The worldwide market has become increasingly more important for studios over the years and 2009 has been the best year yet with markets that were considered average a few year ago, truly exploding last year. This can be seen in the fact that for the first time ever we have had 7 movies gross more then $700 million worldwide.

10. The Hangover (WarnerBros) $467.3M

The rare R-rated comedy that managed to break out and pull in a big audience all over the world but also one of the best comedies of the year if not the best (at least the Foreign Press thinks so). A sequel is already in the works.

9. Sherlock Holmes (WarnerBros) $468.8M

British director Guy Ritchie waited for 10 years to finally get his chance with a big studio movie and unlike others before him, he did not disappoint. But then again, this is the guy that brought us Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch and RockNRolla, but then again, he also did Swept Away. Sherlock Holmes might not be his best movie but it was a hell of a lot of fun and showed great promise for a future franchise that is already being pushed forward by Warner Bros.

8. Angels & Demons (Sony) $485.9M

The adventures of Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) continue in this Dan Brown adaptation of the book with the same title that was written as a sequel to the author’s best seller and worldwide phenomenon The Da Vinci Code, also adapted into a movie by the same team. That one made a bit more money with $758.2 million worldwide so it seems people are starting to get tired of Robert Langdon.

7. The Twilight Saga: New Moon (Summit) $706.6M

Sequel to 2008′s Twilight and based on the series of extremely popular books by author Stephenie  Meyer. New Moon managed to almost double the $384 million that the first one made showing that there’s a very big audience still out there for this series. This summer Breaking Dawn, the 3rd chapter in the Twilight Saga comes out and regardless of what me or anybody else thinks of this series, it will continue to make a lot of money for Summit Entertainment and we will see it again in the top 10 of 2010.

6. Up (BuenaVista) $723M

Pixar scored their second biggest hit ever with this strange tale about the journey of an old man, a young boy and a dog named Dug that can speak. A year ago if someone asked me what I think of the potential box office of this movie, I would have replied that this was going to be one of the lowest grossing flicks in Pixar’s catalog. Fortunately I was wrong and Up turned into a success and it deserves every last penny it made. A nomination for Best Picture at the Oscars this weekend is a testament to that.

5. 2012 (Sony) $769.7M

What can I say, people love to see this world blown to pieces on the big screen and that’s exactly what 2012 promised, nothing more, nothing less. Did it deliver on that promise, first 90 minutes, hell yes, after that, not so much. Regardless, this has become Sony’s biggest hit worldwide outside of the now defunct Spider-Man franchise. Roland Emmerich said this was going to be his last disaster movie so he went all out on 2012 and it shows. Just watch any trailer and you’ll see what this movie is all about and why it has made so much money.

4. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Paramount/DreamWorks) $835.3M

Director Michael Bay comes back with this sequel to the 2007 hit Transformers (also directed by him) and he does everything he can to make this the biggest most epic thing he’s ever done, so that means a lot of stuff is going on and even more stuff is blowing up. Giant robots are everywhere helping with the blowing stuff up and basically everything is one huge mambo-jambo. Still, for me it was an enjoyable romp, just pure fun and between you and me, I liked it better then the first one. Anyway, the third one is coming out next year so what can I say, hate them or not, giant robots are here to stay.

3. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (Fox) $884.5M

Now here’s a bit of a surprise, Ice Age is huge! This has been a monster outside of the US and now worldwide it is only second to Sherk 2 with $919.8M. But if we look closely at the way this animated series has evolved, everything starts to make sense, Ice Age made $383.2 million while Ice Age 2 did $655.3 million. It is very uncommon that a series continues to increase its gross with each new sequel but it seems the animation studio Blue Sky have nailed the perfect recipe for continued success with Ice Age.

2. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (WarnerBros) $934M

Yet another series that continues to keep the flag up with each new chapter. What more can I say about Harry Potter that hasn’t been said already, we all know the books, some even read them, some just like to watch the movies. Two more (made from a single book) and the most successful series ever (unadjusted for inflation) will finally come to an end. So, has Warner Bros found a replacement yet?

