Source: REDDIT BOXOFFICE

Analysis/Commentary:

It was a very interesting year in Terms of box office. Post covid, theaters have had a difficult time getting viewers back to theaters and studios have really Struggled To determine what would draw audiences to set that time and money aside.

This year we saw Some unexpected Huge champions like Inside Out 2, Dune Pt2, Deadpool Vs Wolverine, and Wicked. While some brands maintained their “Sure Bet” status like Despicable Me and Moana, others saw some unique takeaways we can gather from these results.

Dune Pt2 for Example is an achievement for being a sci fi film based on a relatively niche brand/property, so the risk is typically that these Films will only play well to the Largely Male younger skewing demographics who enjoy star wars or Lord of the Rings (both properties being examples of achievements that only really succeeded after the brand was built up somewhat). Seeing Dune rise to the ranks It has is very exciting and means that people do care about a well developed and Executed story that has intricacy and nuance while also being a spectacle.

Although Pixar has had a very steady brand, they had a lot of difficulty throughout covid with a few of their films “missing the mark” by flying under the radar due to direct to streaming releases and other challenges. No one predicted that Inside Out 2 would be quite as successful as it was. Considering that the Pixar brand is very much based on their much bigger properties like Finding Nemo or Toy Story, the property of Inside out remained a little under the radar, but this sequel has proven that people sat with the original and with repeated viewing Have fallen in love with the story of how humans process Emotions and the changes that are made as we grow.

While super hero and comic book based Films have definitely struggled to reach the heights of things like Avengers, Deadpool & Wolverine pulled off a near perfect execution of exactly what that fan base has been in search of. The takeaway with this film’s success should be that it’s not because it was a sequel or a collaboration, both of which definitely helped, but it was more about the execution of the film. Plenty of other team up films and large scale sequels have Been attempted and failed in the comic book film World, but viewers clearly will reward a film that understands them. What sets Deadpool apart from any other comic book film is it’s self awareness. These films have never tried to be overly serious and they have even been incredibly self critical at times which is a refreshing take on the brand. I was happy to see that audiences agreed with this direction and hope studios take note.

Lastly I want to make some notes on Wicked. The marketing campaign for This film was larger than life and hadn’t been seen since Barbie, but this type of social media marketing and branding does seem to work as long as it’s executed with creativity. Another great example of creative marketing is “M3GAN” Where the marketing team was able to have all of social media discussing the dancing doll. Pop Culture loves self awareness and responds to it, and we saw this with Barbie and Now Wicked. Between the funny interview moments and videos of the director being a nerd about the way the sets were designed, I couldn’t help but be more and More impressed and engaged with a film that would go the distance in so many subtle and specific ways. It was refreshing especially compared to the recent Algorithm based productions that rely heavily on just “upping the Ante” and playing on fan service. Wicked delivered what it said it would do and has achieved the ranks of a massive box office success, overall, but especially when compared to almost every other broadway musical that’s been turned into a Film.

Bravo to all the box office successes. I hope that this sets some new Precedents and reminds people why it’s still an unparalleled experience to see a great film in a theater.