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Ready Player One Was A Box Office Success
Now that Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One has been in theaters for about a month, it’s safe to say the film was a success at the box office. Earlier in his career, the legendary director was a perennial threat to break commercial records, and frequently did so thanks to blockbusters such as Jaws, E.T., and Jurassic Park. However, in recent years, it appears he’s lost some clout. In the time between Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Ready Player One, 2012’s Lincoln was the only new Spielberg release to earn more than $100 million domestically. Several of those films were Oscar-contending historical dramas like The Post (rarely ones to pull huge numbers), but even Spielberg’s attempts at genre fare (The BFG) didn’t do very well.
Months ago, few would have predicted Ready Player One would end up being the filmmaker’s biggest hit in a decade. The adaptation of Ernest Cline’s novel became embroiled (arguably unfairly) in controversy due to its reference-heavy marketing campaign that tried to push the movie as little more than a nostalgia trip. The source material itself was also the subject of much ire, with Twitter users singling out specific passages to illustrate why the story wasn’t worthy of the big screen treatment. However, Spielberg defied the odds and delivered something that connected with audiences – especially on a global level.
READY PLAYER ONE’S DOMESTIC BOX OFFICE
In what has been a relatively quiet start to 2018 at the multiplex (notable exception: Black Panther), Ready Player One currently stands as one of the most successful films at the U.S. box office this year. Premiering over Easter weekend, Ready Player One won its opening weekend with a healthy $41.7 million haul and currently stands at $126.1 million for its Stateside total. The arrival of Paramount’s horror smash A Quiet Place took some business away, but Ready Player One has been holding well throughout its run. Its biggest weekend-to-weekend drop-off so far is 53.2 percent between its second and third frames, which is a good figure. Ready Player One only held on to the #1 position for a single weekend, but it’s been in the top 10 for four weeks in a row.
The biggest factor behind this is the word-of-mouth, which was considerably better than some presumed going in. Early reactions following Ready Player One’s surprise screening at SXSW were mostly positive, with many critics feeling it was a return to old school Spielberg fun. The social media responses turned into full reviews that made Ready Player One the latest in a growing line of Spielberg films to be Certified Fresh. As he’s done previously in his career, Spielberg elevated a subpar book into something that was more special, hitting viewers with an emotional punch about the real Easter eggs we make in life. Some felt he didn’t explore the themes of pop culture fandom as deeply as he could have, but most were in agreement it made for an entertaining time at the movies.
Ready Player One was also well-placed on the release calendar, coming out long after Black Panther had rewritten the record books. This past March looked like a summer month at the outset, with several genre pictures vying for ticket sales. Unfortunately, many of these disappointed because of lackluster reviews. The likes of A Wrinkle in Time ($93.6 million total), Tomb Raider ($56.4 million total), and Pacific Rim Uprising all struggled to make an impact at the box office and faded relatively quickly. Yes, Uprising was the one to finally unseat Black Panther on the weekend charts, but its $28.1 million opening was far less than the original’s $37.2 million debut. To date, the sequel has made only $58.6 million domestically, so it obviously wasn’t in much demand. Ready Player One was able to take advantage of weak competition, which only increased its overall appeal.
While it’s great to see Spielberg can still make a crowd-pleasing movie (especially since Indiana Jones 5 is next), it became clear Ready Player One was going to need some help from the overseas market to become profitable. The $126.1 U.S. haul is good enough for third place on the 2018 charts so far, it wasn’t enough to recoup the reported $175 million production budget. Thankfully, international audiences came out in full force to push Spielberg’s latest into the black.
READY PLAYER ONE IS AN INTERNATIONAL SMASH
With that $175 million price tag in mind, the general rule of thumb (production budget x 2 = break even point) dictates Ready Player One needed to earn about $350 million worldwide in order to make all of its money back. It has far exceeded that figure, grossing $521.5 million globally as of this writing. This means its profit based on box office numbers alone is in the $171.5 million range, and that will only increase as its time in theaters comes to a close and the film becomes available on home media. In fact, unadjusted for inflation, Ready Player One is Spielberg’s sixth-largest moneymaker of all-time, and it could pass War of the Worlds ($591.7 million) for fifth when it’s all said and done.
Where Ready Player One did monster business was in China. To date, the movie has grossed $193 million in the Middle Kingdom, making it WB’s most successful release in the country ever. Spielberg hasn’t been much of a draw in China, so Ready Player One’s performance there was quite surprising. It was a welcome one, however, as the Chinese box office is truly what made the film the noteworthy success it is. If Ready Player One was not released in China, its foreign total would currently be $202.4 million. When you add that to the $126.1 million domestic total, the worldwide sum only $328.5 million – well below the previously established $350 million benchmark for profit.
Most impressively, Ready Player One was able to post these numbers in China while playing directly against Pacific Rim Uprising. Its no secret the sequel was green lit primarily because of the 2013 original’s $411 million worldwide total – $111.9 million of which came from China. When you also factor in Uprising production company Legendary Pictures is a subsidiary of the China-based Wanda Group, it seemed likely Pacific Rim would be a major franchise in the territory. That turned out to be far from the case, however. Uprising has made only $100.4 million in the Middle Kingdom, and overall the film performed far worse than its predecessor. Given that both movies were competing for the same demographic, one was always going to lose the battle, and Ready Player One came through with a surprise upset. Perhaps the positive reviews had something to do with it, as Uprising was widely panned.
Warner Bros. has to be delighted things turned out this way and Ready Player One emerged as a viable option in a barren landscape. As many know by now, Avengers: Infinity War is about to make its way into theaters, where it will annihilate everything in its path. It’s not exactly groundbreaking to say a Marvel movie will do well, but even by their standards, Infinity War is going to be an enormous event that may break the all-time opening weekend record. Now comes the time where Ready Player One and the rest of its fellow holdovers will have to compete for whatever scraps are left, but Spielberg’s film isn’t in a do-or-die situation. It’s already proven its worth before the more high-profile movies (Deadpool 2 and Solo are just weeks away) get the summer season rolling and there’s a new tentpole every week.
WB had a mostly fruitful 2017 thanks to hits like Wonder Woman, Dunkirk, and IT, but last fall, the studio had a rough go at it. Despite widespread acclaim, Blade Runner 2049 followed the footsteps of its predecessor as a box office disappointment, and the Justice League story has been well-documented by now. Unlike Paramount, Warner Bros. wasn’t in a place where they were desperate for a blockbuster, but it’s always nice to have a winner under your belt. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come, and Ocean’s 8, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindlewald, and Aquaman can also be successes.