1. Avatar (Fox) $2,546.8M

Words can’t describe the gigantic surprise that this movie was in terms of actual box office. Just like with Titanic there were people on either side, the ones that said it will bomb and the ones that knew it will become a hit. But here’s the thing, no one, not even the most crazy fan could have predicted just how much money this was going to make. 7 consecutive weekends in first place in NA, 11 consecutive weekends in first place Internationally, this has turned into a global phenomenon unlike anything we’ve seen since, well, Titanic. And to top this, both movies were directed by James Cameron. Love it or hate it, Avatar changed the way people look at 3D movies and now more then ever this format looks like it’s here to stay.

And there you go, 365 days and billions of dollars later, 2009 is over.

But I won’t stop here, I will go on with a top 10 that this time leaves out every single dollar made in the US, a non-US top 10 if you will:

1. Avatar (Fox) $1,839M
2. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (Fox) $687.9M
3. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (WarnerBros) $632M
4. 2012 (Sony) $603.5M
5. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Paramount/DreamWorks) $433.2M
6. Up (BuenaVista) $430M
7. The Twilight Saga: New Moon (Summit) $410.6M
8. Angels & Demons (Sony) $352.6M
9. Sherlock Holmes (WarnerBros) $262.4M
10. Terminator Salvation (WarnerBros/Sony) $246.7M

For even more information and stats on international box office go to here.

Read similar posts to 2009 at the Box Office: Worldwide edition on Filmonic

2009 is long gone by now since we’re already in March but we still had a few old releases lurking around (I’m looking at you Sherlock, Alvin, Avatar and The Blind Side), making a lot of money and changing the order of things. So I said to myself, I won’t do this top 10 in January like everyone else, I’ll do it in March when everything will be said and done and all movies in there will stop swapping spots between each other.

The top 10 of 2009 in NA basically looks like this:

1. Avatar (Fox) $706.5M (Still in Theaters)
2. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Paramount/Dreamworks) $402.1M
3. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (WarnerBros) $301.9M
4. The Twilight Saga: New Moon (Summit) $296M (SiT)
5. Up (BuenaVista) $293M
6. The Hangover (WarnerBros) $277.3M
7. Star Trek (Paramount) $257.7M
8. The Blind Side (WarnerBros) $248.7M (SiT)
9. Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel (Fox) $216.5M (SiT)
10. Sherlock Holmes (WarnerBros) $206.4M (SiT)

Half of the movies on that list are still running in theaters but at this point their spots are set in stone.

By now you probably figured out that 2009 was a very good year at the box office, but here’s the thing, I’m not going to bother ranting about how this movie did that or this other movie become a huge surprise, nope, I’ll just let the facts and numbers speak for themself.

General:

• the average ticket price was $7.5 from $7.18 the year before;
• over 1.412 billion tickets were sold (5.3% up from 2008);
• over 10.595 billion were grossed (+10% from 2008), the biggest year ever for Hollywood unadjusted for inflation;
• 518 movies came out in 2009 compared to 605 in 2008;
• The Twilight Saga: New Moon had the biggest opening of the year with $142.8 million;
• The Twilight Saga: New Moon had the biggest single day of the year with $72.7 million on November 20th;
• no movie managed to stay in first place for more then 2 weekends during 2009, Avatar managed 7 weekends but 5 of those were in 2010;
• 4 of the top 10 movies are direct sequels, 2 others come from established franchises and the remaining 4 are original properties;
• the weakest weekend of the year was September 11-13 with $76.2 million;
• the strongest weekend of the year was December 25-27 with $259.9 million (record);
• 44 were first at least a weekend, two of those came from 2008;
• 8 movies were first for 2 weekends;
• 32 movies made more then $100 million (record), 18 more then $150 million (record), 10 more then $200 million (2007 had 11), 7 more then $250 million (record), 3 more then $300 million, 2 more then $400 million (record) and 1 over $700 million (record);
• 16 3D movies were released or re-released in 2009, another record;
• 7 3D movies made more then $100 million and the top 5 biggest 3D hits ever all came out last year;
• Paranormal Activity opened in 12 theaters with $77,873 and went on to make $107.9 million in 2712 theaters (widest weekend) on a budget of $15,000;
• the widest release was Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince in 4455 theaters on July 24-26, the biggest ever(The Dark Knight had 4366);

Studios:

