Time.com Special Article Deadline's annual list of "Hollywood's Top 10 Most Profitable Movies" is here!
During the epidemic, this list, which ranks the net profit of Hollywood movies, was suspended for two years. Now, the global film market is slowly recovering, but is the enthusiasm of moviegoers still hot? Do you still buy those movies that are single, aesthetically curious, boring, and repetitive routines thrown out by major studios? Among the Hollywood movies in 2023, which ones are still making money? Which production companies are caught in the dilemma of what to shoot and what to lose?
What is particularly different in 2023 is that superhero movies are finally slowly declining, and the audience should watch something else and change their tastes. Last year's top Disney Big Brother was pulled off the throne, happy Puben! "Star Wish", "Raiders of the Lost Ark 5", "Haunted House", "Captain Marvel 2", ...... Stop it, Mickey Mouse, who only focuses on quantity and doesn't care about quality!
On this year's top 10 list, Disney only made one on the list, and it also ranked 9th ("Silver Guardian 3"); Universal 3 occupy the top of the list, "Super Mario Bros., Oppenheimer", "Five Nights in Freddy", Warner 2 ("Barbie", "Wonka"), Paramount 2 ("Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Smash Bros.", "PAW Team 2"), Sony 1 ("Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse"), and 1 non-Big Five AMC Entertainment ("Taylor Swift Concert Movie"), of which 4 are cartoons.
01 "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" (Universal/Illumination Entertainment)
Universal, Illumination Entertainment, and Nintendo's "Super Mario Bros. Movie" was predicted by many netizens to be the most profitable movie in 2023 when it was first released last spring. For the IP of "Mario", the previous film and television adaptation was not a success - the live-action version of "Super Mario Bros. " in 1993 failed miserably at the box office, and this film adaptation, with the direct participation of Shigeru Miyamoto, the "father of Mario", "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" is remarkable for the restoration of the game.
Christopher Meledandley, the boss of Illumination Entertainment, and Shigeru Miyamoto first met in 2014, when the former was busy with the "Despicable Me" series, and the latter was working on the Nintendo Park of Universal Studios Osaka. Ten years later, the partnership has finally borne fruit that has satisfied fans. With a global box office performance of $1.361 billion, "Super Mario" is not only the highest-grossing film in Illumination Entertainment, but also the most profitable film (net profit of $559 million). The film's $100 million production cost was borne by Universal and Nintendo.
The Super Mario Bros. movie
Time Rating 7.6
92 mins - Animation / Action / Adventure Released in China on April 5, 2023
total revenues of $959 million and total expenses of $0.4 billion;
net profit of 559 million US dollars, return on investment of 2.39;
The global box office was US$1.361 billion, North America US$574.9 million, and Chinese mainland US$23.66 million (171 million yuan)
02 "Barbie" (Warner)
In 2009, it was Universal who wanted to shoot "Barbie", and later it was transferred to Sony, and at one time Anne Hathaway and Amy Schumer were expected to star...... Mattel has always wanted to make a "Barbie" movie, after all, the toy has sold more than $3 billion. In October 2018, Sony's rights expired and Warner took over. Finally in 2023, under the leadership of Margot Robbie and others, Barbie walked from Barbie Land to the world, and the summer of 2023 became the world of "Barbieheimer".
"Barbie" also received 8 Oscar nominations, and finally won the "Best Original Song" for Biri's "What Was I Made For?", which also won the "Song of the Year" award on the Grammy. Robbie and Commander Gao's "Barbie" salaries are said to be $60 million and $40 million respectively. With a global box office of $1.44 billion, "Barbie" became the highest box office in Warner film history, breaking the record held by "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part II)" for more than ten years.
Barbie
Time Rating 7.5
114 mins - Comedy / Fantasy / Action Released in China on July 21, 2023
total revenues of $1,009 million and total expenses of $588 million;
net profit of US$421 million, return on investment of 1.71;
The global box office was US$1.445 billion, North America US$636.2 million, and Chinese mainland US$34.87 million (252 million yuan)
03 "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" (Sony)
Superhero movies have fallen, but they are not dead, and "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" is the best proof of this. Sony didn't make it to Deadline's net profit list last year, and this year it didn't disappoint. At the moment, it is obvious that I want to make a good superhero movie - it has nothing to do with the current MCU and DC movies. The biggest difference between Sony's animated version of "Spider-Man" and the live-action version of "Spider-Man" by Dutch Zendaya may be that the former has nothing to do with Marvel.
