2008 at the Box Office

Re: 2008 at the Box Office

Overseas b.o. breaks record with $9.9 bil
The six majors pass $1 bil each for second consecutive year
By Frank Segers

Jan 1, 2009, 08:16 PM ET
Things may be tough economically around the globe, but the major Hollywood film distributors still managed to gross record high overseas boxoffice in 2008, garnering an estimated $9.9 billion, up 4% from 2007's $9.5 billion international total.

Overseas operations of the six major studios -- Paramount, Warner Bros., Universal, 20th Century Fox, Sony and Disney -- each bagged more than $1 billion in revenue for the second consecutive year, according to preliminary estimates from each distributor.

Paramount Pictures International generated the most foreign revenue with an estimated $2.037 billion, an increase of 28.2% from 2007 -- a new international record for the studio. It is the first time Paramount, which ranked fourth among the big six in 2007, crossed the $2 billion overseas boxoffice threshold.

The biggest single title on the international circuit last year was Steven Spielberg's "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," which bowed May 21, and went on to gross $469.5 million foreign (versus $317 million domestic), according to Paramount figures. Second was Warner Bros. International's Batman pic "The Dark Knight," which tallied an estimated $465 million overseas.

Thanks to its 2008 product stream from DreamWorks Animation, PPI also capitalized overseas with "Kung Fu Panda," which garnered $416.5 million abroad (versus $215.4 million domestic) and "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa," which opened Oct. 30 and is still playing internationally. The "Madagascar" sequel grossed an estimated $305 million in 2008, and appears on track to double its domestic gross of $175.7 million. Marvel's "Iron Man, which PPI handled in most overseas markets, tallied $214.2 million.

In addition to "Dark Knight," Warners parlayed a roster including "I Am Legend" with Will Smith -- perhaps the biggest Hollywood name overseas in 2008 -- and "10,000 B.C." to a second-place finish with an estimated $1.8 million overall. "Legend" grossed $210.7 million foreign last year, while "10,000" finished with $173.4 million.

In third place is Universal, which scored $1.7 billion in boxoffice overseas last year, a record for the distributor. Uni's previous international record was $1.164 billion in 1999. The big driver for the company was the musical "Mamma Mia!," which had extraordinary success abroad -- grossing $428.5 million, nearly three times its domestic tally ($144.1 million).

Universal also showed overseas returns of more than $100 million with "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor" ($294.3 million vs. $102.5 million domestic); "Wanted" ($209.5 million vs. $134.5 million domestic) and "Incredible Hulk" ($100.6 million in territories serviced by the company).

Fourth was 20th Century Fox, which grossed an estimated $1.6 million in 2008 -- about even with the previous year -- on the strength of "Horton Hears a Who" ($142.5 million), "What Happens in Vegas" ($139 million), "Jumper" ($133.9 million) and "The Day the Earth Stood Still" ($110.7 million).

Fifth was Sony, which generated an estimated $1.383 billion, the distributor's second-biggest year after 2006's $1.634 billion. "Hancock" with Will Smith lead the Sony roster with an overseas gross of $396.4 million (versus $227.9 million domestic), followed by the latest James Bond film, "Quantum of Solace," which grossed $377.3 million in 2008 (an opening in Japan scheduled for this month). "Quantum's" domestic tally is $164.3 million.

Disney, which ranked third among the big six last year, finished sixth in 2008, grossing $1.37 billion, down 19% from 2007. The company had an unusually strong 2007 on the strength of third title in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" series (which grossed $653 million, the third largest international gross in history) and the animation title, "Ratatouille" ($406 million).

This year, Disney capitalized overseas on "WALL-E" ($289.4 million); "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian" ($278.3 million); "National Tresure: Book of Secrets," $173.9 million in 2008, $237.1 million total); "High School Musical 3: Senior Year" ($151 million versus $89.4 million domestic); and "Enchanted" ($100.7 million in 2008, $213.4 total).

The biggest of the indie distribs is New Line Cinema, which collected $607 million in 2008 largely on the back of "Sex and the City" ($257.4 million foreign versus $153 million domestic). Mandate International grossed an estimated $219 million in 2008, while Summit International came in with an estimated $517 million.