• Warner Bros has 4 of the top 10 movies of the year, 5 of the top 25 and 9 in the top 50;
• 12 out of 52 weekends a Warner Bros movie was first;
• 6 WB movies made more then $100 million, 4 more then $200 million and 1 more then $300 million;
• Fox has 2 movies in the top 10 and 6 in the top 25;
• 6 out of 52 weekends a Fox movie was first;
• 6 Fox films have made more then $100 million, 2 more then $200 million and 1 more then $700 million;
• Paramount/DreamWorks has 2 movies in the top 10, 4 in the top 25 and 8 in the top 50;
• 6 out of 52 weekends a Paramount/DreamWorks movie was first;
• 5 Par/DW movies made more then $100 million, 2 more then $200 million and 1 more then $400 million
• Buena Vista (Walt Disney Pictures) has 1 movie in the top 10, 3 in the top 25 and 7 in the top 50;
• 7 weekends a Buena Vista movie was first;
• 5 BV movies made more then $100 million and 1 more then 200 million;
• Sony has no movies in the top 10 for the first time since 2005;
• what it does have is 4 movies in the top 25 and 10 in the top 50;
• 10 weekends a Sony movie was first;
• 5 Sony movies made more then $100 million;
• Summit Entertainment has 1 movie in the top 10 and 2 movies in the top 50;
• one Summit movie made more then $100 million in 2009 (guess that movie);
• Summit had 3 weekends in first place last year;
• Weinstein Company has 1 movie in the top 25, 1 weekend in first place and 1 movie that made more then $100 million;
• Lionsgate, Focus Feature and Overture each have one movie in the top 50;
• Lionsgate also has 3 weekends in first place thanks exclusively to Tyler Perry;

Read similar posts to 2009 at the Box Office: North America edition on Filmonic

Variety has posted an interesting article looking at the marketing and release of Peter Jackson’s The Lovely Bones. The film was pushed back to December from it’s original release date in March 2009, which was supposed to give Peter Jackson time to finish and improve the visual effects. It would also mean the film would be released in time for the awards season we are currently in now.

Paramount thought the film would appeal to adults, and could potentially be Oscar bait. After all, the film tells the story of a raped and murdered 14-year-old girl who watches over her family as they mourn and try to find her killer.

However, after test screenings Paramount found that adults weren’t responding to the film, then when The Lovely Bones was given a limited release in December it performed poorly. This caused Paramount to re-think how they marketed the film.

In early November, Jackson called Paramount vice chair Rob Moore to say he’d seen 20th Century Fox’s “Avatar,” and that “Avatar” was going to suck up all the oxygen at the box office once it opened Dec. 18. Jackson suggested that they not open the film nationwide on Dec. 11, but just go out in a few theaters.

How wrong they were. Instead, it was younger women and teenagers–the “Twilight” crowd–who were the most enthusiastic. Moore arranged for a test screening with this audience in Kansas City on Nov. 19. Ken Kamins, Jackson’s longtime manager and exec producer of “Lovely Bones,” was at the screening. “The results were tremendous. That night was when the campaign began to change,” he said.

If that’s when the change began, the film’s disappointing opening on Dec. 11 made it abundantly clear adults were no longer the target demo. Yet it was the film’s spiritual themes, and the father-daughter relationship, that younger females responded in particular to, Moore said. Paramount cut ads playing these up, and began airing spots on female-skewing channels, including Lifetime and Lifetime Movie Network (LMN). Studio also quickly attached a trailer of “Lovely Bones” to “New Moon.”

Paramount was able to do an about-face and completely revamp the marketing campaign and go after young femmes. The studio abandoned plans for an awards campaign, and decided to wait until after Christmas to begin advertising in earnest.

It worked. “Lovely Bones” stunned box office observers in coming in No. 3 for the four-day weekend, grossing an estimated $20.5 million from 2,563 theaters for a total cume of $21 million. Of the audience, a full 72% were female, while 40% were under the age of 20.

I haven’t seen The Lovely Bones and it’s not really on my ‘to see’ list, but I think it’s great how Paramount completely changed their marketing campaign and produced results. I doubt Peter Jackson, who’s films such as Lord of the Rings and King Kong mainly appeal to male fanboys, thought he would be making a film aimed at the Twilight crowd.

