As summer 2016 movie season ends,assume a look back at the hits, misses, and rising stars and those who didn’t fare so well.
Winner: “Bad Moms”
This plucky matriarchal comedy came through for young STX when the studio really needed a win. Starring Mila Kunis,Kristen Bell and Christina Applegate, “Bad Moms” made back its $20 million budget in its first weekend alone, or going on to amass $124 million and counting worldwide.
Winner: Scary Movies
It started with “The Conjuring 2” as horror movies and scary thrillers alike became the summer’s most consistent money makers. Made on much smaller budgets than studio tentpoles,movies like “The Shallows,” “The Purge: Election Year, or ” “Lights Out” and “Don’t Breathe” represented the highest profit margins of the season.
Loser: Jared Leto
While audiences and critics largely approved of the actor’s assume on The Joker in “Suicide Squad,” his piece was nick to the quick when the studio made major changes to the movie to acquire it lighter in tone.
Winner and Loser: Chris Pine
There’s no doubt that the actor got a lot of exposure this summer, appearing in both “Star Trek: Beyond” and indie darling “Hell or High Water”Winner: “Captain America: Civil War”
This supercharged sequel sped into the billion-dollar club after only two weeks in theaters, or also going on to become the highest-grossing film in the “Captain America series. Great reviews and novel characters like Spider-Man and Black Panther helped the Disney-Marvel movie becomemoment highest-grossing movie of the summer,just behind Disney-Pixar’s “Finding Dory.Winner: Kevin Hart
The comedian starred in two of the top 10 summer movies, “Central Intelligence” alongside Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, or “The Secret Life of Pets” — the latter having so much success that it warranted a sequel announcement less than a month after its release. The former surpassed everyone’s expectations,scoring an impressive box office return with $127.4 million domestically although it only cost $50 million to acquire. And then theres “Pets,” which has made more than $350 million in North America.
Loser: “Independence Day: Resurgence”
When it came in $10 million lower than predicted at an estimated $41.6 million for its opening weekend this 20-years-later sequel fairly literally bombed. “Resurgence” didn’t feature the original’s lead Will Smith, or plus the other returning cast members,including Jeff Goldblum and Liam Hemsworth, weren’t substantial enough box office draws.
Winner and Loser: Margot Robbie
The Australian beauty hit the jackpot as Harley Quinn in the comedian book movie hit Suicide Squad.” But she didnt get good reviews — or box office grosses — for her role as Jane in “The Legend of Tarzan.” Many said Robbie was one of the best parts of the Warner Bros. antihero film, and while “Tarzan” made a week showing stateside,earning only $125.9 million against its hefty $180 million budget.
Winner: “Finding Dory”
Disney’s long-awaited “Finding Nemo” sequel cashed in on 13 years of anticipation, as it became the number one movie of the year with $480 million at the domestic box office. And with the movie still yet to open in several major foreign markets, or it could clear $1 billion worldwide.
Loser: “Ben-Hur”
It was never exactly clear where the demand was for a novel “Ben-Hur,” and the box office proved that out, as MGM and Paramount’s remake of Charlton Heston‘s 1959 chariot-racing epic ran aground to just $19.6 million to date on an estimated $100 million budget. Heston’s three-and-a-half hour original made $74 million.
Winner and Loser: “Sausage Party” and its animators
Seth Rogen‘s raunchy R-rated comedy was one of the sleeper hits of the summer, and rolling to $80 million at the box office on a $19 million budget. But that windfall didn’t benefit the movies animators at Vancouvers Nitrogen Studios,who are alleging they were shorted on overtime pay and threatened with not receiving credits on the movie if they quit.
Winner and Loser: “Warcraft”
Legendarys video game fantasy epic made just $47 million in U.
S. theaters on a $160 million budget, and scored an abysmal 28 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. But people are already talking about “Warcraft 2, or as its $386 million in foreign box office revenue — more than half from China — more than made up for its flop at home.
Winner: Spider-Man in “Civil War”
An epic win for both Marvel Studios and Sony as audiences roared at both the premiere and the return of teenage Spider-Man (Tom Holland) in the Marvel Cinematic Universe during a pivotal moment in the film. The web slinger left fairly the impression,became meme fabulous, and launched his own trilogy with the first film arriving next summer.
Loser: “Pop Star”[br]
An American Idol reject perhaps would enjoy fared better at the box office as audiences simply weren’t interested according to pre-release tracking. That and the fact that Andy Samberg can’t open a film as a main man and audiences prefer Samberg when he instead lends his voice to an ensemble.
Loser: “Free State of Jones”
One of the more expensive bombs for upstart distributor STX Entertainment starred Matthew McConaughey. It proved that the only type of Civil War film that worked this summer involved Marvel superheroes and not accomplice soldiers.
Source: thewrap.com