LOS
ANGELES — The moviegoing masses sent clear messages in 2016. They are
most definitely not tired of superheroes. The more animated animals, the
merrier. Fantasy worlds of any kind, whether underwater or in outer
space, are worth the trip to theaters.
But reality? Not so much. Unlike in recent years, when films like “American Sniper” and “The Hangover” broke through, not one movie rooted in a real-life setting was among the top 10 box office performers.
For
the box office year that ended on Saturday, movie theaters in North
America sold an estimated $11.37 billion in tickets, a record in raw
dollars and a 2 percent increase over the same period in 2015, according
to comScore, which compiles theatrical data. The top three ticket
sellers were “Finding Dory” ($486.3 million), the spinoff “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” (at least $440 million) and “Captain America: Civil War” ($408.1 million).
Despite
the increase, the year-end results gave ammunition to those who contend
that moviegoing in North America is troubled. Higher revenue could be
attributed almost entirely to higher ticket prices: Attendance was flat,
with about 1.32 billion tickets sold in the United States and Canada.
The average ticket price was $8.61, up from $8.43.
The
riches were also unevenly spread in Hollywood. Eight of the top 15
performing films, including four of the top five, came from Walt Disney
Studios, which includes the Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm brands. That
astounding performance — Disney’s hits included “The Jungle Book,”
“Moana,”
“Zootopia” and “Doctor Strange” — resulted in roughly $2.7
billion in domestic ticket sales, or more than 25 percent of the market.
Second-place Warner Bros.
took in about $1.87 billion at domestic theaters and had three films in
the top 15. (They were “Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice,” “Suicide
Squad” and “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.”)
On the opposite end of the scale, Sony Pictures and Paramount Pictures
finished the year with less than $1 billion in domestic ticket sales
apiece. (Each did spark some cultural heat, however. Sony had the much-discussed, women-led “Ghostbusters,” and Paramount delivered critical darlings like “Arrival” and the drama “Fences.”)
Among
art film companies, the indie distributor Roadside Attractions had a
particularly strong run. Successful releases like “Manchester by the
Sea” and “Hello, My Name Is Doris”
enabled Roadside to take in more than $70 million, the largest total in
its 13-year history, and to have a better year than that of Fox
Searchlight and the Weinstein Company.
“We
zigged when studios zagged, especially in the first half of the year,”
said Howard Cohen, one of Roadside Attractions’ founders. In March and
May, “when major studios were not releasing upscale intelligent films,”
Mr. Cohen said, Roadside was able to push its movies into 900 theaters, a
relatively large number for the specialty market.
In
recent weeks, prestige films have done well in general. Generating
strong sampling over the weekend in a handful of theaters were entries
like Pete Berg’s “Patriots Day”
(CBS Films and Lionsgate) and “20th Century Women” (A24), a period
comedic drama starring Annette Bening.
Since its wide release on
Christmas Day, “Fences,” an adaptation of August Wilson’s play about a
black family in 1950s Pittsburgh, has taken in about $32.7 million. That
euphorically reviewed film, directed by Denzel Washington and starring Mr. Washington and Viola Davis, cost about $24 million to make.
Even
more impressive, “La La Land” (Lionsgate), a celebrated musical about
the romantic and professional trade-offs faced by two young
entertainers, has been playing in only 750 theaters ahead of wide
release and has already taken in about $37 million, making it the No. 1
prestige release of the year. Results for “La La Land,” starring Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling,
are on par with films like
“Silver Linings Playbook,” which went on to
collect more than $132 million in the United States and Canada in 2012.
But
none of those sophisticated earthbound films were able to attract
anything close to the turnout for the top-performing weekend offerings.
“Rogue One” was No. 1, taking in roughly $52 million between Friday and
Sunday, for a three-week domestic total of more than $440 million.
“Sing,” an animated musical from Illumination Entertainment and
Universal, was second, selling about $41.5 million in tickets, for a
two-week total approaching $180 million.
“Passengers,”
a science-fiction movie starring Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt, was
third, with ticket sales of about $15 million, for a total since
arriving on Dec. 21 of more than $60 million — a bit soft given its
production cost of roughly $110 million, which was shared by Sony and
several financing partners.
“Passengers,”
which could make up ground overseas, relied heavily on the star power
of Ms. Lawrence and Mr. Pratt. Star vehicles sometimes worked in 2016 —
Ryan Reynolds turned the R-rated “Deadpool” into a massive hit for 20th
Century Fox, and Tyler Perry succeeded in “Boo! A Madea Halloween”
— but crowds, more often than not, shrugged at marquee names. Suffering
flops were Ben Stiller (“Zoolander 2”), Will Smith (“Collateral
Beauty”) and Julia Roberts (“Mother’s Day”).
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