The waning days of December are usually reserved for best-of and year-end lists, but let’s not forget the dirtier side of Hollywood: the box office gross tallies. Which studios and which movies dominated the year? Which fell meekly by the wayside, to be devoured by Beverly Hills chihuahuas? Read on: Rotten Tomatoes has compiled the data.
Not surprisingly, the 26th highest-grossing movie ever (adjusted for inflation) took the top spot this year. The Dark Knight made well over $200 million more than second place, the other superhero in town, Iron Man. Summer blockbusters, family-friendly animated romps, and a James Bond outing round out the rest of this list, though who would’ve guessed at the beginning of 2008 that a vampire flick would take a big comfy bite out of the box office? Nicely, 8 of the 10 top
box office grossers registered Fresh Tomatometers, indicating that even if some movies are deemed critic-proof, their big openings don’t necessarily mean stamina in the marketplace. Likewise, of the bottom 10 grossers (and we included only movies that opened wide), just one was Fresh.
Proud American coughed up what is likely the worst gross ever for a wide release, and Delgo is this year’s Zzyzx Road: a high-profile major flop with an amusing backstory that completely disappeared from theatres in its second week.
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Top 10 Box Office Winners
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Top 10 Box Office Losers
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Next: Box office grosses for the major releases, categorized by studio.
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Paramount
Average Tomatometer: 64%
Box office: $1.31 billion
Though Paramount’s number of offerings was modest, over half of its films went
Certified Fresh, paying back with some huge blockbuster box office figures.
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Paramount Vantage
Average Tomatometer: 65%
Box office: $27.38 million
Paramount Vantage nearly dominated 2007 with There Will Be Blood. This year,
they’re riding on Revolutionary Road to carry them through a weak awards
season.
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Dreamworks
Average Tomatometer: 60%
Box office: $241 million
It was feast or famine for Dreamworks, though their Paramount-distributed
Madagascar and Kung-Fu Panda were big moneymakers. Major 2008 developments for
the fledgling studio include cutting ties with Paramount in favor of
Universal, and signing a $1.5 billion deal with India’s Reliance ADA Group.
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Disney
Average Tomatometer: 51%
Box office: $872 million
Disney’s takeaway: stick with what you do best (talking animals, musicals, and cartoons).
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Warner Bros.
Average Tomatometer: 42%
Box office: $1.49 billion
The Dark Knight: highest-grossing movie of the year and one of the best reviewed
of the year. With their winter lineup consisting mainly of counterprogramming
(Yes Man and Four Christmases), no wonder WB’s also pushing the Bat for major Oscar
consideration.
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New Line Cinema
Average Tomatometer: 40%
Box office: $89 million
R.I.P. New Line Cinema. Read our 25 favorite New Line classics in tribute to
the studio.
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Picturehouse
Average Tomatometer: 49%
Box office: $50.6 million
Another victim to Warner Bros.’ 2008 studio restructuring. Picturehouse had
excellent taste in the past (Pan’s Labyrinth, La Vie en Rose), but with this
year’s rocky economy, the studio couldn’t have picked a worse time to have no
box office hits.
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Universal
Average Tomatometer: 61%
Box office: $991.8 million
A wide variety from Universal this year. They had some surprise hits (Wanted,
Mamma Mia!) and their hip comedies (Role Models, Baby Mama, Forgetting Sarah
Marshall) made money, but virtually everything else underperformed.
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Focus Features
Average Tomatometer: 72%
Box office: $123.4 million
Another strong year for Focus. The studio gave the Coen Brothers their first
#1 opening, while Milk is generating lots of Oscar buzz and In Bruges is a
cult classic in the making.
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Rogue Pictures
Average Tomatometer: 46%
Box office: $63 million
The Strangers performed strongly against Sex and the City. Doomsday came and went.
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Sony
Average Tomatometer: 39%
Box office: $1.18 billion
A large variety of movies, with the biggest hits revolving around star- and
brand-power. Quantum of Solace is matching Casino Royale‘s box office despite
being far less favorably reviewed. Sony also scored the extremely rare feat of
having a Fresh critic-unscreened movie (Quarantine).
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Sony Pictures Classics
Average Tomatometer: 72%
Box office: $21.45 million
Sony Pictures Classics continues its impressive run of critically
beloved movies that audiences generally love to ignore. Particular kudos are going out to Rachel Getting Married for
and Anne Hathaway.
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Lionsgate
Average Tomatometer: 30%
Box office: $415 million
Lionsgate stays the course: low-budget genre fare that generates tidy profits.
With the Saws consistently their top-grossing movies of the year, is it any
wonder they’re planning to extend the series into the double digits?
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Fox
Average Tomatometer: 30%
Box office: $875 million
A rough year for Fox. Only one Fresh movie, which also happens to be the only
one to gross over $100 million (though Marley looks to be a desperately-needed Christmas miracle).
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Fox Searchlight
Average Tomatometer: 64%
Box office: $85 million
Fox Searchlight, however, continues to prove they’re the new Miramax,
with Slumdog Millionaire and The Wrestler being the current toasts of the
town.
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Miramax
Average Tomatometer: 64%
Box office: $39 million
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Overture
Average Tomatometer: 44%
Box office: $90 million
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Weinstein Company
Average Tomatometer: 49%
Box office: $103 million
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MGM
Average Tomatometer: 38%
Box office: $59.4 million
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Summit
Average Tomatometer: 41%
Box office: $209.4 million
Summit became a major player this year with Twilight. It’ll be
interesting to see if they can parlay that money into new profitable
franchises outside of sparkly vampires.
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Freestyle Releasing
Average Tomatometer: 12%
Box office: $18.2 million
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Samuel Goldwyn
Average Tomatometer: 39%
Box office: $33 million
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Slowhand Cinema
Average Tomatometer: 13%
Box office: $0.1 million
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Vivendi Entertainment
Average Tomatometer: 13%
Box office: $7 million
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Rocky Mountain Pictures
Average Tomatometer: 10%
Box office: $7 million
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National Geographic
Average Tomatometer: 92%
Box office: $9 million
| Movie |
B.O. |
Tomatometer |
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U2 3D |
$9m |
92% |
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