Re: 2008 at the Box Office

Is there anyway to find out when "The Wrestler" is coming to a theater near you? It's one of the few remaining films of 2008 I want to see. Since I see it advertised at AMC theaters, perhaps AMC will be carrying it soon.

Re: 2008 at the Box Office

"The Wrestler" isn't going to be playing in anything near a wide release until after the Oscar nominations are announced. Currently, the movie has done very well in limited play and Fox Searchlight is hoping this trend continues as it continues to slowly expand. If so, the stronger the possibility will be for the movie to go into wider release down the line.

Re: 2008 at the Box Office

Patrick,

I found this information on the official site (Fox Searchlight - The Wrestler - Official Site)

Re: 2008 at the Box Office

Thanks you both, Terry and Brett! Looks like I have 2 more weeks to wait until "The Wrestler" finally shows up in my town. Also need to see "Revolutionary Road" and probably a couple more films to have seen most of the Oscars contenders.

Re: 2008 at the Box Office

Nice pull on the Wrestler list! Looks like I'll be watching it here Jan. 23. I wonder if there's a similar list out there for Revolutionary Road?

Re: 2008 at the Box Office

The initial year-end estimate was released today and the studios received some troubling news. The final box office tally for December was $795.3 million, which marks the lowest December tally since 1999 ($637.8 million). A grand total of 112.3 million admissions were sold during the month, marking the lowest December tally since the mid-90s.

For the year, $9.624 billion was spent, marking the second best yearly haul in history, trailing only last year's tally of $9.664 billion. Here's the troubling part, 1.359 billion tickets were sold during the year, marking the lowest admission sales since 1996 (1.338 billion). Here's a list of year-end grosses and total ticket sales since the 1990s...

1990: $5.022 billion (1.206 billion admissions)
1991: $4.803 billion (1.140 billion admissions)
1992: $4.871 billion (1.181 billion admissions)
1993: $5.154 billion (1.256 billion admissions)
1994: $5.396 billion (1.295 billion admissions)
1995: $5.494 billion (1.264 billion admissions)
1996: $5.912 billion (1.338 billion admissions)
1997: $6.366 billion (1.394 billion admissions)
1998: $6.949 billion (1.482 billion admissions)
1999: $7.448 billion (1.476 billion admissions)
2000: $7.661 billion (1.435 billion admissions)
2001: $8.413 billion (1.481 billion admissions)
2002: $9.167 billion (1.607 billion admissions)
2003: $9.186 billion (1.542 billion admissions)
2004: $9.418 billion (1.522 billion admissions)
2005: $8.840 billion (1.398 billion admissions)
2006: $9.210 billion (1.400 billion admissions)
2007: $9.664 billion (1.405 billion admissions)
2008: $9.624 billion (1.359 billion admissions)

The studios were also distressed that DVD sales fell off a bit this year as well, if not for the massive success of WB's "The Dark Knight" at both the box office and on home video, this would've been an even more dismal year for studios. Still, overseas ticket sales hit an all-time high ($9.9 billion) in '08 and that looks to continue in '09.

The studios are putting a lot of pressure on themselves to avoid these type of numbers for '09. Yes, ticket prices are going to increase, but the studios also are hoping they've put together a decent enough schedule to drive sales past the marks reached in the previous four years.

We'll see what happens.

Re: 2008 at the Box Office

The studios only have themselves to blame for shifting big tentpole films of the late fall into next summer, mainly due to the fallout from the WGA strike.

Re: 2008 at the Box Office

I agree with Patrick. Summer 2009 is going to need a lot of help. I see TF2 doing Iron Man business and nothing doing anything near TDK. It's going to be a softer summer than 2008. Paramount screwed the pooch. Trek would have KILLED this Christmas.

Re: 2008 at the Box Office

I agree that "Star Trek" would've been huge this Christmas. Moving it to the week after 'Wolverine' may have been a mistake, we'll see. 'Harry Potter' will be gigantic regardless of when WB releases it, but it definitely would've helped 2008's "bottom line" had it opened in November.