Read similar posts to How The Lovely Bones went after the Twilight audience on Filmonic

Twitter grew tremendously in 2009, mainly because it has become a people search engine. News, events, and movies become trending topics and you can see what people are saying about them in real-time. As we will soon be heading into 2010 Twitter has complied a list of the top trending topics (ie. most talked about) of 2009 for different categories, and below is the list of movies that took over the Twitter-sphere this year:

1. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
2. New Moon
3. District 9
4. Paranormal Activity
5. Star Trek
6. True Blood
7. Transformers 2
8. Watchmen
9. Slumdog Millionaire
10. G.I. Joe

I have no idea what True Blood is doing there. Harry Potter and New Moon were expected, however the movie that takes the #3 spot is interesting. I can remember around the time District 9 was released Twitter was full of positive buzz for the film, and that buzz most likely encouraged people to see it. I have no way of proving it but I’m pretty sure the Twitter buzz contributed to the film making over $200 million worldwide. Twitter probably contributed to the success of Paranormal Activity too.

What can we expect for next year? Well we have Eclipse and Deathly Hallows being released so they will probably hit the top spots again. I can imagine Iron Man 2 becoming a trending topic for a while, and maybe Kick-Ass will be the ‘District 9′ of 2010?

(You can follow Filmonic on Twitter here)

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Update: New Moon’s gross is currently at $478 million worldwide.

Even though the early consensus from critics isn’t good, New Moon was always expected to dominate the box office this weekend, and so far it has. Spectacularly:

From Nikki Finke:

Summit Entertainment just announced its New Moon debuted with $26.27M in 12:01AM screenings from 3,514 theaters. That sets a new midnight opening record, smashing The Dark Knight’s $18.4M on July 18, 2008, and Harry Potter And The Half Blood Prince’s $22.2M on July 15, 2009. (Summit’s re-release of Twilight Thursday night in 2,057 dates made $1.3M.) Meanwhile, Fandango tells me that New Moon is trending to sell more than 10 tickets per second on the site throughout the course of today.

Wowza. Those are some dedicated fans.

New Moon is also breaking records overseas:

Summit reported Thursday afternoon that at midnight showings on 466 screens in Australia, the movie took in AUS$1.7 million ($1.6 million). It sailed past the previous Australian midnight record set by “Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith,” which took in AUS$1.26 million ($1.2 million) in 2005.

In France, where “Moon” completed its first day, it was No. 1 with 488,000 admissions, translating to $4.26 million, from 751 theaters. By comparison, “Twilight” scored 140,960 admissions, $1.158 million, on its first day in that country.

In Italy, partial returns put the movie’s gross at €$1.83 million ($2.7 million) from 625 screens. The movie is shaping up as the third-highest Wednesday opener in Italy, behind only “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” and “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.”

Meanwhile in Spain, “Moon” drew €1.475 million ($2.2 million) on 652 screens. In Spain, it also ranked as the third-best Wednesday opening ever — behind “Order of the Phoenix” and “Half-Blood Prince.”

I think it’s safe to assume New Moon will out-gross Twilight.

Have you seen New Moon? If so, what are your thoughts?

Read similar posts to So, how much did New Moon make? on Filmonic

Oh my god it’s happening again! Save yourselves! Summit Entertainment have decided to re-release Twilight into selected theatres again due to fan demand. For one night only on November 19th (the day before New Moon opens) fans will be able to see the film that launched this whole vampire and Robert Pattinson craze. According to Variety some places may offer discounted admission prices so if you’ve never seen Twilight now is your chance to see it on the cheap!

While I’m not a fan of the films this is quite a cool move by Summit, and studios should do this more often. Marvel should consider releasing Iron Man again a day before Iron Man 2 opens, and the same with other studios with upcoming sequels. The big screen will always be a better experiences even if you own the film on DVD and Blu-ray.

Read similar posts to Summit to re-release Twilight on Filmonic

As far as New Moon and Twilight trailers go, this new trailer is probably the best. After watching it I got the strange feeling of actually wanting to see the film. I didn’t feel that once for Twilight.

Here’s the trailer:

New Moon stars Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner and Daktota Fanning. There’s also the guy who played Colossus in the X-Men films. From the looks of things Chris Weitz has done a better job than Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke, which should please fans.

Read similar posts to Final New Moon trailer on Filmonic

ComingSoon.net were sent a few character posters for The Twilight Saga: New Moon. The posters show members of the vampire coven known as the Volturi. They are regarded as “royalty” by other vampires because they have lived for well over three thousand years and act as police, enforcing the rule that vampires’ existence remain a secret from humans. Above is Dakota Fanning as Jane, who creates illusions of pain.

