As 2010 dawns, it's clear that (for better or worse) the mega-budget franchise ruled the box office in 2009.
The biggest winner of the year was a film so appalling most viewers could barely comprehend its sheer dreadfulness - which proves that Hollywood producers are geniuses and that PT Barnum's misattributed dictum - "There's a sucker born every minute", not to mention "A constant hammering on one nail will generally drive it home." - still hold true. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen earned $402,111,879 in the US alone, plus another $432,857,937 in the rest of the world, making it to (to date) the 20th most successful film of all time. Good grief.
At #2, a good $100M behind, is Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince with $301,959,197. However its worldwide total of $929,359,401 (the eighth largest in history), gives it the #1 spot overall, and makes it the third most successful in the franchise, behind Sorcerer's Stone ($947.7M) and Order of the Phoenix ($938.2M).
Those looking for some hope for humanity and the soul of the American people, can take solace in the fact that Pixar's Up holds the #3 spot with $293,004,164 ($683M worldwide), making it the second most successful Pixar movie after Finding Nemo ($339.71M), the most successful 3D movie of all time, and bringing the Emeryville studio's total take to $2.42 Billion. The Twilight Saga: New Moon is at #4 with $283,897,000, ($665.40M worldwide) making it one of the most profitable films of the year and eclipsing (sorry) the original's $192.76M.
Avatar looks set to break records with $283,811,000 ($760M worldwide) after 13 days on release and the #5 spot for the year (it's currently the eighth most successful science fiction film ever), while #6 is claimed by one of only two non-genre films in the Top 10, The Hangover, with $277,322,503 ($459.42M worldwide), making it the most successful R-rated comedy of all time, ahead of Wedding Crashers ($209.25M) and There's Something About Mary ($176.48M).
The Star Trek reboot sits at #7, with $257,730,019 ($385.46M worldwide), making it the most successful Star Trek film, ahead of 1986's Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home ($109.71M) and the ninth most successful science fiction film. Animated hits Monsters vs Aliens and Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs are next, with $198,351,526 ($381.46M worldwide) and $196,573,705 ($887.56M worldwide) respectively, while Sandra Bullock's surprise hit The Blind Side rounds out the Top 10 with $196,403,000 (no worldwide release yet).
Other genre films in the Top 20 include X-Men Origins: Wolverine (#11 with $179.88M US/$373.06M world); Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (#12, $177.24M US/$412.68M world); 2012 (#14, $161.49M US/$734.28 world); and A Christmas Carol (#19, $136.68M US/$254.88M world).
The most profitable film of the year sits at #28, Paranormal Activity earned $107,783,000 (foreign takings unavailable), showing that, contrary to evidence at the top of the table, sometimes all you need is $15,000 and a couple of friends.
Overall, both box office takings and bums on seats are up 9.4% over 2008, on a roster of 516 movies versus 605 the previous year, with average ticket prices holding steady at $7.18.
Happy new year!
Figures courtesy of boxofficemojo.com and boxoffice.com. Worldwide figures are US plus foreign territories.
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