\n\tFamily films flourished, video game adaptations triumphed, and superheroes flew too close to the sun. Welcome to 2025 at the multiplexes!<\/p>\n
\n\tIt was a roller-coaster year at cinemas and for the studios tasked with keeping their screens filled. Warner Bros<\/a>. enjoyed an epic run at the box office, fielding hits as diverse as a vampire flick set in the Jim Crow South (\u201cSinners\u201d), an old-school star-driven racing drama (\u201cF1: The Movie\u201d) and a sandbox-game-turned-big-screen-smash (\u201cA Minecraft Movie\u201d). Meanwhile Paramount<\/a>, which spent hundreds of millions of dollars on yet another \u201cMission: Impossible,\u201d barely released anything that turned a profit.<\/p>\n \n\tAnd then there\u2019s Disney<\/a>, which backed three movies that topped $1 billion (we\u2019re assuming that will be the case with \u201cAvatar: Fire and Ash\u201d) and stands out as the only studio to cross a combined $6 billion globally<\/a>. But the studio also distributed nearly twice as many big-budget duds (\u201cElio,\u201d \u201cSnow White\u201d and \u201cTron: Ares,\u201d to name a few). More troubling, Marvel, once Hollywood\u2019s biggest hitmaker, struggled to regain its mojo. It\u2019s all coming down to next year\u2019s \u201cAvengers: Doomsday\u201d to get the franchise back on course.<\/p>\n \n\tOur annual report card includes the five major studios as well as A24<\/a>, which is nominally an indie, but spent lavishly on \u201cThe Smashing Machine\u201d and \u201cMarty Supreme.\u201d But it doesn\u2019t include streamers such as Amazon and Apple, which didn\u2019t release enough movies in cinemas for us to judge their slate. Come on, guys, start spending those Bezos bucks!<\/p>\n \n\tAs 2025 draws to a close, it\u2019s time for Hollywood to get its report card. Some of you may not want to hang it on your fridge.<\/p>\n \t\tDisney\t<\/p>\n \n\tHighs: \u201cLilo & Stitch\u201d ($1.03 billion against a $100 million budget), \u201cZootopia 2\u201d ($1.31 billion against a $150 million budget), \u201cFreakier Friday\u201d ($153 million against a $42 million budget), \u201cAvatar: Fire and Ash\u201d ($506 million and counting against a $250 million+ budget) \t\tParamount\t<\/p>\n \n\tHighs: \u201cSmurfs\u201d ($124 million against a $58 million budget), \u201cThe Naked Gun\u201d ($102 million against a $42 million budget), \u201cRegretting You\u201d ($90.4 million against a $30 million budget) \t\tSony\t<\/p>\n \n\tHighs: \u201cDemon Slayer: Infinity Castle\u201d ($664 million against a $20 million budget), \u201cChainsaw Man\u201d ($153 million), \u201cOne of Them Days\u201d ($51 million against a $14 million budget), \u201cKarate Kid: Legend\u201d ($117 million against a 45 million budget), \u201c28 Years Later\u201d ($151 million against a $60 million budget), \u201cI Know What You Did Last Summer\u201d ($64.8 million against an $18 million budget), \u201cMaterialists\u201d ($71 million at the international box office) \t\tUniversal\t<\/p>\n \n\tHighs: \u201cHow to Train Your Dragon\u201d ($636 million against a $150 million budget), \u201cJurassic World Rebirth\u201d ($868 million against a $180 million budget), \u201cBlack Phone 2\u201d ($132 million against a $30 million budget), \u201cWicked: For Good\u201d ($488 million and counting against a $150 million budget), \u201cFive Nights at Freddy\u2019s 2\u201d ($206 million against a $36 million budget) \t\tWarner Bros.\t<\/p>\n \n\tHighs: \u201cA Minecraft Movie\u201d ($958 million against a $150 million budget), \u201cSinners\u201d ($367 million against a $90 million budget), \u201cFinal Destination Bloodlines\u201d ($315 million against a $50 million budget), \u201cF1: The Movie\u201d ($631 million against a $250 million+ budget fronted by Apple), \u201cSuperman\u201d ($616 million against a $224 million budget), \u201cWeapons\u201d ($268 million a $38 million budget) \t\tA24\t<\/p>\n \n\tHighs: \u201cMaterialists ($104 million against an $18 million budget), \u201cBring Her Back\u201d ($39 million against a $10 million budget), \u201cFriendship\u201d ($16.5 million after being acquired for $3 million), \u201cEternity\u201d ($28 million against a $12 million budget)