Re: 2008 at the Box Office

I’ve been a long time lurker on HTF but I’ve finally decided to become an active member and I wanted my first post to be in this thread. 2008 was a tough year for me with having to change jobs and move the family mid-year. Following Terry’s work in this thread and the discussion it sparks has been a welcome after-hours activity this year as it has been for the past several years. Terry’s annual box office threads are always on my daily viewing list. I’ve learned more about the trends and strategies of the business of the box office from this thread than anywhere else on the web. In fact it’s gotten to the point where the weekly ebb and flow of the box office is more interesting to me than most of the movies themselves! Anyway, a big thanks to Terry and all of the excellent regular contributors in these threads and I look forward to joining the discussion in 2009.


chemist

Re: 2008 at the Box Office

Moving Harry Potter and Star Trek into 2009 stripped '08 of at least $350-$400 million in domestic box office, so that has to be taken into account. It's possible 2008 could have topped $10 billion in revenue with those two films in and we're talking about a record setting year.

I think Terminator Salvation is the film people are overlooking for summer 2009. That could be a big hit if the script is half-way decent. Because the robots and the special effects in the trailer look every bit as good as Transformers. The casting of Christian Bale I think will lend the film a lot of credibility with audiences too (specifically the jaded 20-35 y/o male demographic).

Not having Star Trek this winter was a mistake on Paramount's part, I'm not sure why they feel putting it in the wake of Wolverine is a great idea. Maybe they were scared off by Keanu Reeves' TDTESS remake.

Re: 2008 at the Box Office

Wow, thanks chemist. I'm really glad that you enjoy what we've all had to say in these threads. I'm also glad that you gain so much information from it. I hope that the conversations can be equally as informative in '09 as they were in '08.

Re: 2008 at the Box Office

Foreign grosses rise to new record - Entertainment News, Film News, Media - Variety

Foreign grosses rise to new record
International box office hits new high in 2008
By DAVE MCNARY

With tentpoles driving overseas moviegoing, Hollywood majors saw 2008 foreign grosses rise 4% and set a new record of $9.9 billion.
Amid a worldwide recession, the gain underlines the durability of the international biz. The six Hollywood distribs (Disney, Fox, Paramount, Sony, Universal and Warner Bros.) have now seen a 15% hike in foreign box office over the past two years.

It wasn't all hearts and flowers for U.S. films overseas as "Speed Racer," "Body of Lies," "Max Payne" and "X-Files: I Want to Believe" underperformed.

And comedies continued to be a tough sell internationally as only a few laffers -- "Sex and the City" with $252 million, "What Happens in Vegas" at $142 million, "Burn After Reading" with $82 million and "Meet Dave" with $38 million -- substantially topped their domestic takes. "Tropic Thunder," "Step Brothers," "Pineapple Express" and "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" lagged in foreign markets as distribs often opted for limited runs.

Par in front

Paramount led the majors with $2.04 billion in foreign grosses in 2008, joining Warner Bros. and Fox as the only studios to have crossed that milestone in a single calendar year.

Its roster included the year's top grosser with "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" at $469.5 million, "Kung Fu Panda" at $416.5 million, "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa" at $305 million as of New Year's Day and "Iron Man" with $214 million.

Warner came in second with $1.81 billion as "The Dark Knight" grossed $465 million, followed by Universal at $1.71 billion with "Mamma Mia!" leading with an astounding $428 million. Fox finished fourth with $1.6 billion even though its top grosser -- "Horton Hears a Who! -- was only 17th highest with $142.5 million.

Sony edged out Disney for fifth with $1.38 billion -- over half of that from "Hancock" and "Quantum of Solace." Disney totaled $1.37 billion, led by "Wall-E" with $289.4 million.

For its part, Warner's grosses declined 20% from its record-breaking year in 2007 as it opted to push the sixth "Harry Potter" pic to next summer. It saw "The Dark Knight" turn in a stellar overseas performance at $466 million, more than doubling the previous high for the "Batman" franchise.

Warner will also be able to soon claim "The Dark Knight" as the fourth pic to gross $1 billion worldwide, thanks to a re-release on Jan. 23. It will join "Titanic," "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest."

Offshore tentpole biz remained mostly robust throughout the year as the top 10 pics combined for $3.7 billion, or $1.5 billion more than they grossed domestically.