The first installment in the series, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, was the winner at the box office ($384.2 million worldwide in 2018), and the sequel was originally scheduled to release in October 2022, but was later rescheduled to June 2023, with 3.4 times the opening weekend box office in North America than the first one.
Spider-Man: Across the Universe
Time rating 7.8
140 mins - Animation / Action / Sci-Fi Released in China on June 2, 2023
total revenues of $598 million and total expenses of $270 million;
net profit of US$328 million, return on investment of 2.21;
The global box office was US$690.9 million, North America US$381.6 million, and Chinese mainland US$49.39 million (357 million yuan)
04 "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Smash Bros. Bros. Bros." (Paramount)
President Paramount wanted to make a new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, and he envisioned it as an animated film, and the ideal creator in mind was Seth Rogen, who grew up watching the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Seth, who received a call from the filmmaker, quickly agreed and wrote the script with several partners. In the summer of last year, when Barbie Heimer ruled, "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Smash Bros." won far more than the 2016 live-action "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: Breaking the Shadows", and the global box office doubled compared to the 2007 animated version of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles".
The 7 animated + live-action "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" movies that have been released have earned a total of more than $1.3 billion at the global box office. Paramount is currently preparing not only an animated sequel to Mutant Smash Bros., but also a live-action adaptation of the graphic novel Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin, and it is not yet known which of the two will be made first.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Smash Bros
Time Rating 7.2
99 mins - Animation / Action / Adventure Released in China on August 11, 2023
total revenues of $369 million and total expenses of $164.5 million;
net profit of 204.5 million US dollars, return on investment of 2.24;
The global box office was $181.9 million, North America was $118.7 million, and Chinese mainland was $1.31 million (9.484 million yuan)
05 "Oppenheimer" (Universal)
Warner's weight distribution of theatrical and streaming media has provoked director Nolan, whose new film "Oppenheimer" has moved to Universal. The film was a hit last summer, but it didn't rank higher on Deadline's net profit list, because the film's $100 million production cost is really high. However, the final box office results were very satisfying, and even Universal himself did not expect that this three-hour, all-dialogue biopic would sell nearly $1 billion.
Nolan wanted the film to be released on the third Friday in July, and like his previous "Batman: The Dark Knight", "Batman: The Dark Knight Rises" and "Dunkirk", Universal agreed. When Warner set "Barbie" for release on the same day, Universal didn't back down. However, "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer" did not kill each other, but formed a win-win situation that fans like to see, and the marketing went in the direction of "both films must be watched", and Barbieheimer won a big victory. In the end, "Oppenheimer" won 7 Oscars, including Nolan's "Best Director" and "Best Picture".
Oppenheimer
Time rating 8.4
180 mins - Biography / Drama / History Released in China on August 30, 2023
total revenues of $721.9 million and total expenditures of $520 million;
net profit of US$201.9 million, return on investment of 1.38;
The global box office was US$972.2 million, North America US$329.8 million, and Chinese mainland US$62.55 million (452 million yuan)
06 "Wonka" (Warner)
Since recent years after "West Side Story", "To Evan Hansen" and "In the Heights", musical films can be said to have been at the bottom for a long time. Then came last year's "Wonka", which earned a staggering $632.3 million at the global box office, surpassing the $474.9 million of 2005's "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" directed by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp. This film not only wants to capture the essence of the original 1971 "Happy Candy House", but also goes deep into the origin of the character of "Wonka".
What are the secrets of a successful musical film? You have to hide it from the fact that it's a "musical film" during marketing, and when the audience comes in and finds out that "Wonka" is actually a musical movie, they're already on board. The unexpected success of "Wonka" at the box office, and "Dune 2," which also starred Sweet Tea, combined for the two Warner films (the "Dune" series was produced by Warner in the United States) combined for more than $1.3 billion at the global box office. The cooperation between the filmmaker and Sweet Tea will continue. (However, "Dune 2" did not make it to Deadline's net profit list.) ）
Wonka
Time Rating 7.5
112 mins - Fantasy / Adventure / Comedy Released in China on December 8, 2023
Total revenues of $537 million and total expenses of $355 million;
net profit of US$182 million, return on investment of 1.51;
The global box office was 632.3 million US dollars, 218.4 million US dollars in North America, and 7.45 million US dollars (53.889 million yuan) in Chinese mainland
07 "Taylor Swift: The Times Tour" (AMC Entertainment)
This film is also the only film on Deadline's net profit list that is not produced by Hollywood's top five. Taylor's concert tickets were all sold out at that time, and he received $1 billion, and it was Taylor's father, Scott Swift, who called the AMC boss and asked if he wanted to make some more money by releasing a big movie for the concert. Taylor has nearly 400 million followers on social networks, does that require any additional marketing spend? The results of the release of the big movie are amazing for both the tour and the movie: the concert sold another $100 million in tickets, and the big movie opened at the global box office of $123 million, making it the most concert movie.