Lows:\u00a0\u201cCaptain America: Brave New World\u201d ($415 million against a $180 million budget), \u201cSnow White\u201d ($205 million against a $250 million budget), \u201cElio\u201d ($154 million against a $150 million budget) \u201cTron: Ares\u201d ($142 million against a $180 million budget), \u201cPredator: Badlands\u201d ($181 million against a $105 million budget), \u201cElla McCay\u201d ($4 million against a $35 million budget)
Takeaways:\u00a0Disney deserves props for fielding two (and likely three after \u201cAvatar: Fire and Ash\u201d gets through the holiday season) billion-dollar hits, a feat that illuminates the chasm between the studio and its rivals, none of whom had a single film cross $1 billion since 2023. Yet almost nothing else worked for Disney beyond the live-action \u201cLilo & Stitch\u201d remake, \u201cZootopia 2\u201d and \u201cAvatar 3.\u201d Marvel continued its lousy streak, producing three consecutive commercial duds in \u201cCaptain America: Brave New World,\u201d \u201cThunderbolts\u201d and \u201cThe Fantastic Four: First Steps.\u201d (Next year\u2019s Sony<\/a>-produced \u201cSpider-Man: Brand New Day\u201d and \u201cAvengers: Doomsday\u201d can\u2019t arrive soon enough.) \u201cElio\u201d underscored Pixar\u2018s continued struggle to launch original animation. Meanwhile, \u201cSnow White,\u201d \u201cTron: Ares\u201d and \u201cPredator: Badlands\u201d proved that some aging properties are better left in the vault. That\u2019s a problem for Disney, which relies almost entirely on recycling what\u2019s worked in the past. Let it be a mantra for Hollywood: Brand recognition doesn\u2019t equal box office dollars.
Grade:\u00a0B<\/p>\n
Lows:\u00a0\u201cMission: Impossible \u2013 The Final Reckoning\u201d ($598 million against a $400 million budget), \u201cRoofman\u201d ($33 million against a $20 million budget), \u201cThe Running Man\u201d ($68 million against a $105 million budget)
Takeaways:\u00a0In its defense, Paramount spent most of the past year stuck in a painful limbo as it waited for government regulators to approve its sale<\/a> to Skydance. That left studio executives \u2014 many of whom correctly deduced they\u2019d be shown the exit as soon as David Ellison\u2019s crew took over \u2014 punching the clock. Paramount did write a blank check to Tom Cruise, only to find that he had embarked on one impossible mission too many. It also gambled that Edgar Wright and Glen Powell could crack \u201cThe Running Man,\u201d the second adaptation of the Stephen King novel; the first attempt flopped when it hit theaters with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Sadly, the pair shouldn\u2019t have bothered lacing up their sneakers. Paramount fielded a few cost-effective hits, like \u201cSmurfs\u201d and \u201cThe Naked Gun,\u201d but these are not the kind of modest successes one expects from one of Hollywood\u2019s most storied studios. Will the new management fare better?
Grade:\u00a0C<\/p>\n
Lows:\u00a0\u201cCaught Stealing\u201d ($32 million against a $40 million budget), \u201cA Big Bold Beautiful Journey\u201d ($20 million against a $45 million budget)
Takeaways:\u00a0Sony didn\u2019t have any home runs, but it also avoided any strikeouts. It wasn\u2019t a terribly strong year for the studio, to be sure. But we\u2019re grading based on what\u2019s been released and not what could have been. Anime was a massive boon, with Crunchyroll\u2019s \u201cDemon Slayer\u201d and \u201cChainsaw Man\u201d scoring back-to-back wins while demonstrating a voracious appetite for manga adaptations in the U.S. The studio also kept the theatrical comedy alive with the Keke Palmer and SZA-led \u201cOne of Them Days,\u201d and turned A24\u2019s romantic drama \u201cMaterialists\u201d into an international hit. Neither \u201cKarate Kid: Legend\u201d nor \u201cI Know What You Did Last Summer\u201d were necessary sequels, but both films scraped together modest grosses. As for \u201cA Big Bold Beautiful Journey,\u201d the collective wattage of Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell couldn\u2019t overcompensate for terrible reviews and bad buzz. Star power only gets audiences to theaters if the movie is, ya know, good.
