Putting the First Two Months of the 2015 Box-Office Into Perspective

By Dustin Rowles | Box Office Round-Ups | March 2, 2015 |

By Dustin Rowles | Box Office Round-Ups | March 2, 2015 |

Over the weekend, Will Smith — once the most powerful man at the box office — opened his latest film, Focus, with a modest $19 million, which is about four times less than I Am Legend opened with back in 2007. After Earth and MIB III obviously put a huge dent in Smith’s box office prospects, but the marketing efforts for Focus didn’t help matters (it looked bland an uninteresting in the promos, but turned out to be surprisingly fun).

Indeed, Will Smith is the latest fading star to turn out a dud this year, as 2015 is quickly shaping up to be the Year of the Box-Office Bomb. Big stars and huge directors have barely put a dent in the box-office, while a movie about a guy who you barely knew before 2015 spanking the ass of an actress you barely knew before 2015 continues to dominate the box-office, even with huge weekly percentage declines.

And that’s the thing, though, isn’t it? CGI effects are expensive. Huge movie stars cost a lot of money. You know what doesn’t cost a lot of money? Filming two people fake-fucking. And yet, if I have to choose between an empty action spectacle and an empty spectacle wherein two actors fake fuck, I’m probably going to go with the latter, and apparently, American audiences agree.

Fifty Shades of Grey is the top earning film of the year with nearly $150 million domestically, and to put that into perspective, take a look at these numbers:

Fifty Shades of Grey with previously virtually unknowns Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan: $147 million, so far, on a $40 million budget = $107 million gross domestic profit (so far)

Compare that with the box office of these six, high-profile movies, all of which — COMBINED — only equal two-thirds of the domestic box-office of Fifty Shades:

— Jupiter Ascending with Channing Tatum and MIla Kunis: $43 million on a $170 million budget

— Focus with Will Smith: $19 million, so far, on a $50 million budget

— Seventh Son with Jeff Bridges: $16 million on a $95 million budget

— Hot Tub Time Machine 2 with Rob Corddry and Adam Scott: $10 million, so far, on a $14 million budget

— Blackhat with Chris Hemsworth: $7 million on a $70 million budget

— Mortdecai with Johnny Depp and Gwyneth Paltrow: $7 million on a $60 million budget

Total: $102 million in revenue, on $460 million in spending, for a $358 million loss, which would’ve been enough to finance NINE films like Fifty Shades, featuring two people fake fucking.

Now just imagine how much more Fifty Shades might make with a Hard-R rating instead of a soft-R.

Hollywood clearly still has a lot to learn from the porn industry.