As for the film's online release, Taylor sold the rights to Disney+ for $75 million, rather than Netflix or Universal, which were bidding together. Due to the huge success of Taylor's concert movie, AMC immediately released Beyoncé's concert movie "Beyoncé: Renaissance" in theaters, although the global box office of $45 million is obviously not the same as Taylor's concert movie.
Taylor Swift: The Times Tour
Time rating 8.4
160 minutes - Documentary Released in China on December 31, 2023
total revenues of $260 million and total expenditures of $88 million;
net profit of US$172 million, return on investment of 2.95;
The global box office was US$267.1 million, North America US$180.8 million, and Chinese mainland US$13.98 million (101 million yuan)
08 "Five Nights in Freddy Bear" (Universal/Bren House)
Based on the 2014 game of the same name, the film is also the largest opening in North America in Bren House history — grossing $80 million in its opening weekend, which is on par with Universal's own "Oppenheimer," which even Universal himself did not expect to be so popular. The most important thing is that this film was released/launched at the same time in theaters and Universal's streaming media Peacock, and it can achieve such amazing results.
Previously, sources said that the creators of "Freddy" had made a request to Universal, hoping that the film would be fully theatrically released and that "The Exorcist: The Believer" be changed to theater/streaming synchronization. But Universal refused, trusting that "Freddybear" would win both at the box office and in streaming, and eventually the film became the most watched film on Peacock. The film was originally going to be filmed by Warners, but in 2017, Bren House owner Jason Bloom made a big hit and won "Midnight Terror of Freddybear".
Five Nights at Freddy's Harem
There is no rating yet
Horror / Comedy will be released in the United States on October 27, 2023
Total revenues of $302 million and total expenses of $141 million;
net profit of US$161 million, return on investment of 2.14;
The global box office was $291.5 million, North America $137.3 million, and Chinese mainland was not released
09 "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" (Disney/Marvel Studios)
It was written that the names of Disney and Marvel appeared in the 9th position, which if it had been placed in the past, readers must have thought that Deadline had miscalculated, but last year, everything was reasonable. Marvel is at the end of its power, and "Silver Guardian 3" is also James Gunn's last work in the MCU, after all, he is now the boss of DC Pictures. "Silver Guardian 3" opened with a North American result of $118.4 million, which is 37% less than 2022's "Doctor Strange 2" (which opened at $187.4 million). However, compared with "Captain Marvel 2", which began to fall freely at the box office as soon as it was released, the performance of "Silver Guardian 3" can be regarded as amazing.
"Captain Marvel's" $46.1 million opening weekend box office performance hit a new low for Disney's MCU, finally making Disney CEO Bob Iger decide to make fewer movies and focus on quality — a day that fans hope will come sooner rather than later. In the end, it is "Silver Guardian 3" that will take on everything in 2023, and this film is the only film on Disney's 2023 Deadline net profit list. In 2022, Disney will have 4 films on the list ("Avatar 2: The Way of Water", "Doctor Strange 2", "Black Panther 2", "Thor 4").
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Time rating 7.9
150 mins - Action / Adventure / Sci-Fi Released in China on May 5, 2023
total revenues of $674 million and total expenses of $550 million;
net profit of US$124 million, return on investment of 1.22;
The global box office was US$845.6 million, North America US$359 million, and Chinese mainland US$83.85 million (606 million yuan)
10 "PAW Squad Movie 2: Super Adventure" (Paramount)
The success of "PAW Squad 2" was staggering, with a North American opening of $22.7 million, and finally a North American box office of $65.2 million, and a global box office of $202.2 million, surpassing the box office performance of the first PAW Squad movie in 2021 ($40.1 million in North America and $144.3 million worldwide). The animated series "Paw Squad" premiered on the TV channel Nickelodeon in 2013 and was later decided by Paramount to bring it to the big screen.
PAW Team Makes Great Achievements Movie 2: Super Adventure
There is no rating yet
92 mins - Animation / Action / Fantasy Released in China on September 29, 2023
total revenues of $241 million and total expenses of $127 million;
net profit of US$114 million, return on investment of 1.89;
Global box office 202.2 million US dollars, North America 65.2 million US dollars, Chinese mainland 19.1 million US dollars (138 million yuan)
Editor: Donnie Yen