Though tentpoles generated much of their foreign coin during the summer, international biz stayed solid in subsequent months despite the economic downturn -- and despite the recently strengthened dollar, which means fewer greenbacks come back to Hollywood studios from foreign admissions.

"Filmgoing in general seems to have held up well in the fall and the Christmas season in most markets," said Paramount Intl. topper Andrew Cripps. "Moviegoing is still a cheap family entertainment option and so far has proven resilient to the recession."

Curiously, "Iron Man" couldn't crack the top 10 among international performers in 2008 despite a $263 million foreign cume, or $55 million under its domestic total despite strong critical support. That's a demonstration of the tough road faced by international distribs in launching franchises since moviegoing rates are generally far lower outside the U.S., with foreign patrons opting for the most recognizable fare.

Conversely, foreign takes for "Mamma Mia!" and "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor" almost tripled the Stateside cumes. And 25 titles from the six studios topped the $100 million mark -- up from 23 in 2007.

Current sesh

Over the first weekend of 2009, "Madagascar 2" continued the trend of major returns on highly recognizable franchises as it easily won with $32.2 million at 6,771 playdates in 60 territories. Par's animated sequel has led foreign biz for three consecutive sessions and cumed $340 million in overseas coin -- $2 million ahead of the original "Madagascar."

Sesh also reinforced the ability of the international market to partly salvage disappointing domestic runs. Fox saw "Australia" post solid holdover biz, off only 17% with $21.7 million at 5,000 in 51 markets to lift the foreign cume for Baz Luhrmann's pricey epic to $82.7 million -- $36 million ahead of its domestic cume.

The frame also saw Adam Sandler's "Bedtime Stories" receive strong support with $21.2 million at 2,870 in 22 markets, lifting the international cume to $44 million. Sandler's gradually become a decent foreign performer, with his last two pics -- "Click" and "You Don't Mess With the Zohan" -- both hitting $100 million outside the U.S.

Fox's "The Day the Earth Stood Still" continued to scare up respectable foreign biz with $12.1 million at 5,900 to push the international total to $128.6 million -- $54 million ahead of the U.S. total. "Day" is the first Fox pic to hit the century mark overseas since last spring, when "What Happens in Vegas," "Jumper" and "Horton Hears a Who" combined for nearly $500 million.

Two entries early in their runs continued to generate decent numbers: Warner's "Yes Man" with $12 million at 1,800 in 21 markets and Disney's "Bolt" with $11.9 million at 2,870 in 25 markets. And Summit's "Twilight" continued to put the bite on respectable rather than blockbuster foreign grosses with $7 million at 2,350 in 42 markets for a $95.5 million cume.

Disney finished 2008 in last place -- despite racking up its record 14th straight year with more than $1 billion -- as it continued reducing the number of titles it releases. "Wall-E," its top 2008 entry, led in Japan with $3.7 million in its fifth weekend, up 180%, to push foreign cume to $298 million.

Re: 2008 at the Box Office

thank you terry for all the hardwork!!! i know u take pleasure in writing these... but dammit man i always feel like u need to be paid since it's pretty damned professional =P. let's hope 2009 will be even more exciting box office wise =).

Re: 2008 at the Box Office

Thank you sir.

I think '09 will provide a lot of good conversations. This could potentially be a very interesting year to say the least.

Re: 2008 at the Box Office

Another thank you...albeit a late one to Terry for fantastic work! Hardest working and most informative member of the HTF for sure!

Great stuff Terry & hope you have a fabulous 2009.

Re: 2008 at the Box Office

Thank you for the kind words Tim.

You da man!

I also hope that you and the rest of the HTFers have a great '09.

It will be interesting to see what this year's big box office shocker will be. I mean, did anyone expect TDK to become the second biggest movie in history?

Re: 2008 at the Box Office

Despite theater admissions being down in '08, with a year to go in the decade overall ticket sales stand at a whopping 13.159 billion. This decade has already sold more tickets than all of the 1990s.

Box Office/Ticket Sales

1980s
Box Office: $38.236 billion
Theater Admissions: 11.170 billion

1990s
Box Office: $57.650 billion
Theater Admissions: 13.032 billion

2000s (thru '08)
Box Office: $81.205 billion
Theater Admissions: 13.159 billion