The numbers are impressive, but what lessons can be learned from them?
Story by Matt Cummings
As if we didn't know already, the 2015 box office is certainly gearing up to be one of the biggest ever. We pontificated about this in our Big Movie Questions article back in January, but already the numbers are proving we were right to be excited.
According to our friends at BoxOfficeMojo, the first 46 days of the 2015 box office have generated $1.45 billion, which represents the biggest start for the industry since 2010's $1.48 billion. That's 11% higher than 2014 and 26% higher than 2013. Moreover, the top 10 releases in 2015 combined to take in over $925m as compared to a paltry $775m for the year prior.
Comparing 2015 and 2014 also yielded the following information:
So why the incredible differences year-to-year? Simply put, it's due to American Sniper, which commands a staggering 33% of the 2015 market. That's far higher than any 2014 film (14.7%), but much lower than 2010's Avatar, which held on to a whopping 38% of the market.
And even with this incredible success, 2015 has already experienced several high-profile failures. These include Blackhat, Mortdecai, Seventh Son, and Jupiter Ascending, with the latter being the only one to crack the top 20. At posting, all of these had combined to make a shocking $69m. These four might easily go down as the worst of the quarter and perhaps for all of 2015's nationwide releases.
So, what lesson(s) can be learned? Here are our favorites:
One more piece of information to share: 2015's numbers don't include the significant predicted Monday hauls for 50 Shades of Grey, which when added with other titles could push this year's top 10 past $1b, beating 2010 fair and square.
UPDATE: Since this story posted, we've learned that 2015's opening could become one of the largest hauls in history, with only 2010 ($37m) and 2009 (just $6m) arriving ahead.
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