The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Mystic River, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, The Last Samurai and Cold Mountain are movies of epic intentions, exploring warfare, abuse and devastation. They are literary, and serious to the point of oppressiveness. Other kinds of lists that Hollywood produces, of box-office grosses each weekend, draw a different picture. It turns out that 2003 was actually a year of numerous mindless cram-the-popcorn blockbusters, with a record number of films -- 25 in all -- earning more than $100-million (U.S.). While Russell Crowe and Sean Penn can duke it out for the Oscars, the year already belonged to another group of leading men -- Johnny Depp, Keanu Reeves and even Will Ferrell (Elf, Old School).
While some reviewers have crowed about Finding Nemo and The Return of the King being both popular and critical hits, those films are the exceptions. The top-grossing films of 2003 (in the United States and Canada) were generally rated as mediocrities. The average critical rating out of 100 (calculated from North American reviews by the editors at http://www.metacritic.com) is included below:
1. Finding Nemo (Box office: $340-million). Rating: 92
2. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl ($305-million). Rating: 66
3. The Matrix Reloaded ($281-million). Rating: 634. Bruce Almighty ($243-million). Rating: 47
5. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King ($224-million). Rating: 936. X2: X-Men United ($215-million). Rating: 70
7. Elf ($168-million). Rating: 64
8. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines ($150-million). Rating: 66
9. Bad Boys II ($138-million). Rating: 36
10. The Matrix Revolutions ($137-million). Rating: 50.
Further on down the list in the $100-million club were Anger Management, Bringing Down the House, Hulk, 2 Fast 2 Furious, Seabiscuit, S.W.A.T., Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over, Freaky Friday, Scary Movie 3, The Italian Job, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, American Wedding, Daddy Day Care, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle and Daredevil.
With the exception of Seabiscuit, these were all formula comedies or okay-to-bad action films.
Formula was Hollywood's weakness last year: 13 sequels were released in an 18-week period last summer. Disney, with its traditional strength in family films, was the year's biggest winner.
This success was due in part to Disney's strategy of counterprogramming -- avoiding movies with Roman numerals after them. As Disney's head of distribution, Chuck Viane, told Associated Press: "Our whole emphasis was trying to be counter to all of the sequels that were being released. We basically looked at the year and said this would be a great time for new programming."
The combination of Finding Nemo (now one of the top-10 grossing films of all time) and Pirates of the Caribbean, and such hit comedies as Bringing Down the House and Freaky Friday, earned the House of Mouse record worldwide receipts of $3-billion.
Yet, overall, this wasn't a year that made the studios very comfortable. The youth movies (14 of the top-25 earners were rated PG-13 in the United States) are lucrative, but they don't really solve studios' biggest problem: Young adult audiences seem to be drifting away from movies. Peter Bart, a former studio executive who now works as editor of Daily Variety, commented recently in a Voice of America interview: "This is a double worry because, after all, the movie studios are owned by conglomerates that also own the TV broadcast networks. The young audience is certainly defecting from the TV networks. Indeed, the main segment of the media that seems to be gaining is really cable television."
Eventually, then, the movies will find an audience on cable TV, but not at the most lucrative theatrical start. Though 2003 was movie history's second-highest box office overall (with more than $9-billion in box-office receipts), attendance was down about 4 per cent, which was about the same percentage that ticket prices increased. Though the audience for movies has been flat or in decline for several years, higher ticket prices have, at least until now, kept profits rising. Movie prices, too, are rising: The average Hollywood film now costs about $60-million, with another $40-million in marketing.
Not all of those $100-million blockbusters were really successes. Several of the most expensive -- Hulk, Charlie's Angels and 2 Fast 2 Furious -- were considered poor performers. They also faced far more rapid rejection than in the recent past. Aggressive advertising gave them good opening weekends, followed by sharp drop-offs (often more than 50 per cent) because of poor word of mouth. Miramax executive Rick Sands complained that the increased speed of the drop-off this year reflected the popularity of cellphone text messaging. Teenagers, sometimes still in the theatres, warn their friends away from movies they dislike.
Back in 2002, the blockbusters (Star Wars, Spider-Man) were supplemented by some unexpected oddities: Signs and Austin Powers in Goldmember were movies that earned in excess of $200-million. Apart from Johnny Depp in dreadlocks and bandana in Pirates of the Caribbean, the unexpected just wasn't prevalent this year.
Thus, while some of the top-10 critics' picks aren't the most popular films, they often look like much more sound investments. Lost in Translation (budget: $4-million; worldwide grosses: $30-million) is a good return for the dollar. So is Mystic River (budget: $30-million; earnings: $53.5-million). The problem was that not enough unpredictable, interesting films found a large audience, and some of the expected hits failed to come through.
Studios earn back roughly half the box-office receipts, which means an expensive movie can take in $100-million at the box office and still lose money. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, which cost $130-million and has earned $140-million worldwide, is still well in the red. The Last Samurai (budget: $120-million; worldwide gross $73-million) also has a lot of catching up to do.
Movies such as Hulk and Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle didn't meet expectations, but foreign sales should make them profitable. The following movies didn't make the grade either way, among the critics or the ticket-buyers:
Gigli. Budget: $54-million. Earnings: $6.5-million.
Alex and Emma. Budget: $30-million. Earnings: $14.2 million.
Lara Croft, Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life. Budget: $90-million. Earnings: $65.5 million.
The Life of David Gale. Budget: $50-million. Box office: $19.5 million.
The Good Thief. Budget: $30-million. Earnings: $3.5 million.
Beyond Borders. Budget: $35-million. Box office: $4.5-million.
Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas. Budget: $60-million. Domestic earnings: $26-million.
From Justin to Kelly. Budget: $12-million. Earnings: $5-million.
Figures were provided by Variety, the Internet Movie Database (http://www.imdb.com) and The Numbers (http://www.the-numbers.com).
