Coming Soon: 2007, the Sequel!
by Travis Irvine
For anyone paying attention to the top moneymaking movies of 2007, they will see one common trait: sequels! And not just second installments – 2007 was the year for the rule of three to take effect.
Just take a look at the top two blockbusters of the year – Spider-Man 3 and Shrek the Third. Both flicks completed the trilogy of their equally profitable franchises, with Spider-Man netting $336 million and Shrek grabbing some $326 million. Any producer in Hollywood hesitating to go for a trilogy on their desk at this point should take a frickin’ hint.
Of course, this doesn’t mean one shouldn’t try new things. The third biggest blockbuster of the year, Transformers, clobbered the competition as the biggest non-sequel of the year, garnering over $319 million. Needless to say, Jerry Bruckheimer will be morphing this one time success into a lucrative trilogy robot in due time.
However, the next three biggest blockbusters continued the success of sequels – Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End looted $309 million from audiences to finish off the trilogy, and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix magically brought in $292 million to finish off whatever number of movies its done. The Bourne Ultimatum punched its way through to get $227 million and round out its three-peat, too.
The next movie on the list, 300, wasn’t a sequel and probably won’t breed any given its historical content, but it DID have three in the title. Coincidence? I think not! Yes, 300 was the second most successful non-sequel movie of 2007, and the most successful one with an R-rating, slashing away with $210 million. This is a sign that blockbuster-seekers should probably avoid R-ratings, unless your movie is totally awesomely bloody and deserves it.
Two animated flicks came in next on the list, with Ratatouille being the surprise hit, sneaking off with $206 million, compared to the movie below it, The Simpsons Movie, which brought in $183 million. The Simpsons was the most profitable non-computer-animated movie of the year, but with the name recognition The Simpsons have, Fox is probably scratching their blue-haired, yellow heads on how they got beat by an adorable, unknown rat.
This all culminates down to the tenth most profitable movie of the year, Wild Hogs, which raised $168 million and was the most successful live-action comedy of the year. I guess people just can’t resist Tim Allen on a motorcycle or William H. Macy in leather. Heck, neither can I. I’m sure a shitty-awful sequel is in the works.
One has to wonder what these top ten moneymakers say about the movie-going public of 2007. They obviously like consistency. And they may not buy in to the Academy Award nominated flicks as much as some would hope, or go for movies with a message. But when it comes to characters they know, animated adventures and sweet-ass action sequences, they will open up their wallets.
And ultimately, the year also allowed for some of the biggest weekend crowd and franchise records to be broken – Spider-Man 3 had the biggest opening weekend ever, and Shrek did the same for animated movies. Harry Potter is now the second most successful franchise of all time, and the Bourne franchise is the most profitable spy collection ever. 2007 was a year for the third time to be a charm.
Maybe the WGA strikers should start earning more money by turning in three scripts at once instead of one.