Grade:\u00a0B<\/p>\n
Lows:\u00a0\u201cWolf Man\u201d ($34 million against a $25 million budget), \u201cLove Hurts\u201d ($17 million against a $18 million budget), \u201cM3GAN 2.0\u201d ($39 million against a $25 million budget), \u201cHim\u201d ($28 million against a $27 million budget)
Takeaways: Sequels and reboots delivered in a big way for Donna Langley and her team. On paper, rebooting \u201cJurassic World\u201d a mere three years after the last installment in the \u201cwhen dinosaurs attack\u201d franchise might have seemed like a bad idea. But it turns out people really like watching velociraptors dine out on some pesky humans, especially when Scarlett Johansson is trying to avoid becoming dessert. The studio also scored with follow-ups to \u201cWicked\u201d and \u201cFive Nights at Freddy\u2019s\u201d that won\u2019t do anywhere near the same business as their predecessors but should turn a tidy profit. There were flops, of course. But failures like \u201cWolf Man\u201d and \u201cM3GAN 2.0\u201d didn\u2019t cost much to produce. The main issue that Universal<\/a> faced is that Blumhouse, which made both those films, was uncharacteristically inconsistent<\/a>. \u201cFive Nights at Freddy\u2019s 2\u201d and \u201cBlack Phone 2\u201d helped the company get back on track, but it needs to deliver new franchises instead of just servicing old ones.
Grade:\u00a0B+<\/p>\n
Lows:\u00a0\u201cMickey 17\u201d ($133 million against a $118 million budget), \u201cThe Alto Knights\u201d ($10 million against a $50 million budget), \u201cOne Battle After Another\u201d ($204 million against a $140 million budget)
Takeaways:\u00a0It\u2019s the comeback of the year. After a rough end to 2024 (\u201cJoker: Folie \u00e0 Deux,\u201d anyone?) and a rocky start to 2025 (\u201cMickey 17\u201d and \u201cThe Alto Knights\u201d were pricey bombs), the studio rebounded the old-fashioned way \u2014 by banking on bold directors and new ideas at a time when reboots and sequels reign supreme. Seven consecutive releases, from video game adaptation \u201cA Minecraft Movie\u201d and Ryan Coogler\u2019s vampire thriller \u201cSinners\u201d to the Brad Pitt-led sports drama \u201cF1: The Movie\u201d and Zach Cregger\u2019s genre-bending mystery \u201cWeapons,\u201d opened above $40 million domestically, a first in Hollywood history<\/a>. Although Paul Thomas Anderson\u2019s comedic adventure \u201cOne Battle After Another\u201d isn\u2019t in danger of turning a profit against its hefty $140 million budget, the film surpassed the $200 million mark and achieved a milestone by getting adult audiences to theaters for original fare. Plus, \u201cOne Battle\u201d could be valuable beyond the balance sheet as a major Oscar contender. This might be Warner Bros.\u2019 last year as a stand-alone studio<\/a>. If that\u2019s the case, it went out with a bang.
Grade:\u00a0A<\/p>\n
Lows:\u00a0\u201cThe Smashing Machine\u201d ($21 million against a $50 million budget), \u201cEddington\u201d ($13 million against a $25 million budget), \u201cThe Legend of Ochi\u201d ($4.9 million against a $10 million budget), \u201cWarfare\u201d ($33 million against a $20 million budget), \u201cDeath of a Unicorn\u201d ($15 million against a $15 million budget)
Takeaways:\u00a0The indie studio is trying to play with the big boys by moving beyond its low-budget roots. But it found out the hard way that spending more money doesn\u2019t always result in bigger profits. Benny Safdie\u2019s \u201cThe Smashing Machine,\u201d featuring a change-of-pace performance by Dwayne \u201cthe Rock\u201d Johnson as a troubled MMA fighter, was too dark for the actor\u2019s fans and failed to earn the critical acclaim it needed to pack in art-house audiences. Oh, and it cost $50 million to produce and millions more to market, making it one of the year\u2019s bigger bombs.<\/a> The same was true of Ari Aster\u2019s \u201cEddington,\u201d a political satire set during COVID that discovered that most moviegoers would rather memory-hole the pandemic. A24 did score with \u201cMaterialists,\u201d a starry rom-com from Celine Song that became a true mainstream hit. And it has a chance to end things on a high note with \u201cMarty Supreme,\u201d a table-tennis drama starring one-man hype machine<\/a> Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet. If it scores, A24 deserves some extra credit.
Grade:\u00a0B-<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Family films flourished, video game adaptations triumphed, and superheroes flew too close to the sun. Welcome to 2025…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":370333,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[24826,49,48,3494,75,9489,8718,4530,4432],"class_list":["post-370332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-a24","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-disney","tag-entertainment","tag-paramount","tag-sony","tag-universal","tag-warner-bros"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=370332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370332\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/370333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=370332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=370332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=370332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}