Click here to see the rest of the vampire police force!

Read similar posts to New Moon Volturi character posters on Filmonic

I didn’t see Twilight and i’m not interested in the whole vampire love story thing, although I am aware that Summit Entertainment hit the jackpot with the franchise and it was good to see a smaller studio finding success. While I’m not that interested in the films, I did read about some of the developments. For whatever reason they decided to ditch Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke and hired Chris Weitz for New Moon. However, they then announced that David Slade would be directing the third film, Eclipse, and it became apparent that Summit are so eager to see money rolling in that they were not willing to wait for anyone, not even the directors.

So with Summit in that frame of mind it wasn’t that much of a surprise to read that Bryce Dallas Howard (Spider-Man 3, Terminator Salvation) would be replacing actress Rachelle Lefevre in the role of Victoria due to ‘scheduling conflicts’ with a film called Barney’s Version starring Dustin Hoffman. Well as with most mid-franchise re-castings, the fans aren’t happy, and neither is Rachelle Lefevre who engaged in a ‘were having a disagreement in public via press releases so lets keep it civil’ with Summit:

From Variety:

“I was stunned by Summit’s decision to recast the role of Victoria for Eclipse. I was fully committed to the Twilight saga, and to the portrayal of Victoria. I turned down several other film opportunities and, in accordance with my contractual rights, accepted only roles that would involve very short shooting schedules.

“My commitment to Barney’s Version is only 10 days. Summit picked up my option for Eclipse. Although the production schedule for Eclipse is over three months long, Summit said they had a conflict during those 10 days and would not accommodate me. Given the length of filming for Eclipse, never did I fathom I would lose the role over a 10-day overlap. I was happy with my contract with Summit and was fully prepared to continue to honor it. Summit chose simply to recast the part.

“I am greatly saddened that I will not get to complete my portrayal of Victoria for the Twilight audience. This is a story, a theatrical journey and a character that I truly love and about which I am very passionate. I will be forever grateful to the fan support and loyalty I’ve received since being cast for this role, and I am hurt deeply by Summit’s surprising decision to move on without me. I wish the cast and crew of Eclipse only the very best.”

Summit responded with:

“We at Summit Entertainment are disappointed by Rachelle Lefevre’s recent comments which attempt to make her career choices the fault of the Studio. Her decision to discuss her version of the scheduling challenges publicly has forced the Studio to set the record straight and correct the facts.

“Ms. Lefevre’s representatives were advised as early as April that THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE was expected to start shooting in early August.

“If Ms. Lefevre was, as she describes “passionate,” about being part of THE TWILIGHT SAGA, we feel that she and her representatives would have included us in her decision to work on another film that would conflict with the shooting schedule of THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE.

“It was not until July 20th that Summit was first informed of Ms. Lefevre’s commitment to BARNEY’S VERSION, a commitment we have since been advised she accepted in early June. Summit had acted in good faith that she would be available to fulfill her obligations both in terms of rehearsals and shooting availability for THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE. We feel that her choice to withhold her scheduling conflict information from us can be viewed as a lack of cooperative spirit which affected the entire production.

“Furthermore Ms. Lefevre took a role in the other film that places her in Europe during the required rehearsal time, and at least ten days of THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE’s principal photography. This period is essential for both rehearsal time with the cast, and for filming at key locations that are only available during the initial part of production.

“Contrary to Ms. Lefevre’s statement, it is simply untrue that the Studio dismissed her over a ten day overlap. It is not about a ten day overlap, but instead about the fact that THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE is an ensemble production that has to accommodate the schedules of numerous actors while respecting the established creative vision of the filmmaker and most importantly the story.

“The fact remains that Ms. Lefevre’s commitment to the other project – which she chose to withhold from Summit until the last possible moment – makes her unfortunately unavailable to perform the role of Victoria in THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE.”

Oh dear. As the Twilight franchise has a large (mostly young female) fanbase Summit have been forced to respond in public to prevent a mass boycott. Any Twilight fans have an opinion on this? Any non-Twilight fans have an opinion on the politics involved?

Read similar posts to Twilight Saga: Eclipse casting drama on Filmonic

Any Twilight fans out there? Well I found this on the internets and you may like it. Personally I’m not interested but it’ll probably make you squeal, and possibly cry.

Read similar posts to New Moon teaser trailer on Filmonic