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Posted December 31, 2012 by Seth Paul in Features
 
 

The Top Five Earning Movies of 2012 (and Five That Wish They Were)

The AvengersThe year 2012 was a big one for movies, especially for comic-book superheroes. While one strove to be the top-earner of all-time (and fell short behind the master of moneymaking, James Cameron), another came seemingly out of nowhere to land itself in the number three slot, proving that teenagers could find grand entertainment in something other than the Twilight Saga…oh, wait, that made it, too.

But, of course, some films fail to find an audience as well, be it through sheer incompetence in filmmaking, setting bars too high to reach, or perhaps simple bad luck. While it is easy to point out the top five earning movies of the year, a bottom five is a much harder concept to grasp. With films budgeted the way they are, a film such as The Devil Inside can be blasted by critics and audiences for an ending that is, to say the least, underwhelming, but its miniscule budget allowed it to be a monster success, earning $53 million on a budget claimed to be around $1 million. So, too, did films like John Carter and The Raven manage to limp across that finish line with the help of foreign grosses no matter how miniscule. Rather than listing the movies that earned the least, then, I have picked five box-office bombs of note, some of them deserving of their status…some, not so much.

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Marvel’s The Avengers
$623.3 million domestic/$1.5 billion worldwide

Joss Whedon has always had a hit-and-miss relationship with TV and movies, from his successful Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV show (which was previously made as an unsuccessful goofball comedy) to his cult favorite but quickly cancelled Firefly. Well, if anyone doubted he could make a hit that was both a critical and financial success, doubt no longer. Marvel’s gambit of building up its long-enduring superhero franchise by introducing every character in their own separate film series before combining them in one major action spectacle paid off in a big way…in fact, if James Cameron had not re-released his mega-hit Titanic in 3D this year, The Avengers would have easily claimed the number two highest earner of all time (at least, domestically). A wild, pull no punches romp of spectacle and humor, The Avengers was the popcorn hit of the summer to beat…and if it were not for a tragic event, its only major contender might have done so.

The Dark Knight Rises
$448.1 million domestic/$1.1 billion worldwide

The conclusion of Christopher Nolan’s trilogy of a dark, brooding Batman’s return from self-enforced exile to defeat a villain bent on toppling Gotham City into ruin was the second “movie to beat” of the summer, but its opening weekend was surrounded in controversy as a shooter opened fire in a crowded theater in Aurora, Colorado, killing 12 people and wounding many others. In deference to the horrific events, Warner Bros. delayed several openings of the film as well as pulled its advertising in several markets, and did not report its earnings for that weekend. The shooting was not enough to stop the film from earning billions worldwide, but it is unlikely the event will be forgotten anytime soon, and it cast a long shadow over what was supposed to be an evening of fun and excitement at the movies.

The Hunger Games
$408 million domestic/$686.5 worldwide

While it may not have been as successful worldwide as other films of 2012 (The Amazing Spider-Man among them), The Hunger Games made a splash stateside that broke records in its own right. From the best opening weekend for a March release, to highest grossing domestic film based on a science fiction book (even topping Jurassic Park, if you can believe it), to highest earning film starring an action heroine, the list of accolades goes on and on. Not too shabby for a franchise likely to spawn two more sequels to go along with the remaining books in the popular teen series…and, in this reviewer’s opinion, a much more entertaining ride for audiences outside the teen demographic to enjoy than the Twilight Saga.

Skyfall
$289.6 million domestic/$1 billion worldwide

For fifty years, it has paid to bet on James Bond. Ian Fleming’s superspy returned in a big way in his 23rd adventure (well, technically 24th, but purists avoid talking about Never Say Never Again if they can help it), and it was a welcome return to form for moviegoers across the world…an amazing feat considering that Metro Goldwyn Mayer, who own the rights to Bond, filed for bankruptcy in the middle of production, and Skyfall went up in the air. Thankfully, the studio recovered, and Bond went a long way in putting it back on sound financial footing. Hopefully the as yet unnamed Bond 24 will not run into the same predicament.

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2
$286.1 million domestic/$799.3 worldwide

The final entry of the top winners of 2012 is also the only film on the list to be panned by critics (and one of two films in the series I have yet to subject myself to, the other being Eclipse). But, Stephenie Meyer’s tale of vampiric/lycanthropic romance has proven critic-proof in the eyes of fans, and proven itself a box-office force to be reckoned with. While it did not reach the lofty heights of domestic success of its predecessors, it is the worldwide leader of the Twilight Saga by far, winning out over Breaking Dawn Part 1 by nearly $80 million. And Meyer’s dominance of the box office is not over yet…yet another romance is on the horizon for 2013 in The Host, only this time with alien beings that inhabit the bodies of Earthlings. Meyer fans, rejoice. Boyfriends everywhere, get ready to open your wallets and beg for mercy.

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And now, in no particular order, five films from 2012 that failed to even make a dime above their production costs.

A Thousand Words
$20 million worldwide/$40 million budget

Very few films sit on studio shelves collecting dust when they could be making some kind of money, no matter how little. Considering how easily studios are able to release comedies such as Meet the Spartans, a studio must have zero confidence in a film to delay its theatrical release for nearly four years. Such was the sad tale of Eddie Murphy’s A Thousand Words, produced in 2008 but finally released this year. While Tower Heist made enough money to give Murphy’s career a boost, the nearly universal panning of A Thousand Words went a long way to sinking it again, as Murphy plays a fast-talking salesman who discovers a tree in his backyard that loses a leaf every time he says a word. Once the final leaf falls, he dies. Whether the film is truly as bad as its reputation suggests (this reviewer has not personally seen it), based on box office alone not too many people were interested to see if Murphy’s salesman kicks the bucket or learns his lesson.

Red Tails
$49.8 million worldwide/$58 million budget

In what was apparently George Lucas’ final hurrah in the realm of filmmaking (and only as a producer, not directing or writing), Red Tails tells the story of the Tuskegee Airmen. Written by Aaron McGruder of The Boondocks fame (and notable critic of Jar-Jar Binks, oddly enough), the movie came nowhere near to replicating Lucasfilm’s success with the Star Wars franchise, falling well short of the mark and critically panned for its dialogue and over-the-top situations. Lucas may have sold his company to Disney stating he would not be making any more Star Wars films, but the failure of a project he held near and dear to his heart could have potentially hit harder than he would like to admit.

Cloud Atlas
$65.7 million worldwide/$102 million budget

The Wachowskis may have wowed the moviegoing public with The Matrix in 1999, but the later films in the series, as well as most of the work they have done since, have been at best divisive and at worst a financial and critical dud (Speed Racer, anyone?). Still, one cannot argue that they do not have an eye for the weird and the visually stunning, and Cloud Atlas, with its interlocking philosophical plot spanning generations of people and its grand visual beauty, certainly lives up to the duo’s reputation. However, despite mixed critical reactions, the film never really found a strong enough audience to make it a box-office success. While it seems hard to decide whether it is a good film or a bad film, it certainly seems destined for cult status.

Big Miracle
$24.7 million worldwide/$40 million budget

A PG rating? Check. Drew Barrymore and the guy from The Office (John Krasinski, if you were wondering)? Check. Heart-warming true story about trapped whales bringing the battling superpowered nations of the 1980s together? Check. Add it all together and you get…well, meh, apparently. Despite decent reviews, Big Miracle never made much of a splash (oh, you bet that pun was intended!), and became one of the more disappointing family outings of the year. Why? Hard to say. Perhaps following so close on the heels of the completely different but similarly themed marine-mammal-in-distress 2011 film A Dolphin Tale proved to be trouble. Maybe it was overwhelmed in its second week of release by The Phantom Menace 3D and Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, two films that made almost as much their first week as Big Miracle did in its entire run. Maybe its advertising was not effective enough. In any case, Big Miracle came and went, and very few noticed.

Dredd 3D
$30.9 million worldwide/$50 million budget

Dredd arrived in theaters carrying a lot of baggage. First, the character of Judge Dredd, except among comic book geeks (myself included), is not well known outside of the United Kingdom, where he has been in a regular series in the 2000 A.D. magazine for over 30 years. Secondly, those who do know Dredd probably remember the singularly awful (but hilariously campy) Judge Dredd starring Sylvester Stallone, which made a lot more money than the newer Dredd but also engendered a lot of animosity towards any hope a studio would get the character right. Thirdly, the film came out after The Raid: Redemption, an Indonesian action film in which cops are trapped in a high-rise doing battle with a crime lord and his endless supply of minions, which very closely mirrors the basic plot of Dredd as well. Add to that a September release with very little fanfare and you have a recipe for disaster…which is a crying shame, because Dredd is a much stronger film than its predecessor, with a mix of biting satire, hyper violence, very dark humor, and plot-driven usage of slow-motion (how many films can claim that?). With its failure to make back its budget, proposed plans of a trilogy following more of Dredd’s exploits are sure to be canned. But, like Cloud Atlas, the film is almost guaranteed to find a cult following in the home video market, for good or ill.

Seth Paul

Seth Paul

When not failing to write novels and screenplays, box-office guru Seth writes humorous comedy tracks for films under the name "The One Man Band" that can be found at Rifftrax.com. Although, he has recently succeeded in writing the novella "Jack Alan and the Case of the Not-Exactly Rocket Scientists," available as an eBook on Amazon. He is also the English voice of Zak in "Zak McKracken: Between Time and Space."