rebounded, and Sony and Paramount continued to fare poorly. There were "periods of booming business, followed by crushing slowdowns, sequelitis and the increasing influence of social media," says analyst Paul Dergarabedian of comScore.ĭisney commanded an unprecedented 26.4 percent of North American market share thanks to Zootopia, Captain America: Civil War, The Jungle Book, Finding Dory, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Moana. At the same time, China's growth slowed from 48 percent in 2015 to a scary 3.7 percent. A slew of massive bombs - including Ben-Hur, Gods of Egypt, Allied and The Finest Hours - lost more than $1 billion.
There used to be a threshold a movie could maintain even if it didn't work."Ĭase in point: Only 26 titles in 2016 crossed $100 million domestically, the fewest in a decade. "We're finding that if midlevel movies, as well as certain blockbusters, can't show the goods, they can get clobbered in a weekend to the point of being obsolete and gone by Monday. (Attendance was flat at 1.3 billion.) "2016 was about higher highs and lower lows," says Imax Entertainment CEO Greg Foster. 31, a 2.1 percent uptick from 2015's historic $11.14 billion. Those unusually weak performances for studio wide releases epitomize the alarming widening of the gap between films that work and those that don't, even as North American revenue hit another record high with $11.36 billion between Jan. And Sony's Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk topped out at a scant $1.7 million domestically despite director Ang Lee's previous film, Life of Pi, having grossed $600 million worldwide. Warren Beatty's Rules Don't Apply flamed out with $3.7 million. Universal's summer comedy Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping cost $20 million and grossed just $9.5 million.