Summer 2024 broke some box office records, but it also had some disappointments.
WINNER: “INSIDE OUT 2”
Everyone predicted that the Pixar sequel would do well, but it blew past most predictions. The movie is has made more money than any other animated movie (unless you consider the CGI in “Avatar” and other movies animation), currently the #11 at the all-time domestic box office and #8 at the all-time worldwide box office, and it’s one of only 12 movies to make more than $1 BILLION at the international box office – the only animated movie to do it. As of the end of summer 2024, it’s the biggest movie of 2024 at the domestic and worldwide box office. I’m guessing that “Deadpool and Wolverine” will soon surpass it at the domestic box office since it’s less than $38 million behind (“Inside Out 2” is currently at approx. $652 million while “Deadpool and “Wolverine” is currently at approx. $614.4 million) but I think “Inside Out 2” could be the biggest box office of 2024. It’s at $1.675 billion and the current #2 movie – “Deadpool and Wolverine” – is about $388 million behind it at $1.287 billion.
LOSER: “BORDERLANDS”
It was based on a popular video game and had a great cast including Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis, and the voice of Jack Black. However, the terrible reviews – at one point it’s Rotten Tomatoes score was 6 out of 100 and it’s currently at 10 – kept the audience away. I believe it’s made less than any other wide release this summer (other than movies released in the last few weeks of August). It made almost $15.5 million domestically and $31.3 million worldwide.
WINNER: MARVEL CINEMATICE UNIVERSE
At the end of last year, everyone started talking about “superhero fatigue” due to the low box office of movies like “The Flash” and “The Marvels” but this year it looks like the Marvel Cinematic Universe is as popular as ever. “Deadpool and Wolverine” is currently the 2nd biggest movie of 2024 on the domestic and worldwide box office and it’s also made more money than any other R rated movie ever on the domestic and worldwide box office. Plus, there seems to be a lot of excitement to see the 2025 Marvel Cinematic Universe movies “Captain America Brave New World” and “Thunderbolts*” (personally, I can’t wait to see more of Harrison Ford as the Red Hulk). The DC Cinematic Universe doesn’t have a superhero movie this year (unless you consider The Joker a superhero) and the Marvel/Sony movies aren’t doing so well – the upcoming “Venom The Last Dance” could change things – but the Marvel Cinematic Universe doesn’t have any superhero fatigue anymore.
LOSER: “HORIZON: AN AMERICAN SAGA”
Kevin Costner has made some great Westerns including “Silverado”, “Wyatt Earp”, the Academy Award winning “Dances with Wolves” and the recent TV series “Yellowstone”, but so far “Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1” seems to be a loser. Chapter 1 released this summer got mediocre reviews – many reviews said it isn’t a complete story – and the movie only made $29 million domestically and $36 million worldwide. This led to the postponement of “Chapter 2” which was originally scheduled for theatrical release in August. There is a chance that the saga could be redeemed when all 4 of the chapters are released (if all 4 are ever released). “Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 2” was recently shown at the Venice Film Festival where Kevin Costner said he’s glad that the release was postponed. He said “I always wanted to come out with the movies about five, six months apart..” He also said that “Chapter 2” should be released before the end of this year. However, chapter 3 and chapter 4 are written but not filmed yet. Costner said, “I don’t know how I’m gonna make 3 right now, but I’m gonna make it.”. After that, he also needs to make chapter 4. Maybe he should go with limited theatrical releases followed by releasing all 4 chapters as a mini-series on HBO or on the MAX streaming channel.
WINNER: WALT DISNEY PICTURES
Last summer, Disney did fairly well at the box office with “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3”, “The Little Mermaid”, and “Elemental” in the top 10 movies of the summer worldwide box office, but they were overshadowed by the Warner Bros with the #1 movie of 2023 “Barbie” and by the Universal with the #2 movie at the summer worldwide box office “Oppenheimer”. This year Disney is dominating again. It has the current #1 and #2 movies at the domestic and worldwide summer box office: “Inside Out 2”, “Deadpool and Wolverine”. The only 2 movies (so far) to make over $1 billion dollars worldwide. Disney also has two other movies in the top 10 of the summer 2024 worldwide box office: “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes”, and “Alien Romulus”. In fact, after only releasing 6 new movies this year – the other 2 are “The First Omen” and “Young Woman and the Sea” (which had a limited release) – Disney has already made a total of over $4 BILLION this year.
LOSER: WARNER BROS PICTURES
After releasing the #1 movie of 2023 and having some moderately successful movies at the start of 2024 – “Dune Part 2” and “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” – Warner Bros had a disappointing summer. It was the only major studio without a movie in the top 10 of the summer 2024 domestic or worldwide box office. It’s biggest movie this summer was “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” which is currently #13 on both charts. Fortunately, the studio has a few major post-summer releases including the recent “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice”, “Joker: Folie à Deux” coming next month, and “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim” coming at the end of the year. In just 6 days, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” has already made $117 million domestically and $153 million worldwide.
Worst of all….
LOSER: THE SUMMER 2024 BOX OFFICE
This past summer, no one had to worry about the writers or actors strikes like they did last year but the summer box office still came out lower than last years. The total summer (May to Labor Day weekend) 2024 box office was approx. $3.6 billion which is about half a billion less than the summer 2023 which made $4.09 billion. Last year, the total domestic box office for a 3-day weekend never dipped under $100 million until the very end of summer. It even passed $300 million the weekend that “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” opened. This year, the total domestic box office for a 3-day weekend didn’t go over $100 million in May except for Memorial Day weekend. The weekend after Memorial Day it dropped all the way down to a total of $66 million. After that, “Inside Out 2” and “Deadpool and Wolverine” helped the total domestic box office rise to approx. the same levels as 2023 for most weekends but it never got a $300 million weekend. The highest domestic total weekend this year was $284 million -the weekend that “Deadpool and Wolverine” opened.
HOWEVER…2024 SHOULD END UP AS A WINNER
Over the last 4 months of 2023, only 2 movies had a domestic opening weekend over $50 million – “Five Nights at Freddy’s” made $80 million and “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” made $93 million. This year, ther has ALREADY been a movie that made over $100 million on its opening weekend – last weekends “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” – and there are more movies coming that should make over $59 million on their opening weekend such as “Joker: Folie à Deux”, “Wicked”, “Gladiator 2“, “Moana 2”, and “Mufasa: The Lion King”. So, I would guess that at the end of this year the total box office of 2024 should end up a WINNER
LOS ANGELES FILM REVIEW 