard in the U.S. and Canada and even outs for a worldwide release for international grosses. Except, importantly, China. Unless a film is co-produced by a Chinese production company, studios and financiers only receive a quarter of box office grosses in that country. This is important to consider when a film appears to have been a massive hit overseas, but, in effect, the bottom line from Chinese moviegoers isn’t as impressive as you might think. Moreover, marketing costs are usually (but not always) made up in ancillaries (streaming, on demand, digital download, broadcast, airplane, merchandise, etc.). So, while you can never be 100% sure of a film’s success without looking at the books, we can still come very, very close based on publicly revealed information.

Best: “Black Panther” phenomenon
$700 million domestic, good for no. 3 all-time. $1.346 billion global, good for no. 9 worldwide all-time. Ryan Coogler’s critically acclaimed blockbuster exceeded all expectations. It even still managed to out-gross “Avengers: Infinity War” (although it was close). “Black Panther” was a cultural touchstone that made Hollywood and the world take notice. Incredible for a Marvel Studios movie.

Best: “Avengers: Infinity War” exceeds all expectations
“Black Panther” may have been an early spring surprise, but many were unsure just how the third “Avengers” film would fare in theaters. The second installment had been a massive hit, but earned significantly less than the original in the U.S. If there was ever any worry, Disney didn’t show it as “Infinity War” took in a massive $678 million in the U.S. and became only the fourth film in history to earn over $2 billion globally. With a pseudo-cliffhanger ending, the question is no whether the follow-up, “Avengers: Endgame” can outgross “Infinity War” this April.

Best: “Hereditary” gives A24 one of their biggest hits
A24 has a Best Picture Oscar thanks to “Moonlight” and a major hit in “Lady Bird,” but it was their horror flick “Hereditary” that was this year’s big surprise. The Sundance premiere took in $44 million in the U.S. and $79.3 million worldwide which places it just above “Lady Bird’s” $78 million as the company’s highest grosser to date.

Worst: The Summer The Rock came down to Earth
After toplining the surprise four quadrant smash “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” last winter Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson had a very scary summer. New Line’s “Rampage” underperformed in the U.S. barely hitting $100 million thanks to “Infinity War’s” massive opening a week after its debut. The film was a moneymaker thanks to its $420 million worldwide gross, but still underperformed to expectations. Universal and Legendary’s “Skyscraper” opened three months later and was pretty much a disaster in the U.S. taking in just $67 million. The thriller barely broke even despite a $304 million global gross ($98 million was from China). Considering “Baywatch” bombed the summer before studios may need to realize a little less Rock might go a long way.

Best: Documentaries rule the Art House
We’ll discuss the troubles for prestige and art house fare in a moment, but it goes without saying documentaries saved the independent theater chains. “Three Identical Strangers” ($12.3 million), “RBG” ($14 million) and “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” ($22.9 million) each stunned the industry by earning over $10 million during the summer (and being massively profitable too). NatGeo’s “Free Solo” crossed the same threshold after a late September release. Needless to say, distributors will be paying a lot of attention to the documentaries debuting at Sundance this January.

Worst: Prestige releases stumble all year long
It wasn’t just that a ton of potential awards season titles disappointed in theaters. “Boy Erased” ($6.7 million), “Beautiful Boy” ($7.5 million), “A Private War” ($1.6 million), “The Sister’s Brothers” ($3.1 million), “The Front Runner” ($2 million) and “At Eternity’s Gate” ($1.7 million) were eyebrow-raising considering some of the star power involved. Outside of A24’s “Eighth Grade” ($13.5 million) and Annapurna’s “Sorry to Bother You” ($17.4 million), narrative art house flicks had similar issues throughout the year. Again, critically acclaimed films with well known (and sometimes beloved) stars such as “Disobedience” ($3.4 million), “First Reformed” ($3.4 million), “You Were Never Really Here” ($2.5 million) and “Don’t Worry He Won’t Get Far On Foot” ($1.4 million) didn’t cut it. You could even argue Glenn Close’s “The Wife” ($8.1 million) and Charlize Theron’s “Tully” ($9.3 million) left money on the table based on the hype and marketing spends. And then there were serious money losers such as hyped Sundance pickups “Blindspotting” ($4.3 million) and “American Animals” ($2.8 million). And lest we forget the hype of promotion for “Suspiria” which earned just $2.4 million. Frankly, the only breakout year-end art house starter looks like “The Favourite” and that’s a bit of a shock considering the success with expanding indies over the past decade.