Deadpool
Opening Weekend: $132 million
Domestic: $363 million
Worldwide: $783 million
Analysis:
Deadpool was the biggest surprise of 2016 for CBMs in terms of box office. Nobody expected a raunchy R-Rated flick with a pegging scene to make more than every single previous X-Men movie in existance and more than every superhero origin story besides
Spider-Man (2002). Not only did the Merc With A Mouth have a large opening weekend, but it had great legs (2.75) as well. This was a huge win for Fox in time of desperation. I think the marketing really helped this flick and the whole novelty factor about the title character. I give the box office performance of
Deadpool a grade of an
A.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
Opening Weekend: $166 million
Domestic: $330 million
Worldwide: $873 million
Analysis: Let's be honest.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was the most disappointing box office run in comic book movie history. It was the definition of a flop. How does a movie open so massive just to end up making only less than double its opening weekend (legs were 1.98). To put things into perspective, the addition of Batman AND Wonder Woman only resulted in less than $40 million more than
Man of Steel made (without adjusting for inflation). There is nowhere around this. This was just plain bad and an example of how not to have a box office run. More than 50% of its domestic box office came during its first 3 days. No doubt terrible word of mouth and awful reviews led to box office legs shorter than Gimli's. Also, worldwide it didn't even reach $1 billion. WB/DC really needs to get their shit together. This movie was supposed to break records. What happened? I give the box office performance of
Batman v Superman : Dawn of Justice a grade of a
D-
Captain America: Civil War
Opening Weekend: $179 million
Domestic: $408 million
Worldwide: $1.153 billion
Analysis: It's no secret that Marvel Studios has been winning at the box office. This movie was no exception. It had the biggest opening weekend of 2016 for any film and was one of only 3 films to make over $400 million at the domestic box office last year. It was also the highest grossing film worldwide in 2016. Pretty impressive right? Well....let's look at the whole picture here. Yes it was a huge success for Marvel/Disney, but it was also a bit disappointing if you think about it.
Civil War had the worst box office legs in the entire MCU (legs were only 2.27). It made less than both
Iron Man 3 and
Avengers: Age of Ultron despite having much better critical and audience reception. It also made less than those films worldwide as well, but that was probably due to horrible exchange rates since in 2016 exchange rates
Iron Man 3 made $652 million overseas compared to
Civil War's $745 million. So
Civil War had both a great and disappointing box office run at the same time. Perhaps the reason was too much competition or maybe
Batman v Superman left a bad taste in people's mouths. I give its box office performace a grade of a solid
B.
X-Men: Apocalypse
Opening Weekend: $65 million
Domestic: $155 million
Worldwide: $543 million
Analysis: I literally almost forgot this movie existed. That is how forgettable it and its box office run were. So there's not much to say here. In a year where
Deadpool was able to easily clear over $350 million domestic easily, this X-Men essemble film right here failed to gross even half of that total. Just plain mediocre. To put things into perspective, this made less than
X-Men from the year 2000. Yikes. It had pretty mediocre legs too (2.38). It only managed to scrap by the half-billion mark worldwide. I give its box office performance a grade of an
F.
Suicide Squad
Opening Weekend: $133 million
Domestic: $325 million
Worldwide: $745 million
Analysis:
Suicide Squad was a massive win for WB/DC. In a year where Batman and Superman together flop, Queen Harley and Co reign over all. Not only did it have a massive opening, but it had amazing legs too. Legs for days (2.44). Despite getting negative reviews from critics, audiences seemed to dig this Harley Quinn-led essemble. It also had a great release date since there was literally no competition. It came super close to outgrossing
Batman v Superman. It also came close to making $750 million worldwide despite no China release.
Suicide Squad was a massive win and for that I give it a grade of an
A+
Doctor Strange
Opening Weekend: $85 million
Domestic: $232 million
Worldwide: $677 million
Analysis: This was quite a success for Marvel Studios. An unknown superhero managed to make over $200 million domestic and almost $700 million worldwide. It also had great box office legs (2.73). Good reception and a great release data led to this film's success. Not much more to say here. I give its box office performance a grade of a
B+
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Opening Weekend: $155 million
Domestic: $531 million (and counting)
Worldwide: $1.055 billion
Analysis: As expected, a Star Wars movie dominated the box office last year. After having a massive opening weekend, the film's amazingly spectacular legs led to its domestic haul of over a half-billion. Quite the accomplishment right there for Disney and Lucasfilm. It was the highest grossing film of 2016 and sold a rare 60 million tickets in North America. Very nice for an anthology Star Wars movie not part of the main series. Lots of haters doubted it would even hit the $1 billion mark, but it did. Its great reception and great December release date led to very strong legs (3.43). I give its box office performance a grade of an
A+
So let's see how I graded all of the CBMs from 2016...
-
X-Men: Apocalypse - F
-
Batman v Superman - D-
-
Captain America: Civil War - B
-
Doctor Strange - B+
-
Deadpool - A
-
Suicide Squad - A+
-
Rogue One - A+
Looks like Harley Quinn and Jyn Eso won the box office